GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1865, 17 August 1918, Page 1

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

GUN TO SHELL BERLIN. A Paris correspondent writes that photographs of the famous weapon which has been shelling Paris, taken by the French aerial service, show a 210 mm. cannon, slightly elongated, with its breech abnormally enlarged; and therein lies all the secret. The shell-carrying force depends upon the quantity of powder used, which, in the present instance, is estimated at 2501 b. This throws the 2251 b. projectile a distance of 75 miles. A gun east 130 ft. in length capable of holding a ton charge of explosive l , will, it is said, ere long', send a 2cwl. shell careering through j space, to land in the heart of Ber--1 I in. THE KAISER IN THE NURSERY. Second-Lieul. G. L, Roberts, of the York and Lancaster Regiment, indulges in his volume of verse (‘ailed “Fright fu Gryhmes” in the art of parody. Here is one of his parodies' on nursery rhymes ; Kaiser Bill Went up the hill With threats of death and slaughter, Bill (aime down Without his crown. And so he dashed well ought or I Hermann von Horner Sal in a corner (■hauling the “Hymn of Hate.” He had no! a crumb To put in his turn. Because the broad tickets were late. GERMAN POTATOES AND GIN. A rather interesting sidelight on the use of the German potato crop is thrown by a correspondent of West Africa in a letter on the uses of trade gin. He remarks that the annual production of potatoes in North Germany before the war was (it),000,000 tons. (Last year it was 07,000,000 tons, of which only 7,000,000 went to feed the people.) There were normally about 5,000,000 tons of small potatoes in their crop, and these small potatoes, along with what remained of the sixty millions, after the food requirements of the country had been supplied, were sent to distilleries, there to be converted into alcohol. This alcohol is used partly for drinking and partly for industrial purposes, and it is reasonable to suppose (hat Germany paid for some of her enormous imports from Holland during the war with alcohol in the form of gin. Nine-tenths of the potato alcohol (that is gin, rum, whisky, and brandy) consumed in Germany is made from potatoes. KITCHEN TRAMCAR. A travelling national kitchen is now running on the Halifax tramways. It is a converted single deck car. The food is prepared at the central kitchen, and is cooked in the car while it is journeying to its destination. It is capable of supplying about 800 persons. At one end of the car is a cash-box, where orders are taken and tickets given, and the food is served from the sides of the car. A Russian, who was charged at the Thames Police Court with failing to report for military service, declared that the calling-up notice sent to his address did not refer to him, but to a neighbour who had moved away from the district. Ho added, “I am waiting for my own notice. Ido not mind going; but I want to be killed in my own name.’’