BELGIUM

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 127, 22 October 1914, Page 5

BELGIUM

GERMANS WILL HOLD BELGIUM. STREXGTIIEXIXG THE FORTRESSES Received 22, 12.55 a.m. Rotterdam, October 21. Tie Germans are re-fortifying Namur. They "nave erected bridges across the Meuse between Liege and Vise, They are building four Zeppelin sheds at Antwerp and three at Brussels. GERMANS FORTIFY LIEGE. ANTWERP STILL DESERTED. DAMAGE NOT VERY HEAVY. BELGIAX FORTS' INFERIOR GUN'S. London, October 20. A refugee from Liege slates that the German:! are heavily fortifying Liege, repairing tho forts and cutting down woods. They have thrown up miles of trenches and wire entanglements and are building a Zeppelin shed. Practically all the shops in Antwerp remain closed and nine-tenths of the houses appear deserted. The city is practically without water and the tramways are not running. The debris of the fire and bombardment has been rapidly cleared away, but dense smoke st;U rh.es frc-ni the. burning petrol tanks.

Tlie destriiefioa by the bombardment was comparatively slight and the important buildings are practically unharmed. Eng.ish and Belgian nurses worked heroically at removing the wounded from the hospitals amid the burning houses .and bursting shells. They remained to attend those whom they could not move and solaced the dying in crowded cellars.

Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, October 20.

Only thirty of the Antwerp refugees have returned home. The remainder fear the Germans' retaliation. A member of the naval division at Antwerp says that the Krnpp guns rn the smaller forts were inefficient at a range, of above a hundred yards. The

guns'in the larger forts would not ear tv more than two miles.

Two thousand refugees from Franc: and Holland are arriving in England daily. Frenchmen and Belgians between tho ages of eighteen and thirty are not permitted to leave the country.

ANTWERP REFUGEES RETURN. Received 21, 10.30 p.m. Amsterdam, Octolwr 21. Many refugees have decided to return '■ to Antwerp. J SEVERE FIGHTING IN WEST BELGIUM. 'DEATH'S HEAD HUSSARS TUT TO FLIGHT. PRUSSIAN GUARDS OVER-MATCHED. Paris, October 20. Eleven hundred Prussian Death's Head Hussars, in the vicinity of Ypres, came in contact u*th the Belgian cavalry, which, charging impetuously, broke the Hussars' ranks. The Hussars fled, tat were overtaken and all killed. Unaware of the Hussars' fate, the enemy's column, which was three kilometres behind, advanced. Suddenly the French, with 7.5 centimetre guns, opened a murderous fire, which was taken up by the infantrymen at close range. The Belgians found themselves facing the Prussian Guard, and the latter, beneath the terrible five, opened out with calm precision, as though on parade. Whenever a man fell another was substituted. The Guards lost all their officers, and, being without a leader, the Prussians retired, leaving five hundred dead. The Belgians were then masters of the Hazebrouck railway, and functioned with the forces from Ostend.

'"There are still something like 4,000,000 grown-irp men in England who are not allowed to vote,' 'said Mr Philip Snowden, member of itfie British Hous« of Commons. wh(\n- Dcoturing in lihe Town Hall, Wellington. "When I was first elected a. mombcT of Parliament, I •was not even permitted to register a Pa-rliamcntanyi vote. I wtis considered t« have sufficient, .intelligence and ca.pa(bilities to make laws for others, tot not to have &,voice, in the. elect ion of those wJwjt.nwde laws for vm"