THE TOLL OF WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 103, 4 January 1915, Page 3

THE TOLL OF WAR.

Here arc two consecutive announcements in the “Scotsman” of the otjici day which bring borne forcibly the heaviness of the toll of war; HEWITT. —Killed in acDon on fifth ■ October, James Francis Hewitt, aged 2(1. The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), eldest son of Hie livable. W. .1. Hewitt, St, Colme House, Abcrdour, Fife. HEWITT. —Killed in action on 1:1th or .1411) October. William George Hewitt, aged 22, Jrd Royal Scots, second son cf the Honhle. W. J. Hewitt, St. Uolme House. Aberdour, Fife. SOLVING A DOUBLE MYSTERY, The special correspondent of lire ‘Daily Telegraph” in Northern France sends the following; The town of is the scene of hospital work. Here friend and foe receive the same kind of treatment. It was in No Hospital that I was able to solve a double m> ' f ery. A number of Indians had arrived wounded, the majority in the left hand. It appears, so an Indian medical man told me, that these men always do their best to get in hand-to-hand touch with the enemy, and when they do they catch hold of the enemy’s bayonet in the left hand and bring the knife into action with the right. The second mystery concerns the story of a sergeant of the .‘ who, in the fighting line, was surprised constantly to see a number of hands appearing just above the level of the enemy’s trenches. “To raise a hand ihovg tile trench and receive a wound m it is perhaps painful, but. then one goes home,” remarked a wounded German. “GERMANY’S CHIEF TASK.” Under this title a recent number of , he “Hamburger Fremenblatt” pub- ■ ished a frenzied article by Vice- I Uimiral Hermann Kirchhoff. The an- | her states that, of course, France -oust be completely beaten, but not utterly destroyed, since she is a nation -f high culture; also that Russia must ( be entirely cut down, as she has no 1 •nlture worth speaking about! "All j his is necessary (proceeds the admiral) in the interests of that peace i

which we all so earnestly long for, which can be secured only by the absolute and complete overthrow of perfidious Albion, the most wicked of all ■clitical enemies. . . .To destroy England, utterly and completely, is our chief task, and to diminish her influence would he a real blessing for the culture of the whole world. England must, in no event, preserve the posiMon of influence that not long ago she held.” Germany’s attempt to gain the support of Turkey seems to show a belief in the old proverb; "Any Porte in a storm. ’ Some suburban shopkeepers are showing the true Mark Tapley spirit. One of them at Muswell Hill announces: "Our lights are low. Our prices are lower. ’ 1

"The battle of the K’s: On their side, Kaiser, Krupp and Kultur: on mis, K. of K, ” —Daily Express. Not forgetting kilts and khaki.

It is semi-dffieially announced that he Kaiser’s headquarters are now in [’'ranee. His hindquarters were recentv seen in Poland.

The reasons why the war must end soon are almost as convincing as the recent reasons why there could not be such a waV, St, Louis Globe-Demo-crat,

The Indian troops have taken their praying-rugs with them. We hope they won ’t be so foolish as to spread them in any cathedral. —Boston Transcript.

"The British War Office gives eigiit lines in seven days concerning the deeds of what is admittedly one of the finest armies known in modern history. And then it is alarmed because recruiting lias fallen off. "■—Arnold Bennett in Daily News.

An appeal for gramaphoncs is being made to relieve the tedium of our soldiers at the front. There seems to be no limit to the horrors to which our brave follows are willing to be exposed. —"Books of To-day and To-Morrow."

The headmaster of Harrow', the Rev. Lionel Ford, speaking at a recruiting meeting at Harrow, said that Lady Smith-Demon, wife of Genepal Sir If. Sniith-Dorrien. told him that every night lor boy's prayer was, “God help dadd\ 1 o fight brnvelv.’ 7 The Gorman aeroplane-, are painted sky 1 Jue so as to render them incon spim ‘.ns against the sky. If they in-t'-nd to a .'feck they na re made another miscalculation in the matter of climate.