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(From Our Special Representative.) 1
Londen, .Dec. . 23.:
Naturslly imany. a German resi
dent in England when war .comn
.mnoed found it. ldvisable, not to
:ay an advantage, -to discard kis
Tentonic name, and adoptroie ofd :
British character:. It is rather in
terestiu to -oteWa .f;#ewnampes of
German Hamts replaced &y British
ones which laear on the roll- kept
at-.the Roya? Courte of. Justice.
There is .Gun twag. which: has. be
ComeD Grantway; :.Elusman, changed
to:: Ma?iren: Rosenthall .- who he
eane Rodney- Koloeh now. kown
as 'athurst Hiiwitz, turned jDht
~iwa-rd; :Schuaak, 'into , Mayman ;
ýSchwerzl,- changed to' Vincent:;
18tohwasaer, changed to Stowe;
Koenig, becowmina "Kingsley; 'Dun
klebuhler, which is now Duncan ;
BSeharlieb, altered to Shirley; Weis
chieik, now3v Wynne; Eicho lz now
Eccies; Kuss which has become
Cuss ; a0d ?- ueggeemeyer, trans.
formed into Bridges. Some ha e
contented thenselves 'with merely_
translMang their German names
into English. Thus ",Schloss" has
become ".Castle," and "Von Sch
wartz" converted into "Blatk."
Owing to the 'rush to alter names
the Masters of the Supreme Court of
Judicature issued a notice in. the.
following-.terms : '~eeds poll to
change name can only be enrolled
by .a British subject; and; if natu
ralise,;_ the naturalisation papers
must be produced. Where the name
to .be changed prima facie seems
doubtful, then a certificate must be
insaribel. on the deed by a solicitor
that he knows of his own knowledge
that the person executing the deej
is a British ahbject." This does
pot imply that any alteration in Utoe
law kai Jeen made because of the
war,- al dien is not entitled to
elhage his name at all. If he does
so he is precluded from- claiming
the protection of the l&aw,.
r' eurioustZ& o ,r wounded
eorback trot ais
e to kfford a:..aanh ngl
scaantest in or4 atieao as the big
.f "
,events in-which they were concern
it, .and his tegerness oso.nter fully
ifito- triv~aliies. Thi' 'trait has
struck more than one obser
ver, both in this and former wars,
though never more than at this
time. Ask a wounded soldier about
the action in which he received his
hurt, and he vill dismiss the ques-_
tion with a casual remark, and at
once, digress. A wounded Scottish
toldier met the other day insisted
upon thrusttng well into the fore
ground. of ,his narrative a grievance
which had outlived the trying ex
periences of the .battlefield. He
had survived from Mons to .Vitry-le
Francois the terrible ordeal of the
great' retreat, and had been privi
leged to share in, the advance to #
the. Aisne, where bhe received his
wound. He had on one occasion
wandered from the British *lines,
and narrowly escaped -capture as a
prisoner. He had fought by day
and marched by night for a. fort
night, and ie .had slept in rain
soddened trenches to the sound of
heavy artillery. Of none of these
experiences was he anxious to speak.
One deep impression, one intoler
able grievanice, dominated every
thing. . The British. shilling, the'
Iiardtearned daily pay of the pri
-vate, was of the value in France of
the paltry sum of tenpence ! But
that .was haf. 'the grievanc0_ only.
He-had the ,vile:luck; as he. put t,
to have in his ;possession' when he
.returned to this country woundeid,
three of those. unfortunate francs.
When he exchanged them in London
for British :money ;he :received only
8jd. for each-franc.. .'aVhat 1 want
to, know is this," was his comment.
"Who gets my threepence
ha'penny 1" ?
- This idiosyneracy. of the wounded
1 soldier totalk of -things entirely un
related to the war is-:spoken of by a
.doctor, as regards '.a reservist aap
per. "I heard,' says the doctbr "the
story of .life in a. ssgaf -box 'on a
branch tine in the North of Eng
land, hbut nothing- about the o'oer
:tions in France: The man' was dy
ang, and I think ha knew it. -:ut the'
zest of everyday life. was still strong
in him.. He described' how he left
the army originally -and' obtained
his :post on the railway. He told
me there -were three trains each way
fin the day, '-and. mentioned how 'on .
winter nights .the last ti-in -was fre
quently late, and how his .late slip
per was kept hot by his wife. In
another bed in the same. hosnital
w'as a young Scot. He was a road
aman. add he talked, of theioelnges
made in' the roads by motor tmalic,
bit. notuhihg about the war. -ile did
t in pa?sing mention that he bad lost
lhis foot at YYpree, but it was -said
:Idiflidently, and the-?subject was hur
m riedly changed' to a description of a
I.ttorm, w-hich washed away a sea
wall, and flooded a road in Scot
land some years back." In a letter
from..a military hospital in. France
another medical- man .writes this
week:-'-"If you would filly realise
what:the war, as -an event.ini a pro
cession ,of event" means, you must
come to France and 'visit a military
hospitaL- Yoii must come prepared
to. listenu to stories. which have no
thiig to .do iviththe war, to -stories
that. concern home ties, rMd the
Idoings, ?real and .conjeeturged, ..of
;€!cildren, -queer sentimental -storues
woven '- ouffd old ideas like - the
SChiistmas idea and the idera of
home." -. -
SAs you are aware, nouseholders in
this 'ciuntry have be&i circularised
by the Parliamentary Recruiting
SCommittee, being asked to return
particulars as to the number of.
ydung men eligible for the army re
siding in their houses, and as to
whether these were willing to serve
if called upon. Thevhuge pile of
ansfwers whicli are now being sorted
e an 0army of)l-'-,h1, in Whitehall
yield some curious results. There
are a good many "spoilt papers,"
or what would be rejected as such
ini a Parliamentary election. "God
Save the King,'" or "Good Luck'to
the Allies" appears written-across
the paper as a patriotic substitution
for the exact.informcation asked for
in some cases. In other instances
householders have filled in the paper
with a little essay giving advice to
the Government as to the conduct
of the war. Others have used the
paper as a form of application for in
formation as to the whereabouts of
some soldier. Many people seem to
have thought the form was a census
paper, and filled it in accordingly,
and it is fairly common to find that
A zealous householder has entered
the names of all his family, male
and female, as being ready to enlist.
Others deplore tie fact that all their
bhilde are ar girls, one fat8e is
aarking. that it was too late to
remedy this 4now. Some .papers con
tain remarkable lists of sons who
-are-in the army; six from some fam
ily is no uncommon number. When
the papers have been carefully sift
ed they will form a valuable guide
to the authorities as to the a'vail
able material to draw upon.
Knitting in public is the fashion.
At least one is entitled to assume
so upon the evidence met in every
tram, train, and public place of
amusement. In London ,alone there
must be some hundreds of thou
sands of women who spend 'their
leisure moments making woollen
articles for the soldiers .and sailors
-stockings, socks, mitts, belts,
sleeping helmets and other useful
'articles. As indicated, this work is
not confined to the home. In all
public places where there are wo
men, the knitting needle is plied
with a rare- industry. It is not un
common to see a half-finished sock
or muffler dangling from the hands
of a, lady in a drees circle or box
of a theatre. At the Albert. Hall
this week, at one concert; over 100
'women, were at their task while the
orchestra played, and at a lecture
yesterday 1 counted a couple of score
of women who divided their atten
tion between the thread of the dis
coubsj and the mysteries of "purl
and plain."
-Various aspects of London in war
time have been, touched upon in
these notes,, but none of.. the has
revealed the confidence of the. gov
erning bodies more than the build
ing operastmies which are goina on
in the imetropolis at the present
time' I remember that on the out-"
break of war I felt greatly impress
ed by the fact that the.Westminster
City Council immediately pulled up
all the roadway in front of the War
Office. They had planned -to renew
the paving in Auaust, and What did
it matter that the world was at war?
And ever since, when news from Ibe
front- has been scanty,, or when
-doubts have crept in as to, the power
of our arms, observers mus, have
thoasht :-with comfort of the ,way
London authorites and builders .are
earrying through their programmes.
Old houses are.tbeing cleared away
'as usual, giant blocks of offices,
eash with a pretentious .nuuame are
rushed to completion, and tenant-.
ed. Speculative building ,in the
suburbs - may. be suffering, be
cause -of the .high price of
money3 but the big building com
panies operating in London itself,
together with the- public authori
ties, are busy in a ity which shows
that they and the financial interests
of th':-ity agree that London next
year, arid for many years after,
. will be-'richer, more full of busi
I ness,,- more the headquarters ?,of
business? aouses than it has ever
been. The' same confidence is
showiin hy the London County
Councit, a sedate body which dis
likes rushing i~ito big schemes, and
seldom plans a street - wdening or
improvement boldly. enouigh to
serre they xequirenments. of' a dozen
years later. ' Yesterday is unani
mous.f adopted a resolution ask
ing its building committee to aseer
tain whether a general. conference,.
of London' tuthorities could .not
,work out schemes of town planning
to meet the needs of the metropjli
tat': area. Fuither it decided to
see whether the time had not come
for mowing Coqerit Garden 'Market
so as to give London a really big
modern fruit and vegetable inarket,
and relieve traffic -in the Strand and
Bow-Street. The business men
of London are obviously not afna~ d
of the consequences of this war to
their city.
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