GENERAL ITEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 27 January 1939, Page 4

GENERAL ITEMS

I'.x|jui t Reals An endeavour to have all Uawkes Bay export Cole pears pre-cooled before shipment is to be made as the result of a combined meeting of the Ilawkes Bay Fruitgrowers’ Association and the advisory committee, at which the district superintendent of the Horticultral Division (Mr B. G. Goodwin) was present. The meeting was primarily held to learn what steps could be taken to ensure the better condition of Hawkes Boy export pears on their arrival at overseas markets. First Shell Fired That Wasn’t You can believe this or not. It Is Colonel C. P. Hollingsworth’s story, and he is sticking to it (states the Melbourne "Argus”). The colonel commanded the 6th Field Artillery of the American Expeditionary Force during the Great War, and it was a battery of his that fired the first shell for America in the war. It was near Nancy in October. 1917. But the shell that his battery fired is not the shining brass war relic which Is one of the most treasured relics in the museum at the military headquarters of the United States The story was told by the colonel when he reached Melbourne last week In the freighter Tampa. Half an hour after the history-making shell had been fired. General Pershing sent a despatch runner with a request for the shell case of the first shot fired to be kept as a national souvenir. But many shots had been fired by then. The Americans were co-operating with French batteries at the time and the perplexed colonel, respecting military discipline, appealed to his opposite number, the French commander. for advice. With Cinllic politeness the Frenchman showed the colonel a heap of shell cases and remarked. “Take what you wish.” That is how the colonel, the general, and subsequently the nation, acquired the cherished souvenir.