Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-04
SHIP DRILLS FARcES
Charge Made by French Min
lister of Marine. ri
CREWS TOLD IN ADVANCE
Officials Have Dramatic Encounter
With Smugglers.
PARIS, July %. 1912.

PARIS. July %. 1912.
That the French law of 190S-caliing for
| safety drills on passenger steamships at
seals not obeyed in spirit is the declar-
alton of NJ. Delcasse. thte French minis
ter of marine. in letter just addressed
to the maritime authorities throughout
France.
The intention of the law is that these
drills shall be held without previous
warning to passengers or crew. so that
they may be a really effective test in
the efficiency of the safety regulations.
Instead of this. the minister contends.
the crews are informed in advance when
a drill is about to be ordered, and thus
are enabled to make prepa rations. for
which there would probably not be time
at the moment of actual disaster.
The minister condemns this practice.
and declares that i'm future only drills
carried out i'm entire conformity with the
regulations will be recognized by the
authorities.
4 dramatic encounter between tobacco
smugglers and French customs officials
occurred recently near Lille The off,
cials stopped the automobile. which con-
tanned over a ton of tobacco, but the
smugslers got away.
Officials Give Chase.
About O'Clock in the evening huge
car rushed by the customs post at Tou-
auet. on the Franco Belgian frontier be-
yond Tourcoing. and made of on the
fourt speed toward Tourcoing, in order
to reach the Grand Boulevard-a splendid
motor road running from Tourcoing to
Lille. The customs police Immediately
DISCHARGED their revolvers at the tires OF
the car. and then, springing on their
bicycles, gave chase.
They were being fast outdistanced by
the car, when a heavy dray, drawn across
the high road. made the fugutives slow
down. One OF the excisemen leaped from
his bicycle and jumped on the back OF
the car. The contraband runners drew
their revo!vers on him, but the plucky
customs man, ducking beneath the hood,
avoided the shots.
The other exciseman pedaled on ahead
of the car. and. barring the way. called
on the smugglers to stop. For reply they
drove the car straight at the man, but
he jumped into the ditch and the car
followed him. The smugglers then sprang
out and fled. abandoning their machine
and it's cargo.
Illiterates in Army.
The result of the annual investigation
into the degree of education possessed
by men serving in the French army has
been published. The class OF 1910. at
pTeSeUt Will the so.oIs, NUMBERS SDl, 4Ot.
OF these s,41o can neither read nor write,
3,712 can read but not write, and 17159
can do no more than read and write
Those possessing more extensive pri-
mary education number 79714, and there
are 6,5i0 with university degree.
The proportion of illiterates remains the
same as in the previous year-namely.
20 per cent. The department. of the
Nord sends the greatest number of Hit
erates-34T, as compared with 15l in
the previous year. while Haute Savoie
sent only iiliterate men into the army.
Gravely concerned at the frequency OF
fatal accidents to army ayiators, the
French ministry OF war has extended fits
patronage to a competition organized
by the Union for the Safety of Aviators,
by offering a prize of $4,000 to the in
ventor of an apparatus which shall AFFORD
guarantees from the point
of view of safety In flying.
An announcement to this effect was
made in the chamber of deputies by Col.
head Of the army air corps
The vital question of the safety OF
aviators, said the colonel. was one
of the principal preoccupations OF
the administration. As compared with
the first six months of 1911. the first half
Of this year showed about the same num-
Der of accidents, but the number OF army
ariators had doubled as had the total
distance Of their fiights-404, 800 miles In
all.