WAR NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 59, 12 March 1915, Page 8

WAR NOTES.

"TIPPERARY" 1?J FRANCE.

The Paris correspondent of "The Evening News" writes:—This is how the French Tommy sings "Tipperary" : Cost Ijien loin, loin, loin, a Tipperary, Mais on y va en bande, Nous y aliens, a Tipperary, Faire de la bonillie allemande. An 'voir, mes poulettes, An 'voir, chore mainan. Ton gars s'en va en route pour Tipper-

ary, Chercher un casque d'Uhlan! An Englishman who hears this sung by a French regiment on the inarch may be a little puzzled by the words at first, and miss all reference to Piccadilly. But the average French soldier believes that Piccadilly is a pickle, and knows very little about Leicestersquare at all. He adds: "There is a general idea that "Tipperary" is a modern version of the British National Anthem, and i am told, though I did not hear it myself, that it was played as a voluntary in one of the churches at midnight Mass on Christinas morning.

A WAR TAX AND THE FARMERS

i Thus the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki Herald:—L am told that j. have not done the fanners of this district justice in what 1 have written of their contributions to the relief of the suffering people of Belgium. 1 think I have, neither understanding their response to the appeals nor, on the other hand, making an undue fuss over the performance of a simple duty. I have pointed out, what I think cannot iie denied, that our farmers are being exceptionally favored in comparison with other classes of the community and in comparison with farmers in most other districts. Upon almost every other class the effect of the war has been to diminish income and increase the cost of living. Farmers' incomes have been increased by the war, and their living expenses, owing to their being less dependent upon outside sources for supplies, less affected than those of other classes. In many districts high prices for farm produce will be nullified by drought; hut, though the season has not been a very good one here, it has not heen much below the average of productiveness. However, I. have not said, and I ain not going to say, that our farmers are not bearing their share of the burden of the times; but my object in writing of the matter at all is to urge the continued payment by all classes of our just deht to the people who are suffering for having stood between us and disaster.

Our member, Mr Hine, favors an export duty on produce as a just form of taxation to meet war expenses. Being a producer himself, lie proves his conscientiousness, which, however, is in his case too well known to need proof. His opinion will, however, meet with little support among his constituents, and, J trust, is not shared by Mr Massey and his colleagues. Such a tax would, 1 should say, be both inequitable and inexpedient. It would be a special class tax hitting the farmer only and incidentally reducing the cost of living of the rest of the community. It could scarcely be made retrospective, and would be levied upon the exports of next season, when, for all we know, prices may be at or below the old levels for many classes Jof produce. Admitted that Mr Hine's farmer constituents are in exceptionally good position, is it the case of the farmers of the Dominion as a body that they are a fail" mark for the particular attentions of the tax-gatherer? What of the Hawker's Bay, Waikato, and Wairarapa districts? We read of pastures reduced to dust, of stock practically given away for want of the means of keeping them alive, factories closed for want of milk. Are these fair marks for a special tax? I think Mr Hine's altruism has carried him too far this time, and, indeed, it is doubtful whether the interests of the Dominion or of the Empire will be served by the imposition of a tax that must to a certain extent discourage production. Ways can be found of raising the money for the war without hurting anyone.

SCOT WHO WAS "WHIPPET AWA."

A good story of the war appears in the Manchester Gazette. It is a graphic account of the experiences of a tailor, who, to use his own words, "was jist whippet awa" to the front. "I had three days to go till I was oot o' the Reserve, when I pot one o' you blue papers tolliu' me to report mysel' at Hamilton Barracks. I put it in the fire, as by then I would he oot o' my Lime. The next night, when I was at the close-mooth takin' my smoke, a man came, up to me and said, you Macallistev?' and I said, 'Whit ahoot it?' and he said that there would he plenty ahoot it if I didna report myseF at Hamilton Barracks in six hoors. So, thinks I, this is war. So I whippet awa' in two hoors to Hamilton Barracks, and in six hoors more J ihad my kit on my hack, and in a train was awa' abopt England. In twenty hoors I was in a place they call Southampton, and in thirty hoors after that I was in France, near a place that's called Mons. There were a lot of kenfc faces in the place where I was put, and | they cried oot, "Ho, Macallister, that's vou. Noo, take your rifle and

light for your King and country." But before i had time to turn rooud 1 found j i was lighting lor my rosy life. King ■ and country, indeed! thinks i. 1 hadna; been iighiin' an oor when they got me on tiie shoulder vvi' schrapnei, and the' next .1 knew was in Stobhill Barracks —. Stobhill Barracks, mind you, and that no' many miles from where 1 bide—and the upshot of it was that they let me oot, and told me 1 would be all right for my tied, but no use for the sogering again. And here i am, back

at my tred, tailiring, ten days after I was whippet awa'. J. canmi' think that it was to me a' this happened. It seemed as if it was somebody else, and no' me. And, mind you, 1 never 'saw a German."

JOTTINGS. A correspondent of the New York Tribune, who visited Kiel, states that there are two squadrons there —one eight Dreadnoughts, the other composed of eight vessels of various classes. Fight thousand workmen daily and 30U0 nightly are working solely on ships conipieteable in three months. All other ship work is at a standstill. Therefore the correspondent anticipates a fight in the .early spring. A further 3000 workmen are engaged at iFriedrichsort torpedo factory.

What the Americans call "bread' lines" have been instituted in Brussels and other Belgian towns, including Namur, Liege and Charleroi, and in Brussels alone, out of a remaining population of 000,000, over 200,000 form in line at the canteens twice daily, to receive a ration consisting of bread and soup, with a little coffee and salt. There are special canteens for babies, and 31,000 line up for them daily in Brussels alone. "I can imagirre nothing more pitiful," said H. C. Hoover, the chairman of the Relief Committee, "than the long line of mothers we saw, with children in their arms, waiting their turn at these canteens."

The first Government shipment of moat for the imperial Government is aboard the Ruahine, which is sailing to-day, and comprises 27,27-1 carcases of mutton and lamb. This is not a full shipment (states the Press Association), as private space had previously been arranged for. Mr Mas. sey (Premier), stated it had been said that certain freezing companies had declined to afford facilities to the producers for putting meat through the works on their own account, and selling it to the Government f.0.b., and had communicated with the freezing companies, twenty of whom replied denying the allegation.