In a letter written by the London correspondent of the Sydney Sun, on June 16, some light is however, thrown upon the number of Frenchmen who have given their lives in defence of their beloved country.
The correspondent — an Australian pressman who was at Gallipoli — says, inter alia:- "The immediate question is not the breaking-point of all the Allies, but the breaking-point of France. France has withstood the Germans’ most fierce and continuous onslaught. She has been holding the beast down in Western Europe whilst we have been getting ready to slay him. She has lost more than a million men dead, and her incapacitated number more. I was assured on high authority when in Paris recently that France’s actual supply of men is not in serious jeopardy, but her resources in sound men of serviceable military age are very low. Those who have been putting the French case before influential men in London — they put it very well, being, like all Frenchmen, born diplomats — have declared that by September France would have been bled to death. That, of course, is one of those over-statements of the French case designed to spur Great Britain on to greater efforts on the west front. But no one denies that our great ally is becoming restricted in her fighting resources . . . It is pathetic to notice how, casting aside false shame, the French as a nation courageously face bare facts. One instance is seen in the Government notices, staring at you from many walls, urging upon the people the supreme duty of ‘transmission of life’. France has to replace her crop of men. These Government notices and the decision to pay high bounties for boy children show that the nation’s needs will be regarded as a sacred duty."
• An arrival in London recently of special interest to New Zealand is that of the New Zealand Shipping Company’s liner Remuera.
The vessel left Wellington on June 22 for Plymouth and London, via the Panama Canal, and she holds the distinction of being the first passenger steamer of the line to proceed to England by this route.
The time occupied on the voyage was 44 days.
The Remuera reached Panama on July 14, the passage from Wellington thus occupying 22 days.
Departure was taken from Panama on July 16, the vessel arriving at Newport News on July 22, and sailing on July 25 for London.
• The tragedy of the maid who was left "waiting at the church" for her errant bridegroom who had found time to reflect, has been sung the world over, but it has been left to Gisborne to cap the story of the dolorous damsel with the record of a case in which both bride and bridegroom neglected to appear before the parson at the time appointed (says the Gisborne Times).
A wedding was arranged for Friday week at St. Andrew’s Church, and the Rev. J. Aitken, who was to have officiated, was the only member of the party to turn up.
History does not state whether love’s ardour was cooled by the rain, whether impassable roads were responsible, or whether a deadly quarrel at the last moment shattered an early spring romance, but the nuptial knot has not been tied, and Mr Aitken has by this time become tired of waiting in the cold for the dilatory couple, and the church is deserted. — ODT, 14.8.1916.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
