NEWS BY MAIL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 65, 16 November 1914, Page 7

NEWS BY MAIL.

TERROR BY NIGHT, ZEPPELIN'S FLIGHT OVER BELGIAN COUNTRYSIDE. Another terror Ims boon added to those which for the hist six weeks have made dreadful the lives of the unhappy peasantry of Belgium,, writes the London Telegraph’s Ghent curresponoont It is the terror that dies by nign • I telegraphed vesterday, a Zeppelin liew over West Flanders on Saturday night and dropped bombs on the sleeping villages. The story of its flight is worth} of*being related in greater detail. It was a new thing in warfare when death-dealing missiles were dropped on large, undefended towns, and the whole of the civilised world Germany, of course, is now outside that category condemned the action. But the latest performance is an even worse outrage against humanity because there does not even exist the excuse that railway stations, bridges, or other possible strategic points were the real objects. The only targets were civilians’ homes, and the only conceivable purpose the terrorising of the population. It was half-past ten when the Zeppelin was first observed coming from the direction of Bottegein ) and half an hour later it dropped the first bombs. Four of these fell in the village of Deinze. The first crashed through the roof of a convent, and though none of the sleeping sisters was injured, every window in the building was smashed to atoms, as in adjoining houses. The hospital was struck by the second, and a poor old lady was injured by falling timbers. Over the hospital the flag of the Red Cross was flying. At midnight the airship passed over the little town of Thielt. Here two bombs were aimed, apparently at tin* gasworks, but the target was missed, and the missiles dropped in the. caretaker’a garden without doing much damage. Five other bombs followed, causing the destruction of some houses, fo .rnimtely empty. Continuing its flight, the Zeppelin approached Courtrai. Here there was a remarkable incident. Just befoic T e airship arrived two hayricks wore fired. By whom this was done no one knows, but the clear conclusion is that the incendiary was a spy whose object was to give the direction to the dirigible. By order of the military authorities all lights in Belgian towns and villages are extinguished at an early hour in the evening, sc. that Courtrai, a airly Argu town, was in complete darkness. While the Zeppelin was still some disst.anco away it was observed to be zigzagging as if searching its route. Immediately the hayricks burst into flame it made straight for the town and dropped several bombs. After this final and futile effort it disappeared in the directi jn of Oudonarde. I learn that after the recent Zeppelin raid oh Ostend two enormous bombs were found in a field some distance inland. Each weighed 110 kilogrammes THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. AN AMERICAN TALE. LONDON, Novmber 12. An American returned from Germany states that transports filled with troops are at Bremenhaven and Hamburg, ready to depart for England. An officer informed him that the Germans wore not such fools as to waste their Zeppelins by single raids . on .London, but would wait till the spring when they would attack England with a fleet of Zeppelins simnltanornfly. BRITISH PRISONERS MALTREATED. LONDON, November 12. Borne British prisoners were maltreated and hooted by German crowds. A colonel was handcuffed and led away to an unknown fate for striking a guard who prodded him with his rifle.