VICTIMS OF THE HUNS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 208, 10 February 1915, Page 6

VICTIMS OF THE HUNS.

iiELGIUM'S MIS EH V AXD STARVATION. BARE LIFE LEFT. Amsterdam, Dec. 2!). A friend who comes from Uoussu, between Mons anil Qnicvrain, that is, at the southern extremity of Belgium, gives some striking details of the appalling misery which reigns in that, district The bread, which sometimes contains i per cent, of rye, and 7 per cent of winter barley, is nothing but an indigestible mess. But even this is not always to be had. For days at a time the bakers arc idle because there, is no llou,\ People who have a little money ijo to tiie small agricultural villages, where everything has not yet been requisitioned by tile Germans—such villages are few—and sometimes they succeed in getting a little (lour or grain to bring back with them. GRAIN DOUGH. Last, week a friend brought back with him "221b of grain. His wife and children and the servant ground it in a coffee mill, and between two stones, ami it was then made into a kind of dough which wis baked and eaten instead of bread. - Tiie miners of the Borirage work two to three days a week, hut as there is no means of transport, and the German troops are in possession of the rail- . ways, the coal cannot he dispatched. The coal dug out. thus accumulates in the yards, and yet the continued working of the mines cannot be stopped for fear of a disaster. At Charlcroi tilings are no better. A blacksmith told my friend that for several days the Germans had been incinerating corpses' in the bigf ovens. These corpses, stripped of everything, ••vere tied four or five together. The.v liad been brought thither from the. Yscr by train, piled together forty 01 fifty in a waggon. SOARCfi RATIONS. Well-to-do people line up in single ■He for the free distribution of soup organised by the town. The authorities *erc impatiently awaiting the provisions promised by Britain and the United States.

At Louvirn it is still impossible to luve gaslight, and oil costs one sliillinir a pint. • Salt is not to be had, and meat is* scarce.

l'"rom time to timo one secures .? hare or a duck which lias escaped fiern.an greed. And that is all.

Half-starved dog;? and cats run wild In various quarters of tin- town. And certain famished inhabitant'! sometimes think (if they do not already do so) of killing these, animals and eating them us hares.

Priests may no longer show themselves in ecclesiastical garb. Thev wear mufti. Funerals are performed in the most summary fashion. The priest no longer goes to the cemetery, lie waits for the cortege at the church door. Wealthy proprietors of the town have sold shares and obligations for 10 to 20 per cent, of their value in order to obtain money. The Germans continue to pay wit'i bonds, Some even make jokes and write on the bonds: "The bearer of this fs a goat's head," "Good for a kiss," or ■'King Albert pays everything."