GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1758, 29 November 1917, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

•AEROPLANES OP THE FUTURE. Aeroplanes “of the near future” are visualised by a civil engineer, in some respects from quite a novel standpoint. In a contemporary he suggests what is a. perfectly natural evolution, that' probably in a short time we shall see the advent of ’planes whose vital parts are protected with curved plating of some light steel alloy, for deflecting machine-gun and shrapnel bullets, whilst the pilot and observer will be out of sight navigating their machines, and working their guns, etc,, bymeans of periscopes. Protective armour would seem to lead at no very distant date to the use of heavier calibre guns. Again, gas helmets may easily come to he a recognised part of an airman’s equipment, together with apparatus for discharging poisonous gases, smoke clouds, etc., whilst for night flying tractor ’planes may conceivably employ trailers of wire or other suitable material for entangling propellers of hostile aircraft. PIDGIN FRENCH. Not only our soldiers, but the Germans, have invented a sort of pidgin French with which to communicate with the inhabitants on whom they are quartered. They make liberal use of a word which the Frankfurter Zeitung spells “Napluh,” and is evidently our old friend “Napoo.” in Teutonic garb. The German soldier who knows “wang” (vin, “bar” (biere), “pommdetar” (pomme de terre), and “delo” (de I’eau). A very useful verb is “manschee,” which is Fran-co-German for “manger.” The French peasants do not take kindly to the tongue of the invader. Their notions of German are generally summed up in the Avords “nix” (nothing), and “kaput” (killed, dead, disposed of, out of the way, “nothing doing”). Uneducated German soldiers from different'provinces of the Empire use this Franco-German jargon among'themselves. GERMANY’S HUMAN MATERIAL. A. neutral diplomatist says that Germany’s supply of human material will not be able to withstand much longer the onflowing tide of the allies’ offensive, helped on, as it will be, by the, American hosts. Moreover, financially Germany is ruined. Her financiers are looking with extreme inquietude not only to the future, but also to the present. A peace on the basis of “status quo,” in accordance with the Pope’s Note, is thought among educated Germans to be the least onerous way out of the situation. USE OF SMOKE BOXES. With regard to smoke-cloud defence, in addition to smoke-boxes many merchantmen arc carrying a special smoke-funnel which requires only fuel for continual use. Once the smoke-boxes are thrown overboard they cannot be recovered, but skilfully used they completely baffle U-boats,. The Navy Department in the United States is causing the manufacture of huge quantities of smoke-boxes, and the Department states that they should be carried on every vessel. DRESS WOUNDS WITH SAWDUST. Roumania is so short of medical supplies that wounds of her soldiers are being dfessed with sawdust, says a cablegram received in New York from the American Red Cross Commission to Roumania. Conferences with Roumanian Ministers and parties just returned from the Roumanian front, the cablegram reads, “find conditions there urgently require immediate supplies, medical, surgical instruments, hospital supplies, equipment of every kind, including bandages, bed linens, and clothes for patients.” The cablegram adds that the Roumanian railway system is badly crippled, and that there is urgent need for ambulance transports and mocliiiuies, ■BAVARIA’S FOOD SUPPLY. Renter’s Agency is informed that the Bavarian. Government has issued stringent orders placing considerable restriction upon the enr trance of strangers, whose.visits are in any case to be. limited to one week. Strict Customs search is to be made of all luggage and postal packets, to prevent any expert of Bavarian food. All businesses engaged in promoting infractions of these regulations will be closed by tile police, and individuals illegally obtaining provisions will be summarily sent out of the country. These measures have been rendered necessary by the inroads of .strangers, especially North Germans, who have bought milk and fat products to an extent endangering the food supplies of the kingdom.