Our Despatches from the Front (No. 58).
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Taxicab Drivers' Troubles. Detectives, Official and Otherwise. Recreation Facilities for A.S.C., M.T. Men. An M.T. Depot in a Circus.
These messages from Our Own Special Correspondents have been submitted to and censored by the Press Bureau, which does not object to their publication but takes no responsibility for the correctness of the statements contained therein.—ED.
111111111111111111111 Taxi-drivers' Lot Not a Happy One.
The taxicab drivers of Paris have been very hard hit by the seizure of benzole supplies. Every driver buys his own fuel and selects benzole, not because of a belief in its superior qualities, but because it is the cheapest fuel obtainable. Not only is benzole cheaper than petrol when bought outside Paris, but the town duty on it is less. Owing to the necessity of running on petrol, the taxicab driver's expenses have been increased from 4s. to 5s. per day. Added to this that taxicabs are not allowed to take clients outside the city walls, that until recently the gates were closed at 8. o'clock, that at the present time they are shut at 10 p.m, (some of them are still permanently closed), that customers are not plentiful., and the taxicab driver's lot cannot by any means be considered a happy one. The only feature which has not changed is taxation.
A Tenacious French Policeman.
M.T. units of the A.S.C. are discovered in curious places. Tho word " discovered" is used advisedly, for the British Army in France has no sign-painter on its staff, and for a stranger to make inquiries of a policeman or a gendarme is to call forth suspicion or 'arrest—possibly both. One of the Most important repair shops operating on the Continent, and officially known as Mechanical Transport and Repair Workshop, 320 Co., A.S.C., was discovered in a busy shipbuilding yard on the '-barika--of-some other river than the At the first attempt to Nut the "No Admittance" sign, a plain-clothes policeman popped up from apparently nowhere and dema,nded, in a most uncompromising tone, "Oii. allez vous Fortunately the sentinel was of the opinion that an Englishman having business with the Major should not be made to kick his heels in the dust. We finally compromised with the plain-clothes man by leaving the car outside the works and going in on foot. Evidently the man :thought I should /Mt try. to run away without taking the car with me, and if he needed me later he would be on hand to get me. He was one of the most tenacious Frenchmen I have over met, for when I came out of the Works more
A38 than two hours later he was still watching sullenly, and the sun was so hot that it was impossible, at the first attempt, to sit on the cushions of the car.
"Abandon Hope AU Ye Who Enter Here."
Inside those works there was a reception which atoned for the uncharitable feeling outside. That is to say, the reception was there when I got through to my destination, a machine shop, on the doors of which some wag had chalked, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." On the way to that shop I had to pass right through the yards, where French workmen were riveting ships which had been begun for Germany and were being finished for England. During that journey it was necessary to reply to five self-appointed detectives. One let me go with the remark, " Owh, Einglische." I wondered if he thought I was a German. Three limited themselves to a nod ; one grunted. As I thought of my pockets filled with passports, permis, identification cards, letters of introduction, all emblazoned with military, civil, municipal, national and local seals and stamps collected in England, France and Belgium, I began to realize that this business of keeping tab on every--: body possessed with the. '.insane idea of travelling in the war area is most efficiently organized by our Allies.
"Campaign Comforts" r Talk.
The officer to when). I mentioned "Campaign Comforts ". gotta business. "[f you coiild, send us some cricket sets, our chaps -would be 'awfully bucked.' .".He explained that the, men in the repair workshop are not in zeed of actual comforts. They had appreciated those sent during the winter, but with the warm weather there was no need for gloves—the best the men had ever worn, by the by— nor for mufflers.
"All Work and No Play."
The troublein the repair depots is to keep the men in good physical and moral form. It is no "beer and skittles" working in a foreign conntry from 6.30 a:rn. to 6 p.m., ignoring the existence of Sundays, and remaining in the shops until 9 p.m. twice a week in order to compensate for the Saturday after-noon half-holiday. Men who have
just come from civil life are apt -'to find' the -necessary military restrictions irksome. There is an idea . that they could only get to the . Front they would have a gldrious time.Thus the officers interest themselves in the men's lot both on
and off duty, acting on that British principle that you can get a lot more out of a man by leading him than by driving him.
A Football Match "Poster."
I was taken to the company's • playing field, which had been loaned to them by the Frenchproprietor. As a typewritten notice indicated, there was to be a football match that evening, in which.
• both officers mid men were playing. " In a few weeks we shall have to stop football, for it is already F-etting hot here," remarked a lieutenant, "and as the ground only needs a little rolling to put it into tolerable shape, we shall make a cricket pitch of it, if you can send us the sets."
Brightness in Spare Hours Needed.
The proximity of the river suggested swimming. "Yes, we are forming a swimming club," stated
the officer. "A portion of the river is already being boarded off for the use of our _men, and what we need are bathing costumes, a couple of sets of swimming wings for the use of learners, and, if you can manage. it, a water polo ball." When we had peeped into the canteen, visited the camp, looked into the_ long, low -dining-room, with its clean-scrubbed tables and-deal seats, the officer, suggested, somewhattimidly, ."-Do you think Roseberi-Avenue could rise-to a gramo • phone ? These may-look like luxuries," he. explairfed-, "hut the Men lead a strenuouS life here, and 'the ino-re brightness we can put ' into-their 'sPare hours the more the quantity and the better the quality • of tire work we shall get out of them." M.T. Depot in a Circus.
The Advance M.T. depot.` at IMP was discovered in a circus. As a well-known Brooklands race driver, in the uniform of a lieutenant, was waiting at the main entrance, I got inside as quickly as the man who came with his onefranc piece in the good old peace days. The _ Major occupied the .booking office. Through the little window •where tickets for "premières," "-secondes," "fauteuils d'orchestre,P etc., were once passed, there now went through orders for stores and parts, despatches, reports on petrol and oil consumption. Inside, where cream horses and fluffy ladies once astonished the natives, stronglybuilt, unromantic-looking case, filled every inch of space. Outside, . on the public square adjoining tho circus, there was a display o2. British militarized commercial vehicles, which, figuratively speaking, knocked all the gold and tinsel the circus ever possessed into a cocked hat'.
Indian Troops Transport.'
"You people have done us well," reiliarked the Major. "Those gloves, mufflers and socks were fine. We have between 540 and 600 men here, but we get a lot of casual's ; they are leaving nearly every day to go to the Front, thus our wants are somewhat varied. Send us more soap and towels ; we have always need for socks ; plenty of room, too, for those big red handkerchiefs. Never mind about tobacco ; there are men who need it more than we do. In the way of games, we should very muchlike a cricket set and also playing cards." After passing along an important railroad siding where Indian troops were carrying away hags of meal on light carts drawn by slim, wiry horses, where cavalry fatigue parties were loading a steam wagon withOtrusses of •hay, where Canadians were taking provisions aboard an American gasoline truck," Base M.T. Depot was discovered in what had once been an important cotton. factory. . .