THE TRUTH ABOUT BELGIUM.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 348, 22 December 1915, Page 4

THE TRUTH ABOUT BELGIUM.

Mr. CarlyLa Smythe. the vrellknown writer, traveller, and entrepreneur, is just returning to Australia from a trip through the war countries, during which he has written a number of excellent articles for Life. The latest of these appears in the January issue of that magazine, just to hand, and it deals with a subject that is of the greatest interest, and yet is little known —i.e., Belgium under the German heel. Mr. Smythe himself has lived in Belgium and knows the country and its people intimately, and during his stay in London -he had the good fortune to meet a • Belgian who as a "naturalised Dutchman" is able to come and 5.. quite frequently between London and Bruges. The combination of this information and Mr. Smythe's knowledge results in one of the best articles Life has published this yen*. This issue of Life also includes a set of four masterly articles by Dr. W. H. Fitchett, in which, as usual, he deals with the fighting of the past month and the trend of the situation as a. whole-. Dr. Fitchett points out the danger to which we are all more or less prone, of looking at the inmediate news and failing to grasp the situation as a whole; The aw called bungle of the Dardanelles, the tangle of the Balkan situation, tha vacillation of the Greek King are all very disquieting when read in the shape of newspaper headlines; but anyone who will take the trouble •■? review the whole situation carefully will recognise, says Dr. Fitchett, that Germany is beaten in the thi*e-e srreat fields, and at worst, is but involving more people in her downfall, which is as certain as to-morrow's sun. Although these form the big: outstanding features of Life for January, there are scores of articles and dozens of pictures Waring on the war or various phases of it. In addition there is ample reading of a general nature for the busv man. It is worth noting that the inefdaseS cost of materials has at last forced tte proprietary to raise the price of Lifa t 0 7d—though this issue is worth 1/ in value.