RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 34

RANDOM REMINDER

TOGETHERNESS

A few weeks ago we recorded a bit of nonsense about a train traveller being set down on the platform of an English town called Westbury by a strong man from a circus, because he had to get off at that particular station and the train did not stop there. The passenger was told to start running as fast as he could and he was safely set down, although going at high speed. Just as he was slowing up at the end of the platform, the guard in the end van whipped him in again, under the impression he was trying to catch the train. From this fantasy, some interesting facts have emerged. A Christchurch

resident writes to say that he actually did go to Westbury in a train travelling at 60 miles an hour and not stopping there. About two miles short of the place, a coupling was released and with some welljudged braking, the guard brought the carriage to the platform. Our correspondent says a Maori in Egypt in 1916 had similar ideas. After Gallipoli, orders were given to divide the Australian and New Zealand Divisions. Anzacs did not like it. They knew and liked each other and knew how important it was in an attack to have on your a flank men you trusted. It 'marked the end of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, so that Anzac,

after barely a year of crowded life, became history. However, orders were orders—the New Zealand Division to be at Moascar, Ismailia, and the Australians at Moascar, Tel-el-Kebir. A long train was prepared, and filled with Australian troops. A Maori quietly released a coupling, about a quarter of the train length from the engine. There were loud cheers and much hilarity as the engine whistled and steamed off. The Egyptian engine driver went a long way before he realised he had left most of his train behind. He was the only one not amused; but. our correspondent suggests the Egyptians often lacked a sense of humour.