BARBED WIRE DESTROYED BY GUN'S.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 214, 26 May 1915, Page 5

BARBED WIRE DESTROYED BY GUN'S.

An artillery officer -writes: We were pushed up into a position where we were slieleld most of the day -and night, and were surrounded by our own field guns, .which gave us no peace, I think I can now safely give you some idea of the show out here. We have, of course, been working for the event for some time. The Germans seem to have no idea of it, although We have been massing artillery here for a long time. It was the biggest artillery show there has been since the war started, and was a great success from cu» point of view. Barbed wir e is proved to be useless if subjected to the right sort of artillery fire. In one instance 'we cut up 2000 yards of it into 9in. lengths. We started up with the wire-cutters at 8 a.m., and have the credit of having destroyed the fortified positon in front of mans’ front tienches, the whole lasting 35 minutes, then lifted our fire to —— •for a c.uavter of an hour, and then on to another position. The Germans were -quite taken by surprsie, and had no time or inclination to man their Maxima, and the infantry simply walked Into Neuve Chapelle, the supports moving up the road in fours. The prisoners taken were simply yellow with lyddite. The Huns are now, I take it/ getting ready to return the compliment; any way, they have collected a good many guns, but I expect we, or the French, will hav e a go at them somewhere else, so as to keep moving.

LANDING OF ALLIED TROOPS. AT THE DARDANELLES. (Rec. 9.15 a.m.) LONDON, May 25. A German wireless says that 90,000 British and French troops landed at the Dardanelles. CHINA AND JAPAN. A TREATY SIGNED. (Reed, 8.55 a.ra.) PEKIIN, May 25. The Chino-Japanese Treaty has been signed.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS,

—_—.— DOCTORS AND NURSES. WANTED FOR THE FRONT. (By Telegraph. —Press Association.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Senator Pearce stated that the services of more medical men for the treatment of wounded were urgently needed and nurses were also requir■ed. DEFENCE CONTRACTS. SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS MADE. ACTION BEING TAKEN. (Reed. 8.25 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. Th e Attorney General’s Department is taking action in connection with serious allegations regarding Defence Contracts. The Authorities are reticent. . L.. ■ ARBITRATION COURT. INCREASED WAGES ASKED FOR. THE COURT’S OPINION. (Reed. 8.25 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. In the Arbitration Court, Jutsice Heydon, dealing with an application by th e Railway Engineers’ and Firemen’s Association, for increased wages, referred to the rule of the Court, that application which imf>ose additional bur- , dens on the community were not to be made by public servants at the present time, excepting under special circumstances. He had come to the conclusion that the present, condition of the community no longer supplied sufficient reason for continuing that rule. The effect of war on the financial and economic position of individual members of the community di dnot appear to b e as great as was feared. Trade was reviving, and the pastoral and agricultural otulook was bright. THE POPE’S REPORTED ACTS. L ——— l ■QUESTIONED IN AUSTRALIA. , SYDNEY, This Day. > Ceretti, the Papal Delegate, gives . no credence to the cabled report that i the Pope has subscribed ,£4OOO to the s Italian war fund, and the allotment of t £40,000 to Italian victims of war. . He said the policy of the Vatican • was always, strict neutrality. He also declared that it was unlikely that the . Paris message that the Pope was about [ to issue a manifesto approving Italy’s . intervention and sympathising wit,h the - Allies was true. The Church had subI jects in all belligerent countries, and . due care must be observed not to hurt the feelings of any section of Cathol- . ics. i