Germany

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 37, 18 May 1916, Page 5

Germany

THE BRUTALITY OF BEASTS. RETALIATION NEEDED. FRANCE LEADS THE WAY. (Received 8.4 oa.in.) Paris, May 17. A bulletin in Des Armees states that notice is placarded in the Herman prisoner-of-war camps that all work allotted to prisoners will ue enforced, even that connected witn war operations. .Refusals will be punished by deprivation of food, and that sleep!ng accommodation will bo exposed to the wind, or else in rooms heated to i-iu fahrenheit, and also that those refusing will be beaten with the butt of a ritlo or with a bayonet. Many British, French, Russian and Belgian prisoners, forced by threats, are at work in war factories. The French Government threatens retaliation. NEW TAXATION PROPOSED. Berlin, May 17. A conference of all the German States’ Finance Ministers discussed the establishment of new taxes that would he necessary to meet war expenditure. Taxes are urgent, as the Government does not want to risk another loan. Herr Helfferieh submitted a scheme whereby the States would be forced to pay the Imperial expenditure, but practically all. the States’ Ministers opposed the scheme. The result of the conference is unknown. GERMANY’S FOOD PLIGHT. London, May 17. The New York World, in a remarkable two-column article on Germany’s food plight, states that the war is no longer a chivalrous war of arms, but a war of German stomach against the British. The hunger noose is around Germany’s throat. The butter ration is one-quarter of a pound weekly, and many States are apprehensive of the proposed centralised food control, each fearing that the Berliners will filch it;, reserves.