WAR ITEMS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 18, 5 March 1915, Page 6 (Supplement)

WAR ITEMS.

According to tli© theory of a famous .surgeon, apart from the risk of beings hit in a vital part, present-day bullets* wounds are, a.s a rule, not at all dangerous. The principal reason for this is that a bullet, by the time it reaches its victim, has through the enormous heat it has acquired in its passage through (ho air, become, quite sterilised—that is to say, unless bits of clothing or other are carried into the wound, it is entirely antiseptic, and thus heals easily.

Another characteristic story of Lord Kitchener is going the rounds, During tiio campaign in the Soudan he became tired of having his messengers sniped at by the enemy, and ordered a te'ephonewiro to be laid across a certain tract of the desert. As it was generally felt to bo useless, as the enemy would be sure to cut the wire. And that is what happened time after time. Kitchener never complained, he simply ordered the wires to be repaired. Later on, to the surprise and admiration of his men, they discovered that he had ordered the real wir e to '*) laid underground.

The Coldstream Guards, who have fought gallantly and suffered heavy losses, are the senior regiment of the British Army, though ranking second on the list of infantry. They were originally raised at Coldstream, under Cromwell's order, by Colonel Moncs, some years l>eforo tlie First or Grenadier Regiment fought gallantly at sea in Jun<, and July, 1666. Tne regiment bears the proud motto, "Nulli Secundus."

Tho Iron Cross of Prussia, which the Kaiser is reported to be distributing among liis troops so lavishly, is, in some' respects, similar to the Victoria Cross'. Each is the reward for pergonal bravery on the battlefield, and each is in the form of a Maltese cross—our own famous honour in bronze, fashioned from canon captured at Sebastopol, and the other in iron, edged with silver. The Iron Cross was instituted in 1813 by Frederick William 111. (the Kaiser's great grandfather), for use in the Napoleonic struggles, and was revived by his son. the first German Emperor, in IS7O, just before the commencement of the Franco-German campaign.

Tho German soldier keenly prizes the Iron Cross. Upon one occasion, in 1870. Bismarck was commissioned by King William to give the cross to a Bavarian who had been wounded white performing an heroic action. By way of a joke, Bismarck said to the man: "The King has requested me to present you with this cross, or with a hundred thalers, whichever you perfer." The sold : er was much troubled; but at last ho asked how much the cross was worth. ''About 7") thalers," replied Bismarck. "Well," said th e Bavarian, "give me the cross and 2-3 thalers besides. That will make it right." Bismarck, fa'rly beaten for once, complied.

Russian papers relate a touching story of a Russian artilleryman who rescued a child from death. The artilleryman, who is now lying in hospital at K'off, brought with him, to tlio astonishment of the nurses, a baby girl of eighteen months. The man's battery had been all but pulverised by the enemy, and at la»t had been ordered to retire. As the soldiers suddenly retreated, the artilleryman 6aw a baby girl creeping from the doorway of one of the houses of the village into the path of the battery. Amid a rain of shell and shrapnel tho bravo fellow went to the babyX, rescue, whilst his comrades gave him up for lost. As he reached the child, a shrapnell shell buret overhead, and, throwing himself down, the man shielded the child's body with his own. Que bullet passed through his back, injuring him so badly that he could not regain his feet. Two of his comrades immediately went to his assistance and carried him, with his little protege, to the battery, whence they were removed to the hospital. All three men have received the Cross of St. George for their bravery.

The electro-magnet seems destined to play an important part in facilitating the location and extraction of bullets. The envelope of the German bullet is magnetic, and the military doctors, taking advantage of this porperty, have succeeded, by means of an electro-mag-net, in extracting a bullet from a depth of more than 4in. in a case where the operation would have been extremely delicate by any other process. It was by means of an electro-magnet that the United States Steel Company recently recovered from the bed of the Mississippi a cargo of bolts and nails whicfl had gone to the bottom. The magnet ueed in case was 3Jft. in width, am weighed 3.0001b. The ease with which the cargo was brought to the surface gave rise to the suggestion that, given a sufficiently big magnet, sunken submarines might be similarly salved at short notice.

We think of Warsaw as Poland's capital ; but Cracow is the real metropolis of Poland, the enduring home of the Polish national spirit. At Cracow iiw Kings of Poland were crowned. In the cathedral 0 n the rocky hill above JM Vistula lie buried St. Stanislaus, the patron saint of th Poles, and John Sol.iski, who hurled back the Turks from the. walls of Vienna, and Thaddeue Kos- g ciusko, the last champion of Polish freep dom, and many another national hero. There are 150,000 people in Cracow, and 110.000 of them are Poles. I* »«"*. onlv quite recently that the ancient city fell'into the power of a Teutonic dyna*. Tv and became part of the "ramshackle empire" of Austria. In 1846 Cracow was still her own mistress, the last relicof the great Polish Kingdom. Then Austria tore up the "scrap of paper by winch ahe had guaranteed the town of Cracow " for ever a free, independent and strictly neutral city." and marched in an army corps "for the protection ot the inhabitants."

There is nothing new under the sun; but it will surprise many people to learn (on the authority of a \ankee scribe) how tho fruitcaniiing trad© was started. Years ago, ho tolls us, when the excavations at Pompeii were just starting, a party of Americans found, in one of the houses, a number of jars of preserved figs. One of the jars was opened, and its contents proved to W perfectly fresh and goofl. Investigations were made, and it was proved that tne figs were put into the jars while not, and that an aperture was left for tne steam to escape, which was afterwards sealed down with wax. Tho hint was taken, and the following year saw «ie beginning of The fruit-canning industry in the United States, the process being that in vogue hundreds of years before at Pompeii (?) To us to whom tinned fruits seem a comparative novelty, i'MB difficult to realise that we are indebted for them to a people who were li"* 8 "? ashes a few years after Christ. we agree with our American friend'—it is.