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Taihape Daily Times, 18 July 1919, Page 5

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HUN PAPER AND A.I.F. ' WRITTEN APOLOGY. One of the many Ablnnders committed by Germany was to‘ underrate the military service that Great Britain would receive from her Dominions. The Hun ofi‘ie.ial mind was satisfied South Africa would revolt immediately Germany dcclared war, that Canada would link up With the United 'S'tates, and that Australia and New Zealand would establish separate republics. The pigeon-holes in Germany’s Foreign Ofiice were filled with doekets giving “inside information” concerning these expected happenings, and nothing c.ould have been more mortifying ‘to the Germans (says the Adelaide Mail) than to have to inform their people of the truth-

Finding themselves committed to: lies, the enemy officials cheered up Fritz with the ‘observation that the iAustralians -and Canadians ’couldn’t lfight, anyhow. Their coming was somewhat eagerl3 'awited in the German trenches; and it will be remembered that the first Australian company no take up a position in France was greeted with the placard, “‘Welcome, sons of Convicts.” This V was soon after the Jutland battle, {when the Huns, drunk with their imagined naval Victory, were breathing special vengeance on all colonial troops for daring "to come overseas to “bolster up the Allies’ lost cause.” Then the Anzacs gave Fritz a taste -‘of their fighting qualities, and the sympathetic German newspaper references ‘to “untrained colonial cannon food" gave way to unrivalled ealumny and vituperation. “RIFF-RAFF OF HUMANITY.” Here is 2». characteristic sample of the stuif that found it-sway into the German press:—— A fjrhe indescribable joy with which the fall'“ef the‘ folff_l.‘css;».ol.T".lErzcljurn, '| was V_\"*elcoi‘rl‘e(l‘:iill-itlief English 3 has no. doubt"evapor.a:t.e(l suflicieiiftly. for the British tio see clearly that their cause. ill the Nealf'J=East is in a.very shaky‘-condition.-*9’ Bec'aus‘el of what elements do the forces they l have available in vMesopot.alnia. «and. in the adjacent regions consist‘? Of Australians and ' 'Cana‘di.ins I mainly, the very riff-rafi‘ of hummity, descendents _of rnur'derc_rs anil thieves, drunken hordes, who despise the very thought of discipline and decency. 4 i _ " This applies particulrlj to the.‘ Australians, the worthy posterity of‘ I men who'for their crimes were once i deported from their own country to; found a colony at the extreme ends} of the earth. » i‘ These are the white Allies of the; black culture bearers who have set! notoriously civilised England against ' us, these cionstitute the uuspeakablei human refuse against whom our! I heroic sons and brothers are doomed I to fight. I And yet tlicreare sentimcntalists: who would urge us to be dainty in! 3 the Qhoicc ‘of ‘our weapons when fac5 ing such bestial creatures as these: "EAT" IT is '= ‘ 7 5 ‘The chief offender was the Koelni-i lsche Zeitung (tho Cologne .Gazett_e),! rand how it_was made toeat its_’w'oVl-ds iwas told to the Mail man by Captain’ lE. F. Pflaum, a sol_l._4ofA_,Mr. F_ Pflaunilh of Birdwood. _Ca“ptain:.Pflaum, was a; member of the Australian Flying; Corps, and was among those who went} [to Cologne to take over the surrender-i ‘ed German aeroplanes. He returned: ‘to Adelaide a few days ago. , “All the Australians," he said, “re-, lsented the libels upon them printed] .in the Gazette, and you may be sure} iiwc had not been long in the town be—; fore we made it our business to seek! lout that editor. The Gazette office is; Ea fine building and the paper wasf publishing every day as usual, but} Nwithout any reference to the ‘descendants of murderers. and thieves’ and the !‘dl-unken hordes’ who were Supposed; lto comprise the Australians. i } “With Lieut. Lamplough of Victoriafj '1 went to the office at about 6 o‘Clock one evening, and securing a footholdi in the literary department, we asked! to see the editor. I don’t know whe-:1 Ulol‘ they thought we had come to‘; ‘take over the business, but empmyeesi Were scarce at the time, and the? editor particularly so when we Dlained We wanted to have a word} with him_ We were told he had gonei out to tea. - - OBSEQUIOUS SUB—EDI’I‘OR. E “In his absence there was nothing! else to do but’ get hold of some other. Omcialg and We decided to interview‘ the sub-editor. We entered his den,. locked the door, and got to business. “Vet can I do for you '2.” he asked in , broken English. “We have come to secure an apology : from you for your paper's libels on the : 1 Australians,” we replied. . !

“He was anxious enough to acco:nodate us, but didn’t know how to begin‘‘lt’s all right,’ we said; ‘the apology‘ must be a ‘written one; “The sub-editor did not know how to" write English, so we drew up the apology for him as fo]lows:- d \ ' We hereby apologise for insinuations We have cast againcti

the Australian troopsthrough 01"‘ ~ paper, the Koelnische Zeitung. (fore Edito; Koelnische Zeitung). “This Vibz person then signed the document and pru:Ceded to put it a‘\Va'_»’.” .' _. ‘ “ ‘Hold on,’ 'x:v‘:ce"'s:i‘i‘7<'ii',‘v- ‘What are you going to do with that?’ 5 “ ‘Vy, lock it up'for safe keeping, Of course,” he replied. . _ “‘No good, we told Him. "Phat paper is for the Australians. You can take a copy of it for yourself, if you like.” p“Vibz agreed to be satisfied with a duplicate, and armed with the original apology we returned to headquai-tors, having a consciousness of Work well‘ done.;’’ % -