SNAPSHOTS FROM THE FRONT.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 14, 19 February 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

SNAPSHOTS FROM THE FRONT.

Germany is credited with having no fewer than 100,000 motor vehicles in military use. * * * Since the beginning of the war 120 companies* of Boy Scouts have been formed m Bei'm. * * * An only son who is the sole support of his mother is excused all military service in Russia. * * * Places of amusement in Paris may now l>e re-opened on condition that part of the receipts is given to funds in aid of i-oldierc. * * * Two hundred Sikhs and Gurkhas who have settled in Western Australia have offered to form a contingent for the front. * * * No fewer than six Church of Scotland ministers in the Lothians have enlisted as privates in Lord Kitchener's Armv, * * * A committee of Parisians has been formed to receive subscriptions of ten centimes (Id.) for the purpose of presenting the King of the Belgians with a sword of honour. * * * Hundreds of- souvenir-seekers are searching the battlefields near "Warsaw for German shrapnel splinters and shells. Special excursion trains are carrying them there. * * * Owing to the war causing difficulty in obtaining men for the Fire Brigade, t;he London County Council have decided to offer a bonus of 10s. to each new member of the brigade. * * * Th e London Post Office in December were dispatching 12.000 parcels and L'oO.OOO to 300.000 letters and newspapers evetry day to the Army Base Post Office in France. * * * Every year about 1,300.000 young men become eligible for the Russian army, but of them only 450,000 are recruited. Russia has no need for more, and does not wish for weaklings in her forces. * * * The- Socialist newspaper " Volkstribuene'' has been suppressed by the commander of the 3rd Armv Corps for appealing to th© Reichstag to put an end to the persecution of British people in Germany. * * * All naturalized Russians of German and Austrian extraction the age? of twenty and thirty who claimed the rights of Russian citizenship must now perform their military duty in the Russian army. * * * The people of Berlin have been " rigorously forbidden" by the authorities to throw away "kitchen refuse," which is to be collected and sold at a nominal price to the military administration for use as horse fodder, of which there is great scarcity. * # *■ Mr. -T. Peters, a bank clerk, of Prince Rupert, Canada, travelled over 7.000 miles to conie to England at his own cost to enlisft in the Canadian contingent, having just missed the first troops when thev left Canada. "* * * The Duke of Montpensier. brother to the Duke of Orleans, recently left New York for England to accept a commission in the British Navy. He gave a yacht to the British Navy and presented two airships and all liis automobile to France. * * * A further rechristening of railway locomotives, due to war influences, has taken place on the London and NorthAVestnrn Railway, the "Teutonic" taking the title of "The Czar." The last engine of the new series of " Claughton ' engines is to be known as "Lord Kitchener."

Mr. Thomas A. Edison is said to have discovered a means by which a submarine could stay one month under the surface if necessary, without replenishing its air provision, which would renew itse'f whilst under the water. The apparatus which would extract, oxygen from the sea is similar to the gills of a fish. * * * There is iremarkably little sickness at the front, which fact is due. no doubt, to the ample quantity and excellent quality of food. Hot baths al 'e being arranged for the men when their turn of duty is over. The arrangements for bathing made at on« place are such that after bathing a man can rest) dr'nk a cup of coffee, and smoko a cigarette. * * * Tt has been calculated that the weight of bullets required to kill a man in this war is something like 1681b., or !2st.. more than the weight of the average man himself. This is in spite of the, immense improvements in modern weapons as compared with those in use in previous great wars. In tho first line of defence or attack a soldier often fires KM) cartridges in a day. * * * The crescent of Turkey, which before lons may disappear from tho list of national badges, lias a curious pedigree. The old Byzantine empire used a crescent and star, and the star was sophisticated bv thy Crusaders into a cross The star is supposed to be the star of Bethlehem; the crescent the "inconstant moon." The Osinanli Turks found the crescent at Constantinople read-, for them, but they put it over the cross or star. * * * The regimental dog of the 23rd French Foot figures in the latest casualty list as having died on the field of honour. In a recent engagement- the auimai was entrusted with a message from one set of trenches to another. He had often be-ii 011 similar errands, and. although shot at scores of times, had never been hit. Fate failed to lavour hi 111 to thtv end. uikl this tinvo ho ivas struck dowu just as another coupl- of bounds would have carried him into safety. He died as the menage was untied from his collar.