POILU OF PERONNE IN WALES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 225, 10 November 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

POILU OF PERONNE IN WALES.

STIRRIXG WAR SERMON TO MIXERS.

SOCIALIST SOLDIERS CU T Trt lndergrolnocomradfI 0

. CARDIFF, Sept. I? rv„, I f i s , fi g ,ire ' ,n the blue overcoat of the French armv with t r e.nousst.d helmet which rewSot of the Roundheads. Corduroy breeds of a darker shade of blue and n„tS complete the dress ,lu« „„„'«vT nont, although, perhaps, j thoutrht, 1 imL IS p Privatc Rone Cabanne, of the Son Tf ient , of Fren< £ K pinery. A few days ago hj» was <Tt-.n,t rf .« ■V g , Its h "g e messengers ot death into the outskirts of Peroine. Last night he stood on a stone on a Welsh moorland, addressing , crowd ol miners jalthough his tongue waa no. theirs, |,, s hcry words, by the very rush and torrent of their eloquent*, 3C to carry conviction. M. Cabanne's visit is tlie result of rt happy thought on the pare of Mr Adolpbe Smith. For » JJSta? of, century Mr Smith has been the conning Imk between the various orfixations of workmen in all the conn, til* of Europe. An excellent linguist, he can talk to most of them in their own tongues. To him came the idea or getting a French soldier from the trenches to come over hero for the double purpose of seeing what we are do:ng in this country, and of telling our * lrn * * ' S **** done ln ™«* j " , Po i nta, « to ok up the proposal, and the French Minister of War gave 41. Cabanne leave of absence, and sent him to England as a sort of informal industrial ambassador. With M Oabiinno came Lieut. Weill, an Alsatian. but he has returned to his military duties in the French army. AX EXTRA TURX. So for the last three weeks M lahanno and his colleagua have been visiting the British industrial centres In none of these was a greater impression made by M. Cabanne than m South \V ales, and he was invited to pav another visit to that part of tha country before leaving. The beginning of the extra turn"' was made on Thursday night on the celebrated Rocking stone Hill at Pontvpridd, where for years past the Welsh minars have met to discuss their affairs.

It was a remarkable scene The },yj is a flat plateau which stands at the place where the five valleys under which the wonderful Welsh coal seams lie—meet. Down these valleys came the miners to greet their French comrade. Scattered around were the remains of Druidical worship, whi-n spoke of centuries past. Anthropologists have a theory that in these Glamorganshire valleys we may find traces of the old Iberian race—akin to the Basques and the Finns which was driven into remote corners of EuroDa by the Celts.

Be this as it may, it is ci rious to note tliat M, Cabanne comes from the South of France, and his face talis i.f Ills kinship to the Basques. Jt may be that, last night, he was speaking to men of his own kin who have been sundered for long centuries. Anyhow, .-i spark of sympathy was kind led between linn and his haarers which no difference! could quench. M. Cabanne is full of the verve and lire and energy of the South. A workman himself, he has been chosen as the organising secretary of the Frencn Socialist party. His words and sentenCv's have all the perfection of balance and polish to which the French language lends itself so well. PRISSIANISM THE CI'RSE. Behind this meeting on the bare hill, side lay something more than appeared to outward seeming. M. Cabanne showed how that, unless Prussian militarism were crushed, all the ideals for which the workers of the world had Iven fighting for centuries would be buried under one common ruin. Freedom of speech and pen and thought, the right of co-operation to secure a greater share of the good things of I'fa —all would lie crushed and kifted if the Prussian jackboot had still the power to crash through the free nations of Europe. A few thousands of working men, another working man speaking w them. There was none of the outward pomp and circumstance of power. Yet the power was there all the same. You could see it working in the gnarled faces of men whose Ifie is at best a hard one. But the gathering told of tlu new forces which are stirring all Europe, whose men have thrown aside all other consideration to make way for the grim resolve that this hydra-head-ed monster shall !>e destroyed once and for ever.

M. Cahanno toid how all France, from the noble to the Socialist workman, hadr is.>n as one man. and with clenched teeth had set itself to this work. "Will you British workers do the same" he asked, and the answer came: "By God, we will." WORKKRS TO HAVE A SAY. As for the coming peace. II Cabanne made nn excellent point that the right of the workers to have a say in thj settlement would be the more surely established the more solidly they strove to help in bringing about the victory. As the summer twilight fell on thi scene, the storm clouds rolled away in slatcfolourei musses over the Welsh mountains, and bars of delicate orange told of the sunlight behind them. It was an omen that behind the stormcloud of war and rapine there lay the promise of a newer and a nobler age. In eloquent addresses Mr. Ten Davis, the Welsh Miners' leader, and Mr. Watkins. n min.l>er of the Commonwealth Parliament and the secretary <f t'>o Australian .Miners' Fnion both, emphasised the fact that this was a pe >;>lo>.' war, in which the people mttsT; conquer or be for ever undone