GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1780, 24 January 1918, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

17,000,000 YARDS OF CLOTH. Army contracts for 17,000,000,000 yards of cloth, to he executed between January and April, have been placed in the Avcst riding of Yorkshire, Half of this quantity is to be made in the Huddersfield, Colne Valley, and Holme Valley districts, and Avill consist chielly of tartans, Avhipcords, tunic cloth, and cloth for greatcoats. Large orders arc likely to he placed ere long for cloth for the American army. KABYLES’ DECORATED DOG. The Kabylos who sweep (he streets of Paris have a pet dog front (heir own country. His name is Chouia, and he Ha’cs in a railway truck at Gargan, on the Eastern Railway, whence he frequently accompanies his dark-skinned friends to Paris. He Avcars a red and green collar to sHoav that he has seen active sendee. No one avlio knows his history grudges him this assimilation to the Croix de Guerre, inasmuch as he was formerly attached to an African regiment and Avas wounded by a stray bullet. CHIPS FROM THE EDEN TREE. In an address following his return after 12 months’ service as an army chaplain in Mesopotamia, the Rev. H. Colin Walker, vicar of Christ Church, Warley, Essex, told an audience that the Arabs did a good trade Avith the Tommies in chips from a ti*ec on the site of (he Garden of Eden described as the Tree of KnoAvlcdge of Good and Evil, Tho British proved such good collectors of these souvenirs that the tree was Avhittled aAvay and has now disappeared. THE HALIFAX EXPLOSION. A 6-year-old child Avas blown through the roof of a house on Younge Street, Halifax, rolled from the roof to the ground, and instead of being a, mass of broken bones,and bruises, sustained only a few scratches on the cheeks. Another story that is told by one of the reseueAvorkers Avas 'that of a young child avlio avus rescued from the ruins at Richmond, lavo days after,, apparently unhurt. SAMMIE’S HAT. The Avide-brimmed campaign bats have been abandoned by the United States army for troops actually in the Held, In their places, hats like the fatigue headgear of the French army have been adopted. The ncAv hat is a sort of fore and aft arrangement, made by sewing two heavy pieces of khaki cloth together, Avith the seams front and hack, and adding to the sides.-oilier pieces of material Avhicli fold up on the side of tho hat or may be draAvn doAVn jo cover the oars. The hat is most comfortable. It also can he rblled up to pocket size or AVorn under shrapnel helmets. Tho old campaign hat (o fold avms cumbersome for troops in (be field, and officer* recommended a.change. If; was so uriAvioldly (hat some of the troops discarded it-emiffdy when (bey were changing to (be shrapnel helmet. The campaign hat is still Avorn at billets and in barracks, but many officers are recommending its complete abandonment, on the ground that it wa« Resigned for service in tropical countries .and is imsuited for operations under present conditions, BERLIN A DEN OF THIEVES, From a city of order Berlin is beginning to become a city of disorder, as st long and biller report in the Berlin daily paper Tageblatt clearly shows. In the railway forwarding departments there is chaos, the paper says. Endless packages, trunks, parcels of till descriptions, are slored there in hopeless disorder; many haA’e been stolen or lost. The public accuses the new officials of stealing them; the officials say the thefts are due to dishonest cabdrivers and nntrustAvorthy forwarding agents. The great Berlin forwarding agency declares that parcels of all descriptions are stolen by thieves while the conveyances are passing through the streets. The agency in all soberness makes (he <*».founding statement that Berlin is full of thieves, convicted criminals who hiWC kmi refused admission to 1 the army, serving to make the streets thoroughly tin .safe, Another forwarding company says that it is useless bringing charges against the dishonest dmers, as there are so many of them that the crown prosecutor has given it up as a bad job.