It is Town Talk

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 800, 29 October 1915, Page 22

It is Town Talk

—That "the unspeakable Turk'' will yet be able to ,call "enough"." —That the recent British advance. in the west was a Hooge success. —That already longing eyes are focussed on that vacant £700 a year billet at Victoria University. No . Germans need apply. —That our women-folk are still kept busy knitting for our soldier-boys at the front. Someone suggests that there are other young men who suffer from "cold feet.'' . —That the world .breathlessly awaits news that the Kaiser has conferred one of his Iron Crosses on the hero who blew out Nurse Cavell's brains with his revolver. " —That in their endeavour .to remedy the war's wastage, Hunland proposes to tax old maids. Just as if it was the fault of the elderly spinsters for not having caught a husband. —That ' 'large numbers of German forces are moving west." A British Tommy confirms the- report. He writes : "We're sending hundreds of the perishers west every blooming day." —That a Christchurch inventor,' by name Moss, who invented the postal franking machine, now claims to have designed an improved periscope for rifles. Evidently there is no moss on this New Zealander. —That a young lady of Minneapolis has had a fortune-of £20,000 left her on condition that she marines for love within twelve months. We know scores of young Wellingtonians who could love a girl like that. —That the late W. L. Rees, ex-M.P., of New Zealand, was a cousin of the just deceased cricket champion, Dr. W. G. Grace. Rees had his full share of the family love for outdoor sports, and, was a good hand at the bat. —That the £5 reward offered by the Overseas Club for a definition of the word "Colonial" has not been won. Why not throw the competition open to the Turks and their German officers? Probably they could, supply a'definition. —That our New Zealand soldier boys at the front are now being surjplied~by the authorities with envelopes of a green colour for their correspondence. For fear of a revolt, wouldn't it be .fust as well to- mix the colours—say, half green and the other half orange. —That the lucky suburbanite who ■had two tickets on the big divvy at Trentham on Saturday got one on to the "knowing ones. ; ' He went out with a "fiver" in his pocket, scarcely knowing a racehorse from a mule. He arrived home with his pockets lined with" at least a century. —That the D.I.C. recruiting signal— 'black and red letters on a band of white calico, 104 ft long by 7ft deep, extending the whole length of the facade—is the most striking appeal for ' 'more - soldiers" yet hoisted in God's Country. It reads: "Young Man, Enlist To-day.' Remember Nelson's famous signal and do your duty." —That the legal advocates for Von Zedlitz, who have championed his cause by letters to the press, have achieved one thing quite certainly. They have removed the last vestige of doubt from the public mind that the Government did the right thing in firing the Prussian nobleman out from Victoria College, even though he does get £350 more than he was legally entitled to claim. —That when it was suggested to Marie Adelaide Therese Hilda Antoinette Wilhelmine, Grand Duchess, of Luxembourg, that she should marry the Kaiser's sixth son, she stamped _ her pretty little foot and declared that she would not marry anybody. As this ruling princess is only 21 years of age, and a charming damsel withal, we are inclined to think that in her pretty defiance she forgot to -add the little word "yet." —That the women of Wellington have been making leather waistcoats for our boys at the front at a great rate. Five thousand of these vests have been sent in. The girls of the Petohe Woollen Mills have made 110 in their spare time as a pure freewill offering. One lady at the Hutt has been turning the waistcoats out at the rate of a dozen a week for some time past. If our boys don't feel warm about their hearts, it won't be the fault of the New Zealand women

—That "a mole on the side of the face denotes a quarrelsome nature." So does a black eye generally. —That the Clown Prince of Hunland claims to liave bent the. French lines. One of these fine days he himself will be caught bending. / —That the German Kaiser some weeks' ago promised his precious army that there would be no winter campaign. He- will have to look slick. —That the Kaiserin, according to the cablecrammer, is distributing pots of marmalade to the Hun troops. ; This; possibly, is to make them -as good "stickers" as their hated enemies. —That it is passing strange that both Britain and the Kaiser should promise Greece the island of Cyprus for her assistance in the war. As Cyprus is a British possession, one can't help marvelling at the nerve of the Chief Hun. He'll be promising a mansion in Paradise next if he hasn't already done so. —That C. H. Barrington's luxurious new 8-cy. -ider Cadillacs are absolutely the finest taxis in Wellington, and art* alwavs ready for long or urgent journeys, lling upv night or day, 'phone 22U9a and 2U40. Address, 142 Sydneystreet.* '