GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1749, 6 November 1917, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

OUR “MATCHLESS” TROOPS, Lady Byron has richly earned her title of dame commander by her sensible and practical war work. When war broke out she heard that the army had cigarettes but no matches, so she promptly sent 100,000 boxes for our soldiers, each box bearing the inscription, “A match for our matchless troops, from Lady Byron.” OUR WAR CARRIER PIGEONS, Our earner pigeons are doing their bit splendidly at the front, and have even been equipped with the latest thing in gas helmets. It is well known, of course, that both sides are using these birds, and consequently the greatest care has to be observed with regard to shooting any that may appear on the scene. It is not unusual for our own birds to return from the other side of the enemy lines. U.S.A, ENGINEERS IN FRANCE. In addition to the nine special railway regiments already enlisted for service in France, the President has authorised the creation of 25 additional engineering regiments. They are to be mobilised at the divisional encampments, and the officers will come from the Engineering Officers and Reserve Corps and training camps, although additional officers may be obtained from civil life. These regiments will be employed behind the battle lines, hi the construction of railways and water supply systems, and the various works covered by this branch of the service, IN MEXICO. Mexico is not populated, as so many suppose, by a mixed SpanishTndian race, in which the Iberian element predominates. There'are about a couple of million people of mixed descent, another million of pure European descent, but the remainder, some 13 millions, arc practically pure-blooded Indians. There are 133 tribes of Indians in Mexico, recognised as quite distinct. and divided by ethnologists into 10 languages, or widely-dif-fering dialects, are spoken in the republic, Some of the Mexican Indians remain in almost the same primitive condition as their forefathers at the time of the Spanish conquest. STRAFING GENERAL PERSHING. General Pershing, the American Comraander-in-Chief in France, having remarked in an interview that he hoped his troops would take the field as well trained in body and spirit as an American football eleven and inspired by the same devotion to “team-work;” is subjected to an outburst, of feigned indignation by the official Wolff Agency. It shrieks: “So that is the spirit in which America has pushed herself into the most terrible war of all times. For Wilson and his finance group the war is a business; for Perslung it is a sport. The colossal drama in which millions have already bled is nothing but a football game to the American general, It is an incredible piece of irresponsibility to think such a thing—a gigantic frivolity to say it.” MARVELLOUS SURGICAL FEAT. The ingenious but simple operation whereby a new thumb was supplied to a man whose hand had been amputated, has just been described in a German medical paper. The surgeon cut open the stump, split the radius for about two and a-half inches, and inserted a piece of muscle and fat cut from the thigh; this he folded over to make a soft pad. To the piece of bone cut off the radius he attached the flaxour tendons, making it movable, The new thumb is weak in its extension movement, but can be bent so strongly that with it and the stump the patient can lift such objects as chairs. Sis months after the operation the thumb is still improving in dexter-