GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1807, 28 March 1918, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

GERMAN WAR CIGARS. A queer story of “war cigars” of a peculiarly perilous brand is told by the Stettner Abenpost:—A dinner was given in the marble salon of the Royal Palace at Budapest fn honour of the president of the German Red Cross, the Emperor being represented by the Archduke Franz Salvator. In due course “war cigars” were handed round. While smoking one of these a distinguished guest became indisposed, and had to be carried to another room. 'Shortly afterwards Count Spiegelfeld suffered a similar attack, and he, too, had to be removed on an [improvised stretcher. Then the Archduke himself was overcome with fainting, and was only with difficulty restored to consciousness by a staff physician, who plied the illustrious host freely with brandy. Subsequently the members of the life-saving society were summoned, by whom the sick guests were conveyed home. An inquiry has been ordered to determine the constituents of these perilous cigars. SPORTS FOR RECREATION. ; Recreative athletic work for the soldiers of the United States is conducted on a large scale. It is not possible to deal with the individual. The men have to be trained in large bodies, and team work must be emphasised. In addition to the other athletics, boxing has a conspicuous place in the camp programme. Many of the cantonments now have instructors for this manly sport, and it is expected that every camp will be similarly supplied before long. Boxing is not only extremely popular, but it is highly valued by the military authorities because of the training that it gives for bayonet work; A committee of such practical exponents of the sport as James J. Corbett, Norman Selby (Kid McCoy), Robert Edgren, Richard Mcligan, and Michael Donovan, who are giving the movement their assistance, guarantees that it will be on a practical and scientific basis. So valuable is the athletic work as a recreative agency that the men who drive the ambulances at the front have asked that something of the sort lie provided for them to relieve the ’tedium of their hours of repose. HUNS BUILDING CONCRETE SHIPS. Captain Persius, naval correspondent of the Berlin Daily Paper, states that, owing to prospective shortage of wood, steel, and iron for shipbuilding after the war, leading German and Austrian dockyards are preparing to use ferro-concrete on a large scale. Yards are now being reconstructed to that end. Persius takes the view that all the great shipbuilding countries will be put to the same necessity as Germany to find substitutes for wood, iron, and steel. Germany, he thinks, will be in a better position than any of the rest for ferro-concrete construction, because “We possess the most important cement industry in the world. We have far outstripped France, the country where the most versatile uses were formerly made of cement, while we have given the English, the inventors of cement, the fiercest competition in the markets of the world. There seems every reason to hope that in future the largest ships Hying the German flag will be partially of ferro-con-crete construction.”