Abergavenny Chronicle

BY THE WAY. II Random Jottings about Men and Things. The Labour Corps. A special clearing-office is being formed by the War Office to deal with the sick or wounded of the Labour Corps as they return homet The Peat Shortage. Certain abuse is being made of the country's very limited peat supplies. Although it has not been thought neces- sary to treat peat as part of the coal-ratiun- ing scheme, the time has come when steps must tie taken to regulate the distribution ut peat and its price Sun-blinds for Underclothing In Bavaria the authorities I are commandeering sun-blinds in order to make underclothing I out of them. A Munich journal 'explains that it is useless lor private indi- viduals to keep on sending in requests f(,r exemption from this commandeering, but the Lmperial Clothing Office is willing to exempt 1 sun-blinds from seizure in such buildings as I militan hospitals and general hospitals. National Hutcheries. Nearly every county in Eng- land and Wales has taken up the national rabbit-breeding scheme, and in some counties there are already as many as ten breeding t'ntres. The National Utility Rabbit Asso- •iation is busily engaged in the task of proving to the general public that tame rabbits do not tastia hutchy," but are in fact the same as "Ostend rabbits." The question of dyeing the skins for furs ip receiving attention. The Use of Wood as Fuel. Large fellings of timber have been carried out in the Mid- land Counties and in the South of England. In order to avoid interference with railway transport, the stocks of wood are mainly being made use of in the districts where the fellings have taken place. Wood fuel is also extensively 1 used in military camps, with the result that the War Office authorities are now by far the I biggst consumers of the national timber loppings. Aeroplane and Aerodrome. Aeroplane workers, both I N o i "k- ei's, botli I men and women, have all along been very keen on winning the I war. They have shown this keenness not only in working, but also in J saving- In one day, the employees of the J famous Sopwith firm raised £ 3,374, to be invested in war savings coriilicates. Another linn, Messrs. P. S: W. Anderson, have started branches of their AA ar Savings Asso- ciation at twelve places where they 1 are engaged upon aerodrome contracts. Taking the twelve together, about 140,000 has been invested by the men of this- firm. Women Wanted. The demand for women for many departments of work continues; more women milkers, for instance, are wanted. Some women are proving very useful as thatchers. and plans are on foot to train others in thatching. Fifteen girls were tested on a Suffolk farm the other day for efficiency in ploughing, milking, root-pulling, thatching, spraying, and manure loading. Only one failure in one subject was reported. Miss Bowen Colt- hurst, formerly Principal at Holmes Chapel College, has started a farm in Essex, for the training of women in agriculture, and she is arranging to plough 130 acres. A I Practical I Sugges- tion. Housewives frequently write to the Coal Controller, telling him how they succeed in saving coal. One letter in his post-bag con- tained some simple hints well worthy of being followed. "I lay the fire," wrot-e this correspondent, on the top of the dead fire of the previous day, and only rake out the bottom ashes at the front. I then light it in the ordinary way. In time, the fire space is half filled with red hot ash. I keep the back part of the fire banked up with rubbish all day. only putting on coal in front. By doing this all through the winter, I esti. mate that I save quite half a ton of coal." Lord Crey's Message. Fur some time past the National War Aims Com- mittee has been publishing certain small pamphlets known as the "Message" Series. Each of t hese, in about sixteen pages, gives the gist of sotitp interesting and weighty utterance by one of our leading public men. Mr. Rudyard Kipling began the series with a message entitled "If we Fail This was sold at a penny on the railway bookstalls of. Me>srs. W. H. Smithy Son. Since then, the Messages have been issued free of cost to all applicants at that firm's bookshops and bookstalls. "Crey's Message" is now pub- lished it is a summary of the speech delivered by the former Foreign Secretary at the Central Hall, Westminster, last month, on the subject of The League of Nations."

BADMINTON IN ITALY. British officers off duty in Italy take a little recreation in the form of a game of Badminton.

A HOSPITAL FOR AEROPLANES. [British Official Damaged aeroplanes at a Repair Depot of the Royal Air Force in France.

LIVING UNDER THE TREES. j The weather has been hot enough for British officers in Italy to the out of doors, ,L>nmf6 VJJ"

A SHEAF OF WAR STORIES. Thrilling Incidents of the Fighting on Land, on Sea, and in the Air How Corporal Brown Won the V.C. I How Corporal Walter Ernest Brown, D C M., won the Victoria Cross is a story well worth telling. He was one of an advance party of the Australian Imperial Force which, on the night of July 5th, 1918, went up to the front line to make the necessary arrangements for the relief of another battalion in the same brigade. His battalion had taken part in the successful fighting of Julv 4th, north-east of Villers-Brettoneux, and was still busily engaged in the process which is generally known as "straightening the line," One of the duties of an advance party is to find out the dispositions of the enemy. This story will show that. in his anxiety to acquire his information at first hand, Cor- poral Brown obeyed these instructions rather more literally than might have been I expected. During the night, the company to which he was attached took forcible 4if a small system of trenches, to the confusion of its former owners, who, when the day broke, showed their rcsent- ment by persistent sniping and machine- gun fire from a post about seventy yards away across No Man's Land." Such behaviour was not at all to the liking of the Australians, and it was decided to rush j the post. Meanwhile, Corporal Brown, who at the time was in one of our forward trenches and had no knowledge of this deci- sion. had taken the matter into his own hands. lie decided to rush the post him- self. To decide with Corporal Brown was to act. A shallow sap that ran out to- wards the German trenches gave him some cover at first. When he came to the end of it he jumped suddenly to his feet, and raced with ail his might- across the bare face of Xo Man's Land." He had gone but half-way towards his goal when a. watchful machine-gunner in another post saw his lfvlii,, fi-ure, and opened fire. Brown dropped flat to the earth, and tho bullets cracked harmlessly overhead. One- more desperate rush,, and he was in the trench he sought. Opposite him. in the- further wall, gaped the black mouth of the dug-out. Corporal Brown, clutching a, Mill s bomb in his right hand, stood at th> door and called to those within to sur- render. Scarcely were the words out of his mouth before a German charged, impetuously up out of the darkness, hopirg to take his would-be captor by surprise. But Brown was ready for him. A strong fist met him full in the face as he lurched into the trench. The remainder, huddled together in the dug-out below, heard the sound of his fall, and knew what fate had. befallen their am bassador. AVith a loud protesting shout of Kamerad they cam sullenly up one by one into the daylight, their hands held high above their heads. One officer and twelve men, thev cam-a back stumbling and tripping across the seventy yards of No Man's Land" i ute. the safety of the British trenches, with the machine-gun bullets of their lat-e comrades whipping about their ears, and an Austra- lian Corporal, with a Mill's bomb clutched in his right hand, bringing up the rear.— By ¡.irut, J. 1. llo,I(I. Iln a FloodcG eoiler-room. I The Albert Medal lias beer, awarded to Surgeon-Lieut. William Fryer Harvey, R.N., for an act of Treat gallantry follow- ing a collision between two British des- troyers. Surgeon-Lieut. Ilarvey was sent; I on board the more seriously damaged destroyer to render assistance to the in- jured. Hearing that a stoker petty officer was pim-od by the arm in a damaged com- partment, Harvey immediately went down and amputated the arm, this being the only means of freeing the petty olficer. The boiler-room at. the time was flooded, and full of fumes from the escaping oil. This alone constituted a great danger t,) anyone in the compartment, and Surgeon- Lieut. Ilarvey collapsed from this cause after performing the operation, and had ta. be hauled out of the compartment. More- 'I over. at any time the ship m:ght ha^e broken in two, and all hands were fallen in on deck, wearing lifebelts, at the time, in order to be ready for this eventuality. The Albert medal has also been awarded to 2nd Lieut. Frank Herbert Calverley. In France, on the night of July 19t n, Lieut. Calverlev. of t.he Royal Engineers, was in charge of a party of men unloading 4-inch Stokes gas bombs, when he noticed that the safety lever on one of the bombs had been broken and that the- fuse Mas burning. He rushed forward and picked up the bomb, which burst., wounding him in several places. But for his prompt ami « gallant action there would have been numerous gas casualties and, in a-.i. probability, loss of life. Lieutenant Macintyre's Bravery. The Victoria Cross has been awarded to Temporary Lieutenant D. L. Macintyre. "t the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. AVhen acting as adjutant of his battalion he was constantly :n evidence in the firing- line. and he inspired the confluence of ait ranks by his coolness undtr most heavy j shell-fire and machine-gun fire. Later on, he was in command of the fmng-hne curing an attack, and displayed through- y out the most courageous and skilful nac!- & ing. On encountering barbed wire. personally reconnoitred it before taking his men forward. On one occasion, extra strong entanglements were reached, he organised a party of men and. under heavy machine-gun fire, he su]xjrviscd iha making of gaps Then, when the greater part of our was definitely held up. Lieutenant MaCn- tyre rallied a small party, pushed forward through the enemy barrage in pursuit of an enemy machine-gun detachment, and ran them to earth in a "pill-box" a short distance ahead, killing three and capturing an officer, ten other ranks, and fVt machine-guns. In this redoubt he and his party raicie,,d and dis- posed of the occupants, thus enabling the battalion to capture the redoubt. AVhen the battalion was ordered to take up a defensive position, Lieutenant Macin- tvre. after he had been relieved of the command of the firing-line, reconnoitred the right flank, which was exposed. While so doing, an enemy machine-gun opened. fire close to him. AVithout any hesitation., he rushed it single-handed, put the team to flight, and brought in the gun. The success of the advance was largely due to his fine leadership and initiative, and hia gallantly was an inspiration to all.

\Conflriard from -pre cvtut cohnn /> 1 attack the Italians again when the chance came. This mountain district, called the Trentino, and the seaport town cf Trieste have been known ever since as "Unredeemed Halv." and every Itahan has longed for the day when ihev would he joined to the Mother Count iv. Again. there will he no lasting ponce in I'urope, until this wrong is righted. The Austrians have oppressed the Itali ins because they were discontented under their rule, just as the Prussians have oppressed the Poles, the Danes, and the people of Alsace and Lorraine. There must be no oppression of one race by a not her in a Europe which is to live at peace. That is why we must use the smash-up as an opportunity to build a new Europe all firmer foundations than the old.