WAR ITEMS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 110, 12 January 1915, Page 3

WAR ITEMS

JUST IN TIME,

The well-known Polish writer, M. Swetlinsky f relates, as an eye : witness, how a friend of his, a Polish landowner named Bokas, miraculously escaped death. M. R. Bokas, whose house near Warsaw was selected as headquarters by the Germans, was accused by his guests of espionage and ordered to be shot. A squad of . German soldiers took him into a garden, and were waiting their officer's command to shoot, When a sotnia of Cossacks dsecended like a hurricane on the squad, and made them prisoners.

SCOTS AND THE WAR.

Sir George Anderson, the Treasurer cf the Bank of Scotland, calculates that the quantity, of money circulating in Scotland has decreased since the outbreak of the war by not less than two millions sterling, a very large increase. He asks:—"Where has the money gone? I have too high an opinion of the intelligence of my countrymen to suppose it is being deliberately hoarded. But I have a strong suspicion that a great deal more is being carried in pockets or left in tills and other receptacles than is necessary."

THE GERMAN WAY.

When the Germans rifled his residence at Rixensart, near Brussels, M. Terlinden, the well-known Belgian judge, lodged a complaint with Marshal von der Goltz, the German Governor. Von der Goltz invited M. Terlinden to come and see a quantity of silver which was about to be sent to Germany, and pick out his property. "None of my plate is there," said M. Terlinden. "Never mind," said Von der Goltz. "If it's not yours, it is someone else's. Take your pick!" To this offer the Belgian judge returned a Hcornfnl refusal.

BRITAIN IN WAR TIME.

The war hasn't reached Britain's ■->wn territory. *c that country has had better luck than Belgium, France. Servia, Russian Poland or Austria. Still there is a certain amount of excitement .as witness this statement of the position: The new British regulations for the defence of the reilm was contained in i Consolidating: Act which was published last night. This Act gives the Admiralty and the Army. Council virtual power to abrogate aU the ordinary liberties of the subject, and invests the authorities with absolute powers to do whatever they think necessary for defence,

All rights to private property disappear for the time being, and the leaders of the defesce forcer, are empowered to com'niandeer any land, buildings, factories, workshops, and to send the inhabitants to any particular district. The rights of jury trial cease, and courts-martial are empowered to inflict upon any civilian the death penalty, penal servitude, or a lesser punishment.

NO ENGLISH PRISONERS. j

"I was told that every soldier bringing In an English prisoner of war gets three days' arrest." This remarkable statement is made by a highly-educa-ted Hollander now living at The Hague, but formerly a traveller for a Brussels firm. H e revisited Brussels recently. "Brussels," he says, "is a living volcano. Belgians and Germans expect, any moment an outburst. What I have seen and heard is too much for. words. Repeatedly I have had confirmed by the German soldiers and offi-1 cers that they do not want to make English prisoners of war. In Brussels most of the business housees- are closed. There is no bread, and other eatables are scarce and- dear. The Germans requisition everything for their troops, and often give 1.0.U.'s payable by the French President. Here (The Hague) we have some 2,000,000 refugees, most of the m wanting the barest necessaries of life. Food here is becoming scarce and dear."

"DON'T COUNT THE ENEMY."

It is recounted that in the fighting near Przemysl two generals reported to the commander, General Radko Dmitrieff, the Bulgarian now serving with the Russian army, that they were unable to hold out owing to the overwhelming numbers of the enemy. General Dmitrieff replied with an aphorism which will doubtless become historic: "Don't count the enemy. Beat him." —Reuter Special.

A FIGHTING FAMILY.

Mrs.. Cable, of Catford Hill, South London, has a remarkable list of relatives serving in His Majesty's colours. She has five sons and two sons-in-law, o fwhom four are in the Army and three in the Navy, the latter now serving in the North Sea. Also she has two brothers, one in the Army and the other in the Navy. Eleven nephews of hers are all in the ranks. Her brother-in-law, ex-Sergeant Bamping, of Reading, is a National Reservist, and he has a brother in the Army and another in the Navy.

"SAVED FRANCE."

Dean Inge, of St. Paul's, addressed 3,000 troops at a special service at Canterbury Cathedral. "I believe it is true," he said, "that General Joffre said the other day publicly that the British Army had "saved France, and that, the French, who are a generous people, would never forget it. Henceforward we shall have in cur old rivals and close neighbours the fastest friends that the country ever had. If France and Britain went down there would be an end of' freedom for the Old World."

THE BRAVE BAVARIANS.

"I should like the English to meet the Bavarians just once," said the Kaiser recently when congratulating the commander of a Bavarian army corps on the great bravery of these troops. He has got the wish—and the sequel is told in an Exchange telegram from Flushing, which reports that British troops have occupied Leffinghe and Raverzyde, the latter place being taken: with a bayonet charge. A Bavarian battalion (says the message) refused to fight, and surendered. It may be recalled that a day or "two ago the Crown Prince of Bavaria, in an Army Order to the soldiers of the Sixth German Army Corps, said: "We are fortunate in having opposed to us English troops. . . . Show them that is is not so easy to wipe out Germans, now that we are face to face with the enemy who is the greatest obstacle to peace."