GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1824, 9 May 1918, Page 4

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

BOOTS, SUITS, AND SAUSAGE. v, ' — l — people want and need most in Germany and Austria these days may bo gathered from the list of gifts presented recently at Salzburg (Austria) to Herr Bratt, the leading tenor of the local opera. On the occasion of a benefit in his honour, he received: Seven pairs of boots, three suits of clothes, 111 b. of coffee, 2,000 cigarettes, nine bottlea of wine, 51 packages of food, one sausage lift, long, £BO in cash, diamond ring worth £4B, diamond cuff-links, INCENDIARY PENCILS. A Spaniard named Echienique, employed as a Customs officer at Hendayc, has been sentenced by court-martial at Bordeaux to 10 years hard labour. Two other men were acquitted. On April 29th, 1916, a box addressed from Pans to Echenique contained liquid used to make explosives. An incendiary substance was found,in hollow blue pencils which could be used to set fire to factories. They were of German origin. It is alleged that some of the explosives were to be placed in ships. There are 49,817 combatant prisoners of war in England, and 4,000 more are. expected shortly. Lord Newton stated in the House of Lords that 28,050 are permanently employed—including 4,280 in agriculture—3,49l are being allocated to various forms of labour, and the remainder are men unfit for work and men who are about to be exchanged. The extra 4,000 will work, on the land. In addition, 25;000 German civilians and 4,000 Austrians are interned. Of these, between 1,500 and 2,000 are out on license,

for various forms of work. The rest are “ a useless and expensive incubus,” added Lord NeAvton. “UNLUCKY” 13. The folloAving strange story of “unlucky” 13 Avas sent to an exchange by a soldier;—l enlisted on January 26th, 1910 —twice 13; got wounded on January 18, 1915; avus taken to hospital and put in Ward 39 —three times 13; was transferred to Ward S. 3, B. 13, the! forwarding ward; Tleft hospital, Alexandria, on January 13, 1916, on board H.M. hospital ship Mauritania, and stopped for 13 hours Jo coal at Naples. I met an Australian of the 13th Australian Light Horse (“The Devil’s OAvn”), and. arrived at Stobhill Hospital, GlasgoAv, on January 26th, 1916 —tAvice 13— after a 13 days’ journey. I was housed in Ward 13a, and Avas discharged from the army on February 26th, 1916— tAvice 13. I still carry a 13 in my pocket —the numerals of the above-named Australian’s collar.