GENERAL WAR NEWS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3, 1 September 1915, Page 6

GENERAL WAR NEWS.

United Press Associat/ov. Mitylene,' August 31

Unseasonable raini-and locusts lu.ve damaged the crops in Asia Minor 1 . The a<*t*eage,,..s6wn only shows 60 per ..cent.: of the average'and the scarcity of labor prevents the, garnering of all the. existing crops. Should the war last' till December- the sowings will be' still scantier,, aiu| a famine is in sight. London, August 31/

Tlie National Council for Belgian • Relief points out that there is growing a gloomy problem for winter. Although the Germans reserved the harvest for civilian Belgians and the,industrial masses, over 3| millions are .still destitute. Even if food were abundant they would not be able to purchase and mustj be dependent on eharitv.

ijieutenant Cooper, of the Royal Engineers, while driving a 'mine, 192 .yards-long, under a German position, was within a few yards of his objective, when he broke into a German mine crammed with high explosives. He quickly/ cut the wires leading to the German trenches, obtained help, and removed the. enemy's explosives piecemeal. The tunnel was very low, and lie and, his men lay head to feet, and passed back a ton and a half of explosives. This occupied twelve hours, and five men were rendered unconscious by fumes. They have received the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and 'Lieutenant Cooper the Military Cross. New York, August 31.

A Berlin wireless message states that passengers bv the steamer Ryn.dam, which arrived at Amsterdam, reported that a British transport .with two thousand Canadian troops aboard, was torpedoed on-August loth, off the Seillys, a thousand lives being saved. The Canadian officials state that all troopships have arrived at their destination safely. London, August 31. As a result of a German threat to destroy by five the Canadian prairies' grain crop, the. international boundary along Minnesota and North Dakota is guarded by armed sentries. New York reports that seven men, five of whom are Germans!, have been arrested in connection with numerous wholesale robberies from cargoes of steamships hound to 'Allied seaports. It is believed,that responsible for mysterious fires aboard many stea- : mers. The authorities expect, to make • v further arrests. The liquor regulations applied to important munition areas have had striking results. Figures compiled by the

police show a considerable, reduction of ,convictions for drunkenness in many places equal to fifty per cent. The

change Is due to ijie prohibition of y treating,-rather than the drastic limitation of hours. Publicans complain of a serious drop in their takings, and the natural result has been to send more customers to the tradesmen's counters. New York, August 31. Attempts to interfere with the shipment of munitions to the Allies tire reported. The glazing mills of the American Powder Company were blown up, result that orders ] for Europe were delayed several weeks. Two workmen were killed at Wilmington, where two black powder

mills belonging to the Dupont Company were blown up. A mysterious lire damaged tbe plant of the Baltimore Machinists Company, which rei cently obtairie'd an order for shrapnel casings". London, August 31. •The Foreign Office states that the effect of the decision of the Hamburg Prifie Court in the" case of the Batavier, and the refusal to pay indemnity for the Maroa, a. wheatladen ship sunk by the Karlsruhe in the Atlantic last September, appear to abolish in practice the distinction between absolute and conditional contraband. The Daily Chronicle points out that the decision makes- practically any port a fortified place or base.'and deprives tin owner of the power of txercising his right in international law to rebut the German contention that the goods were intended For military use.