CURRENT TOPICS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 45, 21 January 1939, Page 8

CURRENT TOPICS

(By “Wayfarer.”)

A correspondent says it has been quite a “gale-a-day” for Palmerston North lately!

“It is quite inconceivable that the TT.S.A. would invade Canada, or vie* versa,” declares a writer. But then neither has signed a pact promising not to.—Punch, London. * * » * #

A Red Socialist once knocked at a house in Park Lane, London, and shouted to the footman: “The Revolution is here!” “All revolutions must bo delivered at the tradesmen’s entrance,” replied the footman coldly. * * * * •

Sixty years ago a Canadian of Scottish decent devised the system of standard time which was later adopted by every country of the world. This system provided for tho change of one hour at every meridian and obviated the constant changing of timepieces necessary with tho development of methods of travelling. This Canadian, knighted for his contribution to the economy of tho world, w r as Sir Sandford Fleming. A fitting ceremony was held in Toronto recently when a plaque was unveiled on the building which uned to be tho home of the Canadian Institute where Sir Sandford Fleming first advanced his theory for the regulation of clocks and the time element in world commerce.

Finds which may “alter the books of history” were outlined at Harrogate (England) recently when excavations on a Bronze Age tumulus, or artificial mound, at North Deighton by the Harrogate group of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society were described by Mr B. W. J. Kent, Director of Excavations. Mr Kent explained that the tumulus was about seven feet high and stood on a narrow limestone ridge overlooking the Crimple Valley. About 100 tons of soil have been removed. Six graves, urns, food vessels, a flint knife and other Bronze Age implements were discovered. About 500 shards of pottery have been removed from the tumulus, 170 of them being decorated. Much of the pottery showed the influence of Neolithic B people who came to this country from the Baltic regions about 2000 B.C. Mr James Rfl Ogden, president of the group, pointed out that some of the finds dated back to 1450 B.C.

Scotsmen throughout New Zealand will welcome the proposal of the Defence Department to establish a Scottish regiment in this country. _ The new regiment is to adopt the uniform of the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) a famous Highland regiment. The origin of the Black Watch, it may be pointed out, dates back to 1729, when a number of loyal Highlanders were embodied, forming six independent companies, and constituting a part of the Regular Army. They continued to wear the dress of their country, a tartan of sombre appearance, which gained for them the Gaelic appellation of “Freieudan Du. i.e., “Black Watch.” in contradistinction to regular troops who wore scarlet coats, waistcoats and breeches and were called “Seideran Dearog” or “Red Soldiers.” These companies were first employed in enforcing the Disarming Act. in Scotland, which required a constant watching of rival clans to prevent plunder and reprisals. The BlackWatch w-ere known by that title for a number of years before the title was changed to “Highland Regiment.” In 1751 they were called the “42nds_’ hut later they reverted to their original title. The regiment has many battle honours.

An old lady wanted to have a little bet on the Derby, and was told that Pat Beasley, the famous British jockey, was riding Portmarnock, so it might have a good chance. A keen listener to the broadcasts from that celebrated London church, St. Mar-tin-in-thc-Fields, she got all mixed up and said : “If Beasley is riding Pat McCormick I’m going to have a shilling on it!” Outside the*Vicarage of St. Martin’s was a newspaper seller with a contents bill reading “McCormick no-balled twenty-four times.” Two little girls asked him what it meant. Learning that it was not particularly complimentary they said, “Well, hadn’t you better take it down? Don’t you know he lives there?” Tho Vicar of St- Martin-in-the-Fields, Rev. “Pat” McCormick, tells those stories against himself—cha.racteristioally : great in heart as in simplicity, the natural humour of life delights him as its, cruelties disturb him. “Pat” McCormick spent twelve years in South Africa: first as acting-Chaplain to the Forces during the Boer War, then on a stretch of veldt in the heart of the gold-mining area (where he understock to create a parish and build a church); then as Rector of St. John’s, Belgnavia, Johannesburg. Those years gave him his wife and eldest daughter—and even more. A “sporting parson” if ever there was one, his seven years in the gold fields taught him, he says, to know and understand humanity. For two years ho slept, in a hut, his only companion. often, a mongrel lurcher named Carlo. He played Rugby for the Johannesburg Wanderers (in 1904 and 1906 he played in the Curry Cup), played cricket—and forced his way into the hearts of men whose souls were as tough as their hard-driven bodies. In September, 1914, “Pat” McCormick—he had come home on leave—went to Prance. There, as chaplain first to a motor-ambulance convoy, then to the Guards Division, lie won the Distinguished Service Order, was four time# mentioned in despatches, and enriched still more his knowledge of humanity. “That unforgettable experience/’ he •says, “taught me to expect the best from even the most unlikely men.” Back in England, “Pat” McCormick became Vicar of Croydon. He has not soon South Africa since 1914, but he still has family ties to consolidate his already strong link with life overseas—one of his three daughters (there is one son, too) lives in Canada. In 1927, he was appointed' successor at St. Martin’s to that great personality of the British church and of broadcasting, the late ‘Dick” Sheppard. And there he carries on the work that “Dick” Sheppard began—work that may he seen in its fullness in the Fellowship Rooms below the church; a library, a canteen, a concert hall, the crypt where the homeless may know again what it is to be welcomed. And there, too, is the Children’s Corner, with its domed ceiling, little altar, its niotures —a place where children ran “speak in their-hearts to God.” The vicar of St. Martin’s is helping the world to do that.