WEDDING BELLS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 18 February 1915, Page 7

WEDDING BELLS

SMITH.." A very pretty wedding:-took place'on, Tuesday- in the Holy Trinity Church; Richmond,, when Miss' "Nan O'HaraSmith, V seconds daughter of/Mis O'Hara Smith, 'of .Nelson, was wedded to Mr Neville. Pownall, "of" Ngatimoti.' Tihe ceremony was performed by Archdeacon Baker , assisted by Rev.-A.. J. Carr. The bride, who carried a shower bouquet of begonias and maidenhair" fern, -was becomingly dressed in white■••, Indian muslin, with.,; tunic of Indian lace, and wore a lace-embroidered" veil surmounted by a wreath of orange- blossoms. ..She. was giyen away, by ; her uncle, Mr J. Eman; Smith, .Under-Secre-tary for Immigration, Wellington.'.' The chief bridesmaid • was , Miss 'Phyllis O'Hara Smith J[sister "of the bride)), who wore heliotrope voile.with an over dress of'"'net embroidered in the same, colour and-' black- velvet hat.. .The other bridesmaids were.MissMhriel-Haiflcness, cousin of the bride, who wore pale blue flowered voile,, and., ; Miss , Dora O'Hara Smith, wearing pink flowered. Voile. Both junior "Bridesmaids wore black tulle hats decorated-with, blue' and.',Dirik "hydrangeas, and all "three carried bouquets, of the-same flowers. The bride's mother wore : smoke-coloured, ninon. over grey; silk trimmed'with floral silk,, and ablack hat trimmed' with grey and setoff with'pink roses.. Following'the example of the bridegroom',' the'"best man, Mr,S. F' Tyerman, ■ and the groomsmen, Messrs. O'Hara Smith and -lan Grace,., all -were white linen suits. After the ceremony,, a.' reception, in which -.over seventy guests were present, was held at Dorset Place, the residence of Miss Talbot, aunt of the bride, who .wore a grey satin, costume and small black hat, ■ The happy couple left-by'motor-cai; s for their ih'oneymqon; Mrs Pownall.wearing a travelling dresS. of mole-coloured- satin cloth -and • a Small, tagel hat lined with" trimmed with small roses and ribloon -of bie'ux rose. . • ' l

WEATHER AND CROPS A gloomy picture of conditions in the Flaxburn district and other parts of Marlborough is painted by a Christchurch resident who has just made a trip to that part of the South Island. For 40 miles in the Flaxburn district, owing to the drought, he said, there was not a blade of grass to be seen, all the roots even having been killed, and the willow trees had been stripped of their leaves to ;give sustenance to the starving stock. Furthermore, nearly all the water had dried up. Everywhere dead sheep abounded, and those that- survived were thin and miserable. This gentleman has seen several droughts, but none to compare with--the one he has just witnessed. 1 The "Timaru Herald" states that "no doubt the crops are going to turn out better than was anticipated. That fact is indicated bv the bit of threshing that has already been done. The heads filled verv well" with the mid-summer rains, and" the crops are free, from .blight and disease of allkinds. Of course there are man v poor patches of crop- everywhere, and there are whole districts where the crops are not good, but on the other hand "heie are many paddocks that will go thirty bushels'and over; in fact, there are some districts that will very nearly average the thirty bushels. Whereas at one- time the average over the chief s;rain-grow.ing portions of Canterbury was not expected to be more than 20 bushels an acre, even the. most pessimistic guess-:-f now puts it down at 25 bushels, while the more optimistic. say that two or lihree bushels" at least should be added on -o that amount. However,. the matter 'vili soon be settled. It will not be very long before vsufficient threshing will have been done to show us what might beexpectejd over much of our grain crops." Owing to the phenomenally dry summar, feed has gone off much earlier than usual this year;, and -.the, fields already have a brown tinge more indicative of late, autumn than mid-summer (says _ th« •'Timaru Herald'-')., Never at any period of the ,; or;..sumnier was" 'there '£ flush of) fe.ed .this,'season, arid, it follows that' very' little hay was made. In addi- : tl'on to this, the-drought has had a very -Tjad.= effect on the -root -crops;. .Both rape ahd : turnips are languishing for want oi .rain-, aiid many'crops of swedes which promised well a few.weeks ago have lately gone off to'-nothing'through, being' attacked by blrgftt. In some parts of South C'antei-bury water" is now '"being carted for sheep. -A South Canterbury farmer who"has an extensive holding says that the -present season" is the driest' that he has experienced on his farm since 1879 35 years ago- • . - ■/; " '.'.."■ ',"

The following: appeared' in our second edition yesterday ':'— SIR-JOHN FrInCITS REPORT by ; . : ! weatheb; conditions. troops severely tried. territories. justify-most ■ ;,••'"■ < (Continued from- 'Page .5.) (Press Association.—OoivXHiGHT., (Received' Feb. 17, 2.25 p.m.) Feb.," 16. Sir John -French's report'continues:— iV Since November'3oth operations "Have been limited by weather ."■'•'.< .Recent developments of armaments' and the latest methods of warfare.-imposed 'great drawbacks. ; . ' ' :'";. .A vigorous'campaign with mists and fogs meant an unnecessary waste of longrange artillery ammunition, and also, 'militated against aircraft reconnaissance, but many aerial combats were 'fought, raids carried out, the "enemy's detrainments harassed, petrol depots bombed/ : xnd the enemy's aircraft material destroyed. ■" " . The present accuracy and range of quick-firing rifles and .machine guns require fire-swept zones to be crossed rapidly: This is impossible Over ground 'kneo deep in'mud without entailing unnecessary loss. • At the beginning of .December a reconnaissance showed that much of the enemy's artillery had been" withdrawn, but .there was no great diminution in efficiency. ' Although there was almost continuous artillery and rifle fire .there were comparatively few operations' calling for special comment. - • The men were subjected to the severest .trial. Frost and snow alternating with rain compelled.them,to stand waist deep in the hours "n bitterly cold' waters within 200 yards of a vigilant enemy. Unfortunately, the circumstances prevent any account of many splendid instance's of courage and endurance in the iace of unparalleled hardship reaching' 'the public.. '/"■■■ The Territorials .more than justified the most sanguine hopes. ' Reinforcements have arrived wuh remarkable promptitude and rapidity. Sir John: French -has ,<no 'reason. to modify his views';on the'. general military situation- "expressed ' in Jiis " last despatch.