WHO IS EYE-WITNESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 220, 24 February 1915, Page 7

WHO IS EYE-WITNESS.

THE MILITARY JUNIUS. MAN WITH MILLIONS OF READERS. Who is tile most widely read war correspondent that history has produced ? Undoubtedly it is that delightfully vague personage attached to the General Staff at headquarters at the. front, who hides himself under the soubriquet of "Eye-Witness," says the Weekly Dis- ! patch. Every time a message of his is received and passed by the War Office for publication it is transmitted to two thousand papers distributed all over the world. Those in outlying parts of the world receive cabled extracts and later by mail the full text, but all the fireat •papers owned in the Empires of the Triple Entente Powers and in important neutral countries publish it more or less verbatim within forty-eight hours of its issue by the Press Bureau.

The German papers make copious extracts from the stories of the fighting contributed by "Eye-IWitness," printing, as a rule, those passages which bear favou-able testimony to the endurance and bravery of the German soldiers. Every rac e under the sun that lias a newspaper press of any kind uses contributions of this war correspondent., who must at least have live hundred million readers. The War Orliee ha* been ca.i fi I to explain th®t "KyerWitness," wliile be'iig given opportunities for se -ills the lighting at first hand must not be rewarded as being in any wise an official record of evmts. As a matter ot fact his contributions have to pa«s the c.ideal of being censored befcrc they are a'lowed t" be" made public. CHANGING PERSONAG S. Strenuous efforts have been made to preserve bis anonymity, and in this task the authorities have been assisted by the fact that "Eye-Witness" at various times has been four or five different personages. Conjectures have been made as to his identity, but these generally have been more less inaceurfttf. There is reason to believe that (fie first "Eye-Witness" was Colonel Seeley, the "ex-Minister for War, who, it is known, had been at the front nearly all the time, and during the last days of tho siege oj Antwerp was withMlr Churchill in the trenches. Latterly it is understood the task- has devolved on lord Percv, who for years has been a student of military history and just over a vsivr ago he wrote o very iliuma ting article on "Germany's War 01 IJlmration. IM3.' 5 T ■Should it indeed V true tnat TjotA itlerev is "Eve-Witness' torday considerable 'significance attaches to the -vaniing which he issued on that occasion to the Government to take heed of Germany's determination to spare 110 effort or sacrifice in the accomplishment of its destiny and in preparation for what a day may bring forth.

TDK INSCRIPTIVE <vm. 'Hip nrat ?torv of •'Eye-Witness" waa issued on September 12, and was a very short message, giving a short summary of the operations of tile British Expeditionary Force and the French Armies during the previous four days. It was a contribution very similar m character to the" dry communiques issued in Paris eaeli day. But p-.?se»tly "Eye-Witness «' uouragi'd. to introduce a little ilesli and blood" into his accounts, and we were allowed to become acquainted with the humor of the British Tommy in the trenches. l ? or the first time wo lieard of the nicknames "Jack Johnsons, "Black Marias," and "Coal Boxes,' which our lads in khaki applied to the huge shells from the heavy German guns. , Thereafter "Fv.-Witness" continued to make his contributions more interesting and readable, and also to lengthen t.i'm. 'When apparently he was short of copy lie filled out his space with topographical descriptions which left the reader cold and uninformed, but, generally speaking, he was able to maintain « Mill an-rage C f ta W f. IT

ports from tlie front. _ It was clear from the cluingc m style ■ n the later contributions of "Eye-Wit-ness" that he was an entirely different personage from the first bearer of this title who obviously was more of i military expert than a journalist; also the fact'that while 'Eye-Witness No i" contented himself with skeleton reports, •' Rye-Witness Xo. 2" launched out mto acocunts that ranged from two thousand to four thousands words.

A BIG AUDIENCE. At tli n present time on an average "■Eve-Witness" —who is again manifest- ■" n weakness for topographical description, possibly because that is the safest direction in which, in view of tlie important 'fighting now taking place, to applv liia undoubted military talents —is supplying about 6000 words a week. If lie were a vain man lie would feel " • ttnvd to think that 2000 papers and fi'v,. hundred million readers wait breathlessly for his contributions. That "Eye-Witness" himself is as drastically censored as any loss-favored war correspondent may be gathered from an interesting disclosure made by Private W. Bay, a Cheshire constable, who lias just been enjoying a few days' leave, after serving as an orderly to ■■ ]■:ve-'Witness." Tie tells us that only one-tenth of the news sent to England by "Eve-Witness" becomes public property. The remainder, we are left to guess, is blue-pencilled at tile AA ar Office. The most interesting secret revealed by Private 'Hay is that "Eve-Witness" 'ind his staff keep on the move along the battle front, and that they have seen almost every regiment and niliny a battle. On occasion. "Eye-Witness" dictates war news to his clerk while under the heaviest of fire, and in travelling about car? has to he exercised, for (he country is ever-run with "snipers."