WAR TIME SKETCHES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

WAR TIME SKETCHES.

By MRS MALCOLM ROSS.

January, 1016. A HAPPIEIt NEW YEAR. It is undeniable that a wave of optimism is spreading over England, and that the Now Year promises bettor and brighter conditions than prevailed in the months of the terrible year that is past. For wevks together, in November and October, folk woro afraid to open their newspapers, and a dull, dreary apathy prevailed, which hope had not strength to disperse. The situation seemed a deadlock —a stalemate —and there appeared no finale to the hideous struggle. But to-day the atmosphere k clearer and the victorious end seems nearer. Officers returning from the seats of war speak hopefully and assuredly of certain success when the forward movement is made, of pile,* of ammunition —five British shells to one German h.ing the ru'e — and of men in numbers eajierly waiting the signal for an advance. The Conscription Bill, which yesterday was read for the second time and passed with n big majority, has boon received with gratification and ro'ief —except, of course, by the shirkers. Sir Edward Carson's eloquent appeal to Mr Redmond to make the final majoritv so largo that our enemies will see bow unanimous nnd decided Britain is on this question, was read with intense appreciation, nnd altogether, the situation at present is more cheerful. The Dardanelles evacuation has been hoard of by Australians and N.nv Zealanders here with mingled feelings, a strange blend of indignation and relief. That so much blood should be spilt uselessly was tragic, but, after the nrst K-elings of resentment had died down, they realize that lives were spared by the withdrawal, and that from a military point of view, the evacuation was ns wise as it was wonderful. Not far from where I am staying in Scotland, lives the sister of the man —Lieut.-Col. M'Neill —who, with a comrade, was the last man on the beach. 1 bey destroyed the last gun and then had to go three miles to baord the ships.

THE GERMAN PIRATE. From some occult reason or other, the War Office makes the newt uiau reaches the public as dry and as scanty as possible, and'very often suppresses altogether incidents that might result in increased cheer and renewed activity. The Mara'ong affair was dismissed in a few words, and the real occurrence has never been published, and is only known by word of mouth. These, 1 am assured, are the real tacts: 'lhe ship, w'th passengers and crew, met a German submarine, was ordered to stop, and was boarde.i by four officers. These demanded the ship s papers, and brought Itoniln which they placed on board. In reply to the skipper s remonstrances, and queries as to tho safety of his crew and passengers, they said " War is war, and there is no time to \va*te.'' The vessel and its inmates seemed doomed to destruction, when there hurried alongside an innocentlooking trawlor, wh'ch suddenly hoisted the Fnion .lack, and fired on tho submarine, destroying it. The offi.ers were left on the Baralong and their fat." was settled for them by the skipper in their own words of half-an-hour ago —"war is war, and there ;s no time to waste" —and lie promptly lined the four men up and shot them. Now lie is waiting for the inevitable reprimand. and perhaps punishment. Jsut in tiie meantime Iks conduct towards the pirates who were ready to sacrifice his crew and passengers meets with the hearty approbation of the general public.

"SUBMAItTXE STINTS."

T)eprjred temporarily of their lawful quarrv, the ships of big tonnage, the British Fleet is filling in t : me by <n.ing submarine "stunts, as ''.Tack calls the hunting of the " unterseeboote." Th. l re is no close season for the; submarine and all the year long our Navy, particularly the "T.B.DV and patrol vessels, have been busy ridding the seas of these piratical pests. There is often a grim humour in ti.€ business, and only recently an incident occurred which was almost (Jilberi.an. In a certain naval harbour in the north lay a stately unit of our fleet, two cruisers and a batt'eslcp, swinging at their moorings in almos! land-locked waters. Suddenly th.' calm of a sunny Sabbat li was broken bv the blare of a bugle and the patter of bare feet on the decks. The lookout on .1 watching torpedoboat had spied a tell-tale \ -shaped ripple entering the almo.it landlocked mouth of the harbour. It was made by the periscope of a submarine. Immediately three destroyers and two patrol boat? were ualvanised into activity, and the placid waters of harbour were ehurnel up by their how and screws. The submarine, however, d'd not join in the game, but lay quietly on the bottom out of harm's wa v.

Trawl wire-, were got out, and the destroyers dragged the sen-floor— ;tU In no purport. Then appeared from the I load Xoitli Sea a common trawler, not an auxiliary fhvt vessel. hut one of those adventurous dirty little craft that has still garnend its- harvest. de. s!>ite Ihf terrors of wr.r. A gn:ir|ed old slcpptr with fif-li scales in his heard inou:red of the flagship what was to do. He was told —told I'oreihlv. with

an injunction that he had better keep out of the way of real sailor men. The sk pp. r pondered, and then deliheratelv and without undue lurry he put down his trawl, and y.igzanged across the harbour. The tol pedo-hoat destroyers looked on m disdain, hut presently the grubby little ho.it pulled up with a [terk and after ini eh pull ng and puffing on her p.n t tin p. came to the surface a fine in w I " hoat, around whose per.seope and conningfower was wound the wire trawl rope

of the North Sea fisherman. Tlio trawler stood off, and a destroyer canto alongside with guns trained on the visitor. Presently, however. there was r= sound as ot a inn nuts being hammered round, eonningtowcr opened and a d'.sgustod German appeared and asked 11 What was going mit me to he done?" L-'.er on, as a prisoner, he asked to mc*t h s captor, and he of the scaly lu-ard was sent for. Fortified with » stiff mug ol ruin, the skipper of the trawler appear, ed, and in good Grimsby d alect said just what he thought of the German nation in general, and the submarine crews and officer* in particular.

"THE REST-LAID PLANS 0' MICE AND MEN." Not so long ago. a lady was sitting reading on a bench in Kensington Gardens. and two men were on the same seat, talking Italian. It was a language she knew, and she could not help overhearing their conversation, and, her attention being arrested, she listened intently. They were talking about some ships laden with cejnent which were starting front ono of the p.o-callw] neutral countries. Those vessels were it;tended to he sunk in the Su«c Canal, so as to impede traffic. It was a scheme of German craft, and the plotters spoke in Italian to divert nuspcion. The lady went straight to the War Office, and actually saw Kitchener, who listened to her, and promised to inquro mto the matter. Soon afterward :, two shijifi laden with ceirant were stopped at Gibraltar. The lady was sent for by the War Office, thanked and offered a reward, but felt that the consciousness of having served her country was sufficient recompense.