MOTHER COUNTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 June 1917, Page 5

MOTHER COUNTRY.

THE AIR RAIDS j rURTIIEIt DETAILS. ! London, June 17. The streets of a south-east coast town are a mass of broken glass. Aerial torpedoes were the principal missiles employed. Some residences were damaged, but the occupants had a miraculous escape. Reports from East Coast towns state J 'wit, following a thunderstorm, the ' i was still and r'ear when thousands ■ aroused from their sleep by a .'■3c bombardment. Searchlights .•i;ed up the raider, which had pene- . Ati ii a few miles. Anti-aircraft guns gave it a hot reception, and the airship was soon aflame and descended some distance away, amid tremendous cheering. The first explosion on the south-east coast town was at about 3 o'clock in the morning. Aerial torpedoes, explosive and incendiary bombs, were dropped. The fires were quickly extinguished. A torpedo damaged some old cottages and private residences. THE DESTROYED ZEPPELIN. DARING AND CLEAN WORK, SET ON FIRE FROM END TO END. United Service. Received June 18, 11.30 p.m. London, June 18. The Zeppelin crew perished. The mangled bodies of the six who jumped from the wreck are scattered over the adjacent fields. It is believed that eight or ten remain in the wreckage. An eye-witness who watched the Zeppelin for forty minutes states it was apparently winged by the guns. Three aeroplanes approached, and the last and fastest seemed as if it intended to ram the airship, but, instead, climbed over it, peppering the whole .length splendidly. It was daring and clean work. The airship was set on fire from end to end, and it drifted slowly downward. j RUTHLESS REPRISALS. URGED BY BIG LONDON MEETING. Received June 18, 0.40 p.m London, June 18. A crowded meeting at the London Opera House, the Lord Mayor presiding, resolved that systematic and ruthless reprisals were the only means of bringing home to the German people the inhumanity and cruelty of the dastardly criminal air raids, and called upon the Government to initiate immediately air attacks upon German cities. BOMBS FILLED WITH SHRAPNEL. London, June 17. At the inquest on victims in the recent raid, evidence disclosed that the Germans are using a new type of bomb filled with shrapnel. It is less destructive to property, but deadly to life. A girl was killed fifty yards away, the shrapnel fragments passing through two intervening houses. Aviation experts are unanimous that no bomb-dropping device in existence is capable of dropping bomEs from 12,000 feet with anything like precision, therefore the sole object of the raids on London is frightening people. It would foe only playing the enemy's game to divert aeroplanes from the West front, hut the public is justified in demanding tliat sufficient machines be retained in England to meet raiders on equal terms. SOLVING THE FOOD PROBLEM. London, Juno 17. The newspapers predict that Lord Rliondda will act decisively on the food problem. He is in entire agreement with Mr. Lloyd George, who realises that Labor is saturated with suspicion that the masses are being exploited by profited. It is believed thai the Government has decided that speculation in food, especially meat, shall 'be peremptorily stopped.