LEST WE FORGET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 243, 11 October 1916, Page 4

LEST WE FORGET.

Picardy has left its name and it-. fame deeply graven on the annale of our race, and the same fields of the Sonrme which today are the witnesses of the valour of our own time saw in a more coloured age the battle tournaments of the knights of St. Denys and St. George. j For it was along the valley of the I Sc-mine that more than five centuries ago the third Edward led his knighte and nobles and men-at-arms to meet the flower of the chivalry of France on the slope of a hill that is called Crec>\ Ii was here there fell that valiant King ot Bohemia who, blind though he was. asked to be led into battle that he might strike one blow with his sword. Jit was here that the Earl of Warwick, the Lord Stafford and the l»ard Reginald Cobham seat a message to the kin"- thai they and others who were about 'his son were co hard pressed that they entreated assistance, and the king sent message that his command was to let the boy win his spurs. And right nobly he woi them, being most courageous in the fight and most humble after, giving praise to others for their great vatonr, for every Englishman who saw eacb man's deed plainly accorded the other the prize and chaplet. And it was these same fields a generation later that sax the armies of Henry "V. marching towards Peronne and St Quentin. seeking to ford the stream near Bethancoart. Ip the passage of this ford Henry's arm; might easily have been destroyed, bu« the Constable of France, with a fine B-pirit of chivalry, refused to take advantage of his foe, and sent a message to the king asking hint to name a day and place when he would be Teady for iht battle. Some would have it- that these brave archers who fought at Crecy and Aginconrt are with ue still, spirit bowmen wife their-dood* of arrows ac of old. proud to see their own valour reflected in that of tbeir eon*, and prouder etiU • ' to feel that -out larger Empire of to-day ; has not forgotten the words with -whict their own king urged them into battle: ' "ULemamber that you belong to old Eng

Sut we fight a far nobler fight than these knights of old ever knew. They drew the sword for honour and glory. and the expansion of the realm, and right nobly they battled. Not in shining armour with waving crest and nodding plume do our knights fight to-day, but fed-stained, dust-hued, and tattered are they waging war, and they fight not for the glory of conquest but that the right may prevail. We read how the sunlight glinted from the vfaored helmets of the Feudal nobles as they rode to the charge in the Pieardy of old. but our soldiers need no polished steel to give them radiance, for they are lit with the aureole of heaven. For the voluntary and free giving of a man's life to champion the weak is the nearest thing we know to love divine. And all those who have left home and work and worldly hope because they led formed a wish dearer than desire, believing no venture could be nobler than theirs, and content to make that venture, have followed a king greater than any Edward or Henry, for they "are close upon those shining tablelands to which our God Himself is moon and sun." Many of our best and bravest have fallen on these historic fields of Picardy, as their brothers fell on the wave-beaten rocks of Galliwoli. Sorrow there is, sorrow there must" be. and no earthly hand can wipe away all tears from our eyes. Bnt with sorrow there must needs be pride thai our eoi>? have proved so worthy of their land an-J or their circs. And those who in the cause of liberty and toleration have laid down their lives on the battlefields oi Europe will win the blessings of generations that are yet unborn, of millions upon millions who. will cherish and reverence the memory of those who died that by their death sunshine might enter into the lives of tie weakest and the lowliest. Mr. D. C. Bates , weather forecast for 24 hours from 9 ajn. t&is day is as follows: 'The indications are for moderate to strong northerly winds, backingby west to south. Rain probable. Rivers high. Barometer falling, but rising shortly. Sea rough. Tides poor." A prisoner named Rangi Huirama, •who had pleaded guilty in the Magis- j trate's Court to a charge of breaking i into the camp of Peter Augustin at I Ohautira on September 7'lsst, and steal-1 ing a silver watch and chain and a num- i ber of smaller articles, making a total ■ value of £6 0/7, appeared for. sentence j at the Supreme Court before Mr. Justice ' Hosking to-day. As this was his first offence, and on account of Ms youth,j his Honor etated that he would "admit ! < prisoner to probation for a period or. twelve months, subject to the payment • of £4 towards the cost of the prosecution, and prisoner's good behaviour. The adjourned inquest relating to toe death of Emily Jane Mason, a married woman, who died as a result of injuries received through falling from a tramcar. was continued at the Magistrate's Court tits morning before Mr. E. C Outten. S-M. Dr. Bewes, senior resident medical officer at the Auckland Hospital, said that deceased was admitted to the hospital at -C3O pjn. on Tuesday last, sucering from fracture of the skull and j wounds at the back of the head. She i was operated upon at once, but no hopes i were entertained for her recovery, anc J she dSed at i- tt.vi. the "next* day:*" "James = Mason, a -waterside worker, residing in Pamell, said that he was the husband of deceased. When he left her to go to work on the day of the accident she was in her ordinary health. She was thirtyeight years of age. On the application of the police, the inquest was further adjourned. "On a previous occasion we -went out, in uniform to time the motorists coming j from the races," stated a constable in the Police Court to-day, where about 30 motorists, the catch of a police trap on the route from the Avondale races to | town, were charged with having! travelled at a speed dangerous to the* public, "That time we caught only one] motorist in the two days," he added, I "but it was pathetic to see the drivers ' manipulating their cars and brakes I when they caught sight of our uniforms. \ and some of the passengers got some j bad shocks in the sudden pulling up of 1 the cars." This time, the witness said, j the men working the "trap" were in j plain clothes. It has been foend that Catholic chaplams are somewhat hampered in their i ■work at the training camps, on hospital j ships, and elsewhere in the matter of' essentials for the conduct of services. Consequently it has been deemed necess.ary to inaugurate throughout the Dominion a special appeal and to establish a fund to be known as the Catholic Field Service Fund. The fund is to be placed at the disposal of the chaplains to enable them to supply more adequately the spiritual needs of soldiers. It was stated by •Mγ. C A. Whitney, at the meeting of the Council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society last night that he had been presented with a 121b rainbow trout, which had been taken this week in Lake Takapuna. The Council decided to liberate 15,000 rainbow fry in the lake almost immediately, and members remarked that there was a veTy good chance of the Jake becoming a very fair trout-fiehing ground, which was handy to the city'angler. ' A few days ago, says the Wellington "Post," a telegram was published from Auckland slating that the Rev. Father O'Doherty, of Cambridge, had been prevented from sailing for Vancouver by the Xiagara, by reason of the fact that his application for a passport had been mislaid in Wellington and could not be forvrarded to him in time. It was stated to a "Post" reporter to-day by the Internal Affairs Department that the application was not mislaid. It was duly received, and the usual inquiries were made. The Rev. Father O'Doherty, however, did not make any application for a permit to leave New Zealand. The form of application was sent to him at Cambridge on 19th September. That form not having been returned to the Department, another w»s sent on 28th September, but that has not yet come back completed. On 2nd October, the day before the Niagara sailed, the Department at Wellington received a telegram from Auckland asking if a permit could be issued to enable the reverend father to leave by the boat. In view, however, of the provisions of the Military Service Act, the application could not be dealt with in time to enable him to leave on the arranged date. Colonel Porter is to unveil a monument to-morrow at Omaunui to commemorate the fight near Omahu on October 12, 1866. The engagement is I noted for the fact that it was between ' the local militia and volunteers of 'Xapier and the Hauhaus. The officer : commanding the forces was the late Sir j George Whitmore, then Colonel, and the I prisoners who were captared were deported to the Chatham Islands. ! Tiie original Costume Concert Co. will give a concert at Mt. Albert to-nigiit in aid of the siary League Fund. An. interesting programme of eongs, danctes, 'and choruses by the girl* branch of the I Xavy League has been prepared.

The Mayor stated this morning that 1 the Public Services Committee. of tie] Gity Council is continuing its inquiry, - and -will probably conclude hearing cvi- j denee to-day in tie matter of replanting the Waitakere and Gornwallis areas, of 1200 acres and 1800 acres respectively. On Xovember 9 .next the ( members of tie committee will visit Eotorua to inspect the large Government plantations there, and about a month after this visit the committee trill pTobafely be in' "a" position' to report to the Council. ""The inquiry," said Mr Gunson, "has been of the broadest possible character, as the matter is one fraugnt with considerable importance to the corporation- and to the citizens generally." The conduct of motor-car parties who were alleged to. come out from Auckland on Sundays with guns and liquor, to the annoyance of J>eaceful country folk, wae the subject of a com-j plaint made to the Auckland -Presbytery last night by tie Drury Presbyterian congregation in a letter. Tie excursionists, the document Etated, behaved in a most unseemly manner and formed a very had example to younger generation, -quite apart from the nuisance occasioned bj the promiscuous shooting they indulged in. The congregation asked" that the Presbytery should take any practicable steps to have the "diabolical practice" stopped. Bey. CE. Porter stated that tiie nuisance undoubtedly existed, and the. congregation hoped to gain more from any publicity that might -be given to its complaint than from anything else. The Moderator (Bey. R. Ingiis) observed that so far as the law went tie Presbytery could do nothing, and so it could only protest on mo.ral grounds. In Tasmania it was an offence to discharge a -gun within three miles of a place of worship on Sunday, bat no such law existed in New Zealand. Still, he thought that people had a right to worship in peace. Tie matter was referred to tie. "life and work" committee for a report. Advice has reached Dunedin that Lee.Corpora.l R. Aitken, of Macandrew Road, has been awarded a military medal for bravery and distinguished conduct in the field on July 1 last, when he was •wounded. Aitken, who tas bora at Waitahuna, left the Postal Department in Dunedin some eighteen months ago, j and went Home, joining a London regiment. \ In speaking of the traffic by-laws a>t ,' last evening's meeting of the 'Auckland - 'Automobile Association, the members j decided that it was not so much the i actual by-laws which were wrong, as the manner in which they were interpreted. jThe president, Mr. \V. H. Hemingway. Jand ilr. C. F. Bennett were appointed fas a committee to consider the question of by-laws and their interpretation. Writing from London on July 27th, Sister Fowler, of Kelson, stated that she had received orders that she was to proceed to Prance in the near future. She also mentioned that' tier? was a great shortage of nurses- in Enaland at the time of -writing. The British troops were engaged in their -big advance, and wounded were pouring into England! The War Office was advertising extensively for trained nurses,- and ""Sister Tbwler remarks that "it looks as if it. might (become compulsory for nurses to serve lin the war before it is ended, as-such a J lot of the girls are breaking -down through overwork." J The, popular <pn cert arranged by Mr. ] Colin Muston,'.LJELA.M.," .Jn .connection with the winter course at the l«eys Institute. Ponsonby, takes place to-mor-row night. The programme comprises favourite songs, piano, violin and flute solos, and a violin duet, in which Messrs. Mii.st.on and Parsons will render "the "Andante" from Bach's doable concerto. At the Auckland Automobile Association meeting last evening it was decided j that the members of ±he General Committee send in to the sub-committee the names of persons who were considered ias likely to be interested in the forma-" ' tion of a Good Roads Association. Wiiea these names are received a more or less j private meeting will be held, and then '.probably a public "meeting to decide tne j question of -the (formation of a Good J Roads Association. '-.--..- '. • I In pursuance of the idea' of the Ifew Zealand Federation of Fruitgrowers, to j "bring the merits of the apple before the I Xew Zealand consumer as an article of j diet, through the medium of the .Dominion Apple Show, to be held annually in one of the four centres of the 'twoJ Islands, a public meeting is to be held jat the Chamber of Commerce in Aueki land on October 26. to discuss ways and means of making the display -of "apples, from the Auckland province at the nest show such as to be fully representative of the capabilities of the* province. The first show of the kind, field in Wellington last season, though hurriedly organised, was so successful, that a profit of come £270 was netted and divided among various patriotic funds. The next show is to be held in Dunedin, and following that, it is anticipated, Auckland will receive-its turn. Parents and friends of Sacred Heart College students at the front are : invited to send in their names for the school roll of honour.