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Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 115, 17 May 1916, Page 6

“VERBOTEN.”

AMERICAN VIEW OF BRITAIN

“The British, who, on the authority of one of their national anthems, ‘Never, never, shall be slaves’ and. before the war were wont to pity the subservience of the Germans to the official ‘verboten ’may have to make a slight change in their tune,” says the ‘Pittsburgh Chronicle-Telegraph.” They are getting an unaccustomed taste of the meaning of martial law. An Englishman returning to his home in London from a long stay in the interior of Africa without exact information concerning the new regulations would be likely to raise the shade of the parlour window to take a look at the weather.

If a policeman caught him at it that, would mean a heavy fine or perhaps, without that option, a month’s imprisonment. Or even with the shade down he might neglect to dim the lights in the house. That is another punishable offence.

After serving his sentence on his way home he might happen to meet a soldier or sailor in uniform, and grateful over his final release, invite th e warrior to partake of a little alcoholic refreshment in a near-by public house. The one invited need not accept. The mere offering is sufficient to land the hospitable one behind the bars for a couple of months more.

Out of gaol again, he decides to go straight home. There is a bird flying across the lawn, and, without thinking particularly what he is doing, he throws his stick at it and brings it to the ground. It turns cut to be a carrier pigeon. There is a heavy penalty for killing or molesting a carrier pigeon or not promptly handing a dead or injured one over to the authorities. Back to the cell for him.

Again released, the victim seeks the consolation of his home, and is unpacking his trunk, a duty he has not had an opportunity of performing before, when he brings to light a camera, for he is an amateur photographer. He takes it to the window to examine it, and is spotted by the ever watchful policeman, who by this time regards him as an old offender.

His house is within a mile of a munition factory. It is a serious offence to possess a camera within a specified area. Another thirty days and confiscation of the camera for him. By this time the poor victim concludes it would save shoe leather just to remain in gaol for the rest of his natural life. The offences mentioned and many others come under the latest addition to the British Defence of the Realm Act. B'ut the Act seems to bear about as heavily on the folk at home as on the enemies whom it is designed to hinder.