ON THE RHINE.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1921, Page 9

ON THE RHINE.

A WOMAN’S WATCH. BRITISH SOLDIERS’ GENEROSITY. Miss Violet. Markham in her book “A Woman’s Watch on the Rhine,” says that the British, with their instinctive dislike of “hitting a fellow when he is down,” have done their utmost to spare the fellings of their late enemy, and to make a difficult and distasteful relationship as little embarrassing as the circumstances permitted. In point of good manners, quiet, efficient administration, and careful abstention from anything that could be vexatious aggressive, the British occupation has been as nearly as possible flawless, and many a German may have found it a preferable alternative to the very disturbed and perilous conditions that, followed the war in other parts of Germany. The politicians might preach hate, but the British soldier simply refused to listen: “German households, on whom many (of the British soldiers) were quartered, found to their amazement that, instead of proving, as they feared, demons incarnate, the British soldiers were good-hearted, good-tem-pered fellows,, who shared the family life, peeled potatoes, and played with the children. The soldiers, on their side, appreciated the kindly treatment they received, and were touched by the many evidences of hunger and suffering among the working-classes. Some day, I hope, we shall have a “Book of Decent Deeds,” showing that among all belligerents there is another side to war besides that of atrocities. We may smile at the true of the British Tommy writing home to his mother to send him a feeding-bottle, with tubes and apparatus complete, for a German baby in his ‘billet who was in a poor way owing to the lack of these things. The German mother burst into tears when she was given the bottle which meant the difference between life and (loath to the child. But such an act ■and the spirit it breathes is a ray of light in the darkness. Loud protests are sometimes made by well-fed, well-to-do people as to the impropriety of helping the starving children of Central Europe. Very different was the attitude of the soldiers who had overthrown the German military power. It is to the eternal honor of the conquering army which marched into the Rhineland that its first act was one of pity and mercy to the hungry women and children of Cologne. It was necessary for the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Plumer, to telegraph to the Peace Conference that, unless supplies were forthcoming for the underfed German civilians, he could not be responsible for the effect on the discipline of the Army.

The soldiers were up in arms at the spectacle of starvation, and nothing could prevent them, contrary to orders, from sharing tlieip lotions with the