WAR JOTTINGS

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 164, 16 March 1915, Page 2

WAR JOTTINGS

AMERICAN MUNITIONS PROLONGING WAR, Protest against American merchants supplying munition? .of war to contending armies in Europe was revived by Mayor Cuileyo Boston, from -he Duke cf Abrnzzi. The protest was •unseated by tio Duke in the name of citizens of the United Stales who are passing the winter in Italy. The letter said; “Never in the -.history of na•jicns have orders cl such (gigantic .ropertiens been accepted by any conn* ry as those now being executed in America for the Ccntinuamte cf the European war. America’s unlimited •apply of death-dealing machinery will cause an indefinite prolongation of this murder cf mankind.”

GUMS FOR THE ALLIES. America, with feverish haste from he Atlantic to the Pacific, is working in facta ie s producing thousands cl cus cf big armaments and ammmi i u,n for England and France. Its desinatiru is generally denied, but when ,lj> big guns leave New York aboard ..he trans-Atlantic greyhounds the secret leaks cut. This was evidenced Alien the Cunard liner . Transylvania sailed tor Live; pool from New York, having on board two sixteen-inch (guns, Sit long, and weighing nearly 75 tens apiece. They were lashed to the deck, and behind the guns was placed a turret for a battleship,, giving the liner was Vika appearance. The guns vtre made by bke Be therein Steel Corporation, for whom its president, Mr Charles M. Schwab, recently obtained in London war orders for 58,000,000 dollars. TL»2 guns aboard the Transylvania were consigned to Havlanj and Wolff at their Belfast shipping yard.

A CROWN LOST AND FOUND. Superstition always runs rampantin times like these. It may be true, :-r it may not, that in the year 1704, when the Prussians marched into Cracow and “the fair laud of Poland was plcu/ghed by the hoof cf the Prussian intruder," the desire of the King :f Prussia to i.D crowned as the King cf Poland could not be fulfilled because the Royal crown had, disappeared, and for ever a century could not be found. Over 100 years after the fall cf Cracow a terrific thunderstorm burst upon the city, and an ancient eim, standing in a field just outside the wails, was rent asunder, and in its hollow trunk was found hidden the famous crown of Poland’s ancient kings. When it was removed some cf the precious atones which had b-ten loosened ;in the process of time dropped out, and it is asserted that this was the first emeu cf the great war now raging.

KiiMG. ALBERT AND A TRAITOR. No monarch loves his country more fervently than King Albert cf Belgium, and a striking story is told of the drastic manner in which he punished a traitor who betrayed tiro Belgian army at Namur. The narrative was told tc a reporter of the “Western Mail” by a wounded Belgian officer vvho witnessed the incident. When King Albert heard that cite of his trusted commanders had proved i traitor he immediately ordered a tourt-raartia. 1 , and th» man was sen enced to death. At the execution there • ■a; a memorable scene. King At on | wag present, and when the deemed i man sAccd up to be edict, his Mr;; -si: •vent up to him, took from him his ! •.'.vr.ru, end snapped it in two across \ his knee. TUo monarch’s face was ‘ white v ,idi passion, and his Bps trembled with* rag-e. Suddenly he grasped ho di7.,'raced officer’s coat, and tore from it every decoration, 'every button, every vestige cf braid. The cfil- j ser handed his revolver to the King. : iiid asked him to sheet him. The •.icnareh flung the revolver back into : ii;> face, stepped back n fsw feet, sig- i nailed tc the firing party, tier air was , •en-t with a. volley, and the man was | v: mere. He had paid the penaky 1 of hi 3 treachery, I THE CZAR'S DREAM. M. Gabriel Honctaux, in the “Figaro,” makes a remarkable announcement in connection with the Emperor of Russia’s rescript granting self-gov-ernment to all three Polands. M. Honctaux new reveals that the EmI'mct himself, as long ago as eighteen years, then a young sovereign, confided to him his dream of reviving Poland.

-In tbjig memorable interview, of I which 1 took down every detail, he himself breached the painful subject, and said, ‘I know what my duties are towards icur Slav brethren of Poland.’ For eighteen years I did not breathe a word of this interview, but I can speak now.

Since then I followed the gradual and wise demonstrations of the Imperial will. Af various intervals pacifying measures, too cl' ten hampered i by the bureaucracy and by certain parties at court, proved that the Emperor had nor lost sight of h,is purpose. When lately, against the wish of the j Council cf the Empire, he pronounced cn his own account an Ukase aunouncirjs that His Imperial Majesty wished Poland to preserve the official use cf her tcngus and the right to direct :reccursa to this supreme authority, f felt that the moment cf realisation was at hand.”

FUTURE OF PALESTINE. The London “Daily Chronicle” editorially suggests that either Britain, France, or the United States may eventually be called upon to exercise a sort cf suzerainty over Palestine. “When victory crowns the banner of the Allies,” it says, “the doom of the Ottoman Empire will be sealed. What is to become of Palestine?” “Even were the new Zion to become an accomplished fact and the Jews once more have a national hearth and home, provision would still have to be made for Christian guardianship cf the Holy Sepulchre and other sacred places to which, every year, scores of thousands of Christians, chiefly from Russia, would make a pilgrimage. Wo assume that a new Palestine, whether it be predominantly Hebrew or non-Hebrew, will at the outset, be a state with limited selfgicveruing rights under the protecting wing of some great Power. Wiho is that Power tc Id? France has traditional claims to the protectorate ®f | Christian races in Asia Minor, and has I historic links with Syria. England is the protector of Egypt, and Palestine for acknowledged the suzerainty of th!3 Pharoahs. “America has for many years displayed a wonderful enthusiasm for missionary and educational work in Asia Minor. That Palestine should be placed under .the guardianship of ioue or ether ot thi3se Great Powers Seems fairly obvious. The problem of its future will net he an easy one to solve.”