SENSATIONAL REPORT

Grey River Argus, 25 October 1915, Page 8

SENSATIONAL REPORT

TROOPSHIP TORPEDOED

WELLINGTON, October 19. Walter Coleman, of the Seconc Howitzer Battery, Fifth Regimentwrites to his mother as follows:— "While on our way to the front oui troopship was torpedoed by a Germar submarine. There were only 44 o us New Zealanders on board, the res were Australians. I do not knov how many casualties there were, bu we lost only three of our men, whicl was fortunate, considering that w< were all capsized into the , water, was very lucky all through. I wa« down in the hold when the torpedc struck us, and was only six feet awa] from where one of our poor boys was blown up. The lifeboat I. got intc capsized as soon as it touched th< water. I came up right underneatl with four Australians. Two got out but the other two and I could nomanage it. We were underneath foi three-quarters of an hour, and wen very nearly suffocated, when the boa righted itself all of a sudden. A< the boat turned over I must have beer scooped in. There were a terrible lot of fellows on top of "the boa when I was underneath, but I die not know at the time, arid as soor as the boat righted itself, we had 1 good boat-load. We were soor picked up by a man-o'-war and ] am now quite safe and sound, bar 1 few bruises." The letter was referred to Mi Massey who said that the Government had hot received any information oi a transport with New" Zealand troops on board being sunk.

AVith the school examination in progress, some really good stories are going the roundsJn a certain school the ■ master in one of the upper standards had gone to great pains to tell the children about the colour, characteristics, r etc., of the T'ui, or Parson Bird. So I confident was he that his pupils had - thoroughly mastered all the available - knowledge connected with the white- " throated warbler, that "The Tui, or 3 Parson Bird" was chosen as the exam- . ination essay subject. The fateful day 1 arrived, the children attacked the task 1 before them, and the papers were duly handed in. And this was how one ~ bright young hopeful commenced his tale:— "The Tui is called the Parson Bird because it gets up as high as it can " and makes funny noises in its throat." iln another school /'Gray's Elegy" . happened to be the subject selected as part of the test. The brightest boy 1 in the class was stood out in front, and started off in this way: I "... The lowing herd winds slowly j o'er the lea. The ploughman homeward plods his weary way; And leaves the — the — girl, to darkness i ' and to me." " In the roar of laughter which followed the young master was heard to observe that "it was rather considerate of the ploughman!"