NEW ZEALAND MONEY IN SERBIA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 68, 25 February 1916, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND MONEY IN SERBIA.

COLONEL COVAAR’S ACCOUNT OF THE DISTRIBUTION. (From the War Cry.) On his return from Serbia, after an absence of six months, Colonel Govaars gave an account of the intense sufferings brought upon the people of that bravo little country by the war, and some of the practical measures initiated by him as Th e General’s representative for their relief. The Colonel made Salonika his jump-ing-off place, and among the towns he visited were Nish, liskuh, Belgrade < where he saw something of the bombardment), and Cbabatz and the Madchva and Podrinja districts. He was chiefly at Chabat?.. The money at the Colonel’s disposal was of course limited, and as it was impossible to relieve the whole of Serbia he decided, after conference with the authorities, that it would be better to help one town well, and that, by industrial means, than to give alms oi a few francs here and there which would afford no real relief at all. CROWDED NISH. At Nish, which was transformed in a twinkling from an Oriental village into the capital of Serbia, the situation at one time became somewhat alarming. People flocked thither in scores of thousands, and their accommodation had to be taken in hand by the police, who quartered them on the inhabitants. After a bit large nipjbers of the people left, and though the price of food naturally went up at a bound there was no starvation. When the Colonel arrived he found the town more than full, and it was owing entirely to the good nature of a hotel porter that he secured a room somewhere in a back street where he could put up for a couple of days. The Colonel ultimately visited the North-Western districts, where the armies had been, because he felt that the greatest need would lie there. To get over there, because it was in the military line, he said, “he had to, have a British recommendation. The British Legation wired to the Foreign Office, and 1 got an introduction to the military headquarters of Serbia, and Karaguevantz. This settled the matter, and I received a military pass enabling me to travel right through Serbia, even in the fighting lines.

“1 also obtained an introduction from the Minister of the Interior to all civil authorities, and this enabled me to travel at liberty wherever I liked. I Impelled to be hi Belgrade during one of the minor bombardments, and went from there to the North-Western district along the Uiver Save by Obrenovantz up to Chabutz.

“Chabatz was the place first occupied by the Austrians, and words cannot possibly describe the frightful sufferings inflicted upon the people. Fifteen hundred of them, women and children, as well as some old men. were horded together jn a church, the limit of whoso accommodation was for eight hundred. There they remained for three whole days without food or water, and without help or convenience. Babies were born in the church; mothers died and were buried outside. No one thought to make a list of those who perished; they only know who have disappeared. BROKEN MAIZE INSTEAD OF BREAD. “The town of Chabatz suffered severely from bombardment, both from the ships and field guns. More than onethird of the town was utterly destroyed, and another portion rendered almost uninhabitable. Hardly a house remains that has not suffered. When I arrived I found the condition of things to be simply appalling. Children were dying for want of food. Broken maize (not properly ground, but just broken) took the place of bread ; it was baked without salt, yeast, or anything; consequently the health of the people became tenable. Many suffering with typhoid died simply from lack of nourishment, “Of the five thousand inhabitants the large majority were women and children. The town authorities gave them each two-pence a day to buy food. “The Salvation Army, however, instead of giving doles of money, found employment. The town was in a filthy state. Horses had been stabled in some of the, houses, and water poured through the broken roofs. As many as thirty Austrian soldiers had slept in one room. It was in an indescribably dirty condition, and the stench was terrible.

‘Well, I started a scheme, which I [proposed to the municipal officials, for cleaning the town from house to house. In return for their labour I gave the people, according to the work and the needs of their families, from twelve to eighteen francs a week. They were delighted. Over o()0 women came to register their names as being desirous of working. ‘A little boy of about twelve came to me after an open-air meeting which I had conducted on the square of the town, and at which I had explained [the scheme, and said. “Can I work as well?” His mother, he told me, was 'dead; his sister in the hospital, and he had a little brother at home. He looked so clean that 1 asked him who washed his clothes, “Oh,” he said, “I do it myself in the river, when T go to wash myself.” To relieve the situation created hy 'the rise in the price of foodstuffs, I suggested that certain articles should he imported free of freight and duty into the district, which seemed f° have suffered much. I went to Nish fand got by way of trial' Government a

consent for the rending in llii.-s wav of three wagon Fed, of provisions amounting in a!| t a bun I thirty-three | tons. Bel the dew attack took place before I coiiM . them out ot Greece. I Otherwise I would have sold the food--1 stuffs at cost price and so have forced ■ down the famine prices.” I AT THE MILITARY BASE. I . Before leaving Salonica, on his reI turn to London, to report to The General, Colonel Govaars established some work at the military base there. ) ‘I did my best,’ he said, ‘to make the British hoys feel at home. 1 secured a room, with the kind assistance of the minister of the Greek Church, and an insertion was made in the “orders of the day” announcing the fact. The military authorities highly favoured the Idea, and wanted a camp lint, because the camp stood a distance of eight miles or so out of town. Only a few men were able to make use of the Best Room, still, i had no to forty men per night who got permission to come up to town, which shows how gladly they welcomed the arrangement. When the hoys arrived from Gallipoli and caught sight of my uniform they raised three cheers for The Salvation Army.’