FRANCE.

April 1—­A delegation of foreign newspaper men who have visited the prison camps say they found the German prisoners well treated and contented.

April 3—­General Joffre is quoted as predicting a speedy end of the war in favor of the Allies.

April 4—­The second report of the French commission appointed to investigate the treatment of French citizens by the Germans charges many acts of cruelty; 300 former captives of the Germans tell, under oath, stories contained in the report of brutality, starvation, and death in the German concentration camps.

April 5—­There are insistent reports that the French have a new shell which kills by concussion; it is officially stated in an army bulletin that a new explosive recently put into use doubles the explosive force of shells of three-inch guns.

April 9—­The General commanding the Vosges army has forbidden, with General Joffre’s approval, the use of alcoholic drinks in the district under his command; the general movement to restrict the sale of intoxicants is growing; the municipal authorities of Paris are preparing a decree prohibiting the tango.

April 10—­A court-martial acquits Captain Herail of the Eleventh Hussars, who shot and killed his wife in November because she persisted in following the army to be near him, in direct violation of orders issued by the military authorities; the President of the Touring Club of France states that the French people want American tourists as usual this Summer; the Almanach de Gotha is being boycotted by the allied royalty and nobility and a new volume, to be called the Almanach de Bruxelles, is being prepared for speedy publication in Paris.

April 11—­Computation made by the Paris Matin shows that the total length of the battle front of the Allies is 1,656 miles, the French occupying 540 miles of trenches, the British 31, and the Belgians 17, while in the east the Russians are facing a front of 851 miles, and the Serbians and Montenegrins are fighting on a front of 217 miles.

April 12—­General Pau, who has been on a mission in Russia, Italy, and the Balkan States, gets a notable reception on arriving in Paris.

April 13—­President Poincare leaves Dunkirk for Paris after three days with the French and Belgian troops; M. Poincare had a long conference with King Albert; the War Office is organizing an expedition of cinematograph operators throughout the whole French line; it is planned to multiply and circulate the films.

April 15—­An official denial of reports from Berlin that public buildings in Paris are being used as military observation posts is cabled to the French Embassy at Washington by Foreign Minister Delcasse; vital statistics for the first half of 1914, just published, show that the net diminution in the population of France was 17,000, while the population of Germany increased in the same period, nearly 500,000; the Temps says that the problem of depopulation must receive serious consideration after the war.