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Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8, 9 January 1917, Page 4

The -Thither forecast for 24 hours from 9 a.m. this day is as follows: — The indications are for southerly winds, strong to gale for a short time. The' weather appears likely to be cloudy and unsettled. Rain probable. The barometer has a rising tendency temporarily. Tides high. Sea rough." By the Main Trunk train which arrives in Auckland this afternoon, will come the mails ex the Riverina, which arrived in Wellington yesterday afternoon from Sydney. These will he available at private boxes this evening, and will be delivered in the city and suburbs early to-morrow morning. About 267 bags of mail came by the steamer for Auckland. Included in this are 56 bags of Australian and 211 bags of Englsh mail. A father with a quiverful of 17 (13 of whom are living) and his son were among those offering their services for the Tunnelling Corps at Greymouth (says the "Star"). They were desirous of leaving for Xarrow Neck camp with a party of tunnneUers who left last Wednesday morning by the Otira express. They were, however, disappointed in that the father was over the age limit and the son scarcely came up to the medical standard required. "Good-bye, dear mother, we are just going over." That was the last message home of Capt. F. G. C. Ashmead-Bart-lett, and soon after it had been received news came that the gallant officer had been killed in action. He was the second son of the late Sir Ellis A_hmeadEartlett, M.P., and Lady A-hmead-Bart-lett, and younger brother of the well known war correspondent. He was a born fighter, of great physical strength, a line boxer, popular with his men, and a bold company leader. The gallant officer's one desire throughout was, in his own words, to "get at the Huns with •the bayonet."

Last evening, after a somewhat U--I promising day, the sky cleared so much I that at moonrise the total eclipse could be seen perfectly from Auckland. When the full moon came into view a few minutes before half-past seven, it could be observed to be completely overshadowed. At eight o'clock precisely the first glimmer of white came from the lower right-hand portion of the rim, and the orescent gradually enlarged itself j until, at a few minutes past nine, all | trace of the shadow had vanished from its face, and the moon shone clear in its full splendour. At the Police Court yesterday ■before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., Joseph Matthew, John Matthew, Jack Martiach, and Jack Nizish were charged with using i threatening behaviour in a public place, iWellesley Street, within the hearing of passers-by, whereby a breach of the peace was occasioned. The two first-men-jtioned, Maori soldiers, did not appear. |Martich and Nizich, Dalmatians, pleaded " Not guilty," and were represented by Mr. L. A. Taylor. It appears that the I case was the outcome of a fracas beI tween a number of Maori soldiers j and a number of Dalmatians at 3 o'clock jc-n Christmas Day. Mrs. Nellie Quintal], housemaid at Cvitovltch House, said she ! was standing talking to the two Dalmatians on the corner, when the two Maoris approached and used indecent epithets to i the men. The Dalmatians were then at- | tacked, and after the intervention of an

] officer the Maoris desisted. William Ed- ! ward Higgins gave similar evidence. • Cyril Kelly, a boy, said he beard one of the Dalmatians use offensive language. Sydney Goodman declared that, iit was the Dalmatians who caused the ' 1 trouble and attacked the Maoris. ! Sergeant O'Brien gave evidence for the ! j police. His Worship, after hearing the j evidence and the remarks of Mr. Taylor, expressed the opinion that there was no case against the defendants, who were dismissed. The case against the Maoris iis adjourned until Wednesday. At the •conclusion counsel pointed out that the defendants were not to be confused as being Austrian 3. as the former were in sympathy with the Allied cause. j ''If, as one supposes, the speeches of I the Prime Minister of New Zealand are I printed verbatim in the Dominion newspapers, Mr. W. F. Massey, the present holder of the office, must be something of a trial to the reporters," says the .Birmingham "Post." "The right hon. "cntleman has the most rapid delivery of any public speaker who has reeentlv i visited our shores. Good judie3 of speed who have heard him estimate that he discharges an average ISO to 200 words 1 a minute. Our own Ministers are, as a • rule, very deliberate in their utterances. 1 Mr. Asquith. who never hesitates, an! whose sentences are always smooth and , polished, does not average a hundred , words a minute. Mr. Balfour speaks , more rapidly, but frequent pauses make '. his output about the same." The Bir- . rninjham "Post" bas never heard Sir , Joseph Ward warmed up to his work - Ho could give Mr Massey a long start and a bad beating, when it comes to rate of speaking.

Many ships— especially the old windjammers—carry a Jonah, but on a modern steame like the Maitai before she was stranded at Rarotonga, one would hardl y expect to find such a character. He was a steward—first job at sea, and his life had been spent on Pitcairn Island, so that he knew very little other than how to fish and be good. The stewards on the Maitai found no little pleasure in "kidding" the Pitcairn youth, and some of the tales they concocted were most remarkable. Tho victim believed all he was told, even to stories of murders in the cook's gailey, and fights to death among the Scotchmen on board He had been told that the Scots murdered sixteen Chinamen at various times during the run from New Zealand to San Francisco, and all this he thoroughly believed, for his diary was later found, and the entries in it show that he counted on being murdered himself at any time. The following is a one-day entry from the lad's diary:—"November 23rd.—A Chinaman died this morning after he had fought with one of the 'Scotchmen, and his corpse was cast overboard. Another Chinaman was killed and ohucked overboard to-night by one of the blasted Scotchmen. The beasts seem to crave alter the lives of the Chinamen." "Fare- , well, mother, you may never press mc to -your breast again if I am numbered with the slain." Such entries a3 this are scattered through the diary, and the lads aboard the Maitai had no little fun in taking advantage of the Pitcairn boy's simplicity, and, as one of them said, "It was some easy job to pull his leg." ' News from Tologa Bay reports further damage to the Tologa Bay bridge, a portion of wUich collapsed during the flood in May last. Two spans which previously remained intact have now gone. hanging like a V over the river. It is supposed that the pier which held them up has been undermined. A contract 1 had been let for the restoration of the bridge, and the contractor and some of his men were at Tologa ready to start : the work, but the further damage to the ! bridge will necessarily entail an extenI sion of the contract. The breaking of these two spans will mean a serious loss to the Cook County Council, as it was intended to utilise them in connection with the construction of the new brAlge.

On Thursday morning, Mrs. Crofts, of Morton Road, South Invercargill, filled a tub on her washhouse floor with boiling water from the copper. Mrs. Crofts left the water to cool, and also left her little son, Frank Morton Crofts, aged 2 years 11 months, in the washhhouse whilst she went in to do some housework. Fifteen minutes later the mother heard screams, and on rushing out found the little chap in the tub. She immediately rescued him and summoned a doctor, but death took place before medical attention was forthcoming. A relic of the hard fighting that ensued at Flers, on the Somme battlefront, came to hand yesterday. It is a . German machine-gun, which was captured by the Auckland Battalion, and presented at the request of Colonel Blugge to the Auckland City Council. The gun-stand is coated with German trench mud. In view of the aecision of the Dairymen's Association to raise the price of milk in Wellington, the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon. W. D. S. (MacDonald, states that the Board of Trade considers tHe advance not justified, and that the matter will be considered by the Cabinet immediately. i Mr. R. R. Hunt, secretary of the Auckiland Railways League, acknwledges re-! ceipt of the following subscriptions:—' N.Z. Warehousemen's Association, Kempthorne, Prosser and Co., Ltd., £2 2/ each; Kauri Timber Co., Waitemata I Sawmill Co., T. Mandeno Jackson, Thos. I Peacocke, £1 1/ each; R. H. Hopkins, • English and Foreign Piano Agency, Ltd., Hallenstein Bros., J. Horljcson, Win. ■ Hazard, E. Ellingham and Co., Bamford 1 and Brown, J. Thornes, A. B. Wright and I Sons, 10/6 each; J. B. Maefarkuie aad J?. W. Smith, 5/ each.

At an inquest concerning the death of John Cannon Leslie Chaafe, the jockey who was killed while riding at the Northern Wairoa Club's meeting, a verdict was returned that deceased had met his death accidentally by falling from Ms horse.

Referring to the frequent complaints from correspondents in New Zealand in regard to the non-delivery of letters to soldiers of the Expeditionary Force, the following will be of interest as showing how often and frequently a soldier on service may change his address- Couple with this the loss of mails due to a state of war, and much of the difficulty is explained. A complaint that Lieutenant 's correspondence had

not been delivered was recently investigated in London. It was found that in one year he had moved or transferred as follows:—Joined unit (O-M.R.), Mudros, 20/9/15; admitted hospital, Mudros, 6/10/15; embarked for England, H-M-s. Aquitania. 21/10/15; admitted 3rd London Hospital, London, 27/10/15; attached N.Z. Base Depot, Hornehurch, 26/2/16; embarked for Egypt, 24/3/16; posted to N.Z.M.R.T.E., Hoascar, 7/4/16; detached to School of Instruction, Zeitoun, 30/4/16; rejoined regiment, Tel-el-Kebir, 20/5/16; transferred to A.IR-, Tel-el-Kebir, 29/5/10: embarked for iFrance (Marseilles), from Alexandra, 29/5/16; embarked for France (Marseilles), from Southampton, 26/6/16; attached to strength Base Depot, Etaples, 6/7/16; sent out to N.Z. Division from Etaplec, 6/7/16; taken on strength of No. 2.M.G.. Co.. 7/7/16; in 2nd N-Z-Field Ambulance from 17 to 19/7/16 (influenza); transferred from No. 2 to No. 3 M.G. Co., 28/7/16; wounded in action, 16/9/16. Tn some cases latters had travelled from New Zealand to Egypt, been forwarded to England, failed to catch him there, and been sent back to England again, finally overtaking him in France. This is not by any means an exceptional case, and serves to show how difficult it is to deliver mails to members of an army in the field.

-he mails that left New Zealand on the 28th November for London, via Vancouver, arrived at their destination on the sth inst.