12 
LAND & WATER 
September 28, 1916 
that happened on May 31st ? The Commander-in-Chief 
in summing up the action speaks as follows : 
" The action between the battle fleets lasted inter- 
mittently from 6.17 to 8.20, at ranges between 9,000 
and 12,000 yards, during which time the British fleet 
made alterations of course from S.E. by E. to west, in 
the endeavour to close.. The enemy constantly turned 
away and opened the range under cover of destroyer attacks 
and smoke screens, as the effect of the British fire was felt. " 
The statement, it will be observed, is specilic. The 
enemy did open the range, which he had been endeavouring 
to close, under cover of destroyer attacks. In view of 
this statement it seems to me to be a very incomplete 
view, to measure the influence of the torpedo by 
enumerating the actual hits made with it in action. The 
influence of the torpedo must be measured by its effect 
on the result of the action. Between 6.17 and darkness 
the (ierman object was to escape. The British fleet 
had superior numbers and superior speed. It had 
enormously superior gun power, though possibly Mr. 
Churchill exaggerates in rating it as 4 to i. Butwhat- 
e\'er the proportions the Germans had no other object 
than flight, and no means of making that flight success- 
ful, except by employing smoke screens to baffle our 
gunners' aim and torpedoes to throw the pursuers off 
their course. The fact that they did in fact open the range, 
and by so doing escaped first destruction by our guns, 
and next clo.ser pursuit, proves that in the conditions of 
light and visibility that prevailed on Maj' 31st, the tor- 
pedo influenced the action decisively. 
It is, of course, quite ob\ious that had the weather 
cleared these tactics would not have succeeded. But it 
is a simple and indisputable historic fact that they did 
succeed. Had things been otherwise the strategic 
problem in the North Sea, as we saw last week, would 
have been vastly simplified, and the difficulties of tackling 
the raiders from Zeebrugge and the submarines have been 
reduced to very moderate proportions. But it is curious 
that Mr. Churchill, who thought modern weapons immea- 
surable quantities in time of peace, should not have 
perceived at least one of their uses after so dramatic a 
demonstration. Arthur Pollen 
A Glimpse of Rural France 
By Sir Herbert Matthews 
FOR nearly two years a Committee has been 
collecting money from agriculturists in England 
in order to help to reinstate the small farmers 
on their dexastated holdings in the countries 
of our Allies, as and when their ground is recovered from 
the enemy. The King is Patron of this Fimd, and the 
Duke of Portland is President. Indications having 
been received that the Dominions were inclined to support 
it, arrangements were made for a deputation to visit some 
of the devastated districts, so that representatives might 
be enabled to report at first hand to tlieir fellow country- 
men what they had seen. The deputation consisted of 
Dr. J. W. Rooertson (Canada), Senator the Hon. A. J. 
Fuller (South Africa), Senator J. H. Keating (Australia), 
Mr. Charles Elgar (New Zealand), and Mr. Percy Hurd, 
and the writer of these notes, representing the English 
Committee. The French Government gave special 
facilities for a long day's tour under the guidance of M. 
Guillon of the French Department of Agriculture, and 
the British Embassy in Paris made arrangements for a 
visit to the Albert and Fricourt district on the Somme. 
Leaving Paris at 8 a.m. on a typical September day, 
the sun dissipating the mist as the train, left the suburbs 
behind, we travelled through a fine undulating agri- 
cultural district, and soon entered the beautiful valley 
of the Marne. The ground rises gently at a short distance 
from the river banks, and every yard of ground is culti- 
vated in a way to gladden a farmer's- eye. Even where 
the sides of the valley rise steeply to the crest, the hill- 
side is clothed with cereal or root crops, save for areas 
of carefully tended woodland. No waste of ground for 
straggling hedges, since the boundaries of fields, and even 
of properties are mere baulks of grass, or a simple furrow, 
with an occasional water-carrying ditch wJiere drainage 
demands it. Corn, clover, sugar-beet alternate with 
each other in rich succession ; here a patch of mangolds 
or rape, there a plot of maize, and then at last — one 
rubs one's eyes to make sure — but, yes, there is actually 
a field of grass. The first since we cleared the outskirts 
of Paris. Grass fields are rarer here than cornfields in 
England. 
Further east there is more'pasture, but only where the 
land is subject to flooding. Woods become larger and 
denser. The land is poorer too, and interspersed with 
the cornfields are vineyards on every patch of land with 
southern aspect. Presently we reach Vitry-le-Francois, 
and are now on historic ground, for on this day two 
years ago was fought the Battle of the Marne, and from 
our windows can be seen a broken bridge, ruined farm- 
steads (some partially rebuilt), a church with half its 
spire shot away, and dotted all along the line the graves 
of French and German soldiers. A cross marks each 
grave, but the French are decorated with the tricolor, 
80 the resting place of friend and foe may be distinguished. 
At Bar-le-Duc, some 80 miles due cast of Paris, and 
about 18 miles from the St. Mihiel salient, we leave the 
train. The glass roof of the station here has been shattered 
by bombs from aeroplanes, and the bare iron ^framework 
is patterned against the blue of the sky. ' On many 
houses in the village placards are affixed, bearing the 
words : " Cave Voutee 10," informing those concerned 
that here is a cellar capable of holding ten persons (the 
figure according to the accommodation), and in the event 
of air raids this number of people may seek shelter. 
From here we motored through several villages, all 
more or less shattered, yet all holding a population of 
old men, women and children, who shelter themselves 
as best they can during the few hours snatched from their 
arduous work in the fields. Touppy-le-Chateau , Villotte, 
Vaubecourt , Triacourt, Sommeilles, Nettancourt, Revigny, 
Sermaize, Blesme and Vitry, whence we took the train 
back to Paris, are only typical of many other places we 
did not see ; but these were enough to show the meaning 
of war, to demonstrate the folly and the hate of man. 
Some of them were only damaged by bombardment, and 
to that extent may be said to have been accidentally 
ravaged, but others were entirely demolished by syste- 
matic incendiarism and savagery. 
Of these latter Sommeilles "was the most complete 
example. Before the war a prosperous vnllage, with its 
solid stone-built church and hotel-de-ville, facing each 
other in the centre of the main street, sheltering a flourish- 
ing peasantry, working on their own lands, asking help 
from no one— caught suddenly in the maelstrom of the 
battle, and in an hour everything has gone. The church 
walls now stand a roofless, hollow shell, the bells lie on 
the ground where they fell, the tower walls are nearly 
intact, and the clock faces are uninjured, but the hands, 
oddly enough, point to different hours, while a sparrow 
has built its nest between the hands on the west front. 
On what remains of the front wall of the town hall 
appears in faded print the legal notice of the forthcoming 
marriage of a young couple. One wonders if the wedding 
took place, or if the battle intervened, and this young 
dream was shattered like the church. Another notice, 
of recent date, and written for want of a printing press, 
announces the distribution of a gift of fowls from the 
English Committee, at 6 o'clock on a Sunday morning. 
Two bright-faced girls in clean cotton frocks passed 
by, carrying a. pail of water from the nearest point of 
supply to the hut which is now their home. One of 
them, perhaps fourteen years of age, has a strained sad 
look in her eyes, and though pleased to join a group of 
others posing for a photograph, her smile is fleeting. A 
heap of stones and rubbish near by is pointed out to u.', 
as what remains of a house, in the cellar of which the 
Maire and his daughter hid from a wanton German troop. 
Ihey were found, dragged forth and shot, and the dead 
