WAR JOTTINGS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 141, 17 February 1915, Page 7

WAR JOTTINGS

—— THE “RAJPUT” FIGHTING IViAN. Among onr Indian troops, who are fighting so valiantly in the cause of the Allies, the Rajput is playing a brave part. Says the current “Navy and Army”: “Some idea of the military efficiency of the Rajput States can be inferred from the fact that the Imperial Service Transport Corps, comprising 1,200 ponies and 600 carts, which the Maharaja of Jaipur maintains for the use of the Imperial Government whenever and wherever it may be required, can be entrained and fully equipped for service, for any part of the world, at any time within 24 hours from the time when the notice is received that they are needed to defend the interests of the Empire. This corps has carts of the most modern pattern, some folding, some with boilers and ccoking stoves designed to make it possible to brew tea for tie troops while on the march, some of the ambulance carts so constructed that they can be taken across the roughest kind of country. The welltrained men of this body can take one of the folding carts apart and put it together again in five minutes. Another unique military institution possessed by the Rajput Rajas is the cam. cl corps belonging to the Maharaja of Bikaner. This is 500 strong, and has seen service in many campaigns. The men are dressed in flowing robes or chain mail armour, and carry long spears. As they move about on their clumsy, rolling mounts, in the discharge of their various duties, they present a most picturesque appearance.”

The first naval V.C. of the war went to iLieutenant Norman D. Holbrook, commander of submarine 811, which dived under five lines of mines in the Dardanelles and torpedoed a Turkish man-of-war.

Germany believes in starting early with her “kultnr” curriculum. “How can Germany get the mastery of the seas and lay down the law to Britain? was the subject of an essay set in all the schools at the request cf the authorities.

A ycung man at a Midland picture palace cheered films showing the German bombardment. He struck a remonstrator, and when attacked by the crowd he said he was a pro-German. He was remanded for medical treatment.

It is estimated that between 20,000 and 25,000 Armenian volunteers will be in the field by the spring. The force will be self-sustaining'. Some 6,000 are already in service with the Russians, and in the United States 5,000 more are equipped and prepared to leave.

Germany is energetically pushing the candidature of Prince Eitel Frederick for the throne of Hungary, the independence of which is expected to be one result of the war, says a Petrograd dispatch. Prince Eitel Frederick is the second son of Emperor William.

At one town in Germany, declared Dr E. Powell Frazer, U.S. Consul at Veyney, in Switzerland, who recently returned to America, seventeen American women were. arrested as spies and thrown into a large cell, where together they were compelled to remove every stitch of clothing, which was taken from them for examination. After being huddled together nude for several hours, their clothing, all mixed up, was dumped into the cell, and they were told to dress and get out. of the country as quickly as possible. 1 ; --v'

Rifleman A. T. Gardiner, of the staff of the London News Agency, sends an Interesting account of the work of the Queen’s Westminsters at the front. "It would do you good to see us," he says. "Stock Exchange men, hank clerks, etc, covered with mud from head to foot —unwashed and unshared for a week. We don’t get anything like enough sleep,” he adds. “When we come out wo shall make excellent navvies. For city men we have shaken down wonderfully, and our health generally is very good.”