ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

Free Lance, Volume XVIII, Issue 948, 12 September 1918, Page 4

ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

DEAR Free Lance, —In your issue of sth September there is a paa*a~ graph concerning Sergeant Leslie Thomson, in which it shows that the young soldier .enlisted at the_ age of 16, andTias made the great sacrifice ere he reached the age of 20. Another Leslie is also worthy of mention, Corporal Leslie Batson, who worked his passage to England in 1916 at the age of 15, and enlisted with the Royal Sussex Regiment giving his age) as 19 to the authorities at Home. Gorpl. Batson saw service in Palestine and received promotion jn the field. He was invalid©d back to New Zealand in March last, and has the proud distinction of being the youngest member of the New "Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association m Christchurch, if not in New Zealand. Oorpl. Batson is the son of the late J. E. Batson (New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd.) and Mrs. Maries, of Oamaru and Wellington. Tours, etc., Maes, Wellington. * * # . Mr Justice Cooper, whose front name is the Scriptural Theophilus, a food one about an experience he had not long ago in a Wellington tram-car. The judge, who puts on no frill either in dress or manner in his perambulations about town, clambered into a Lyall Bay car, after a long spell on the Appeal Court Bench, and took a seat by the sidei of a wharfs-lumper just knocked off work. Directly opposite them sat one of Wellington's smartest youths arrayed in the very latest style. When thei conductor hove in sight for fares the aforesaid youth to his great alarm found he had left his cash on the grand piano- at home and solved the problem by producing, his card from a neat little case. The "wharfie" stared, nudged his neighbour, the judge, violently in the ribs and exclaimed m a hoarse whisper: "'Strath! they wouldn't do that for poor s like you and mei, old cock!" * * •* * Mr. Sydney Mack ,the newly appointed Australian K.C., who has been figuring prominently in _ the proceedings against the Irish agitators changed with sedition-mongering in Sydney, is a brother of Miss Louise Mack (Mrs. J. Mi Creed), the well-known authoress and lecturer on war subjects. Another sister is also an authoress, and there are two other brothers at the Bar in New South Wales. * * «• * Sergeant T. Ryan, Labour M.L.A. for Essendon, over in. Australia, is out on the platform appealing for recruits for the Australian Army in France. His stirring appeal concludes in these terms. By coming here to you as part of the great body of Australian workers, we want you to fall in line with the great Labour movement of England and America, to realise we are in the struggle for all wei have and are, and the only party cry that any honest man dare sound to-day is— Fall in, Comrades, by the right, Here's a watchword for this fight: Clear the clouds for Freedom's light, ® Fall in!" Titemembering— There is but one task for all, For each one life to give; Who stands if Freedom fall? Who dies if England live? One Man is waiting somewhere in Trance to-day to come back to Mother, to Wife, to Children. One Man is wanted to-day to take his place. Which of You will be that one? * * •* ■» Brisbane has a Mayor in John MacMaster whose record must be hard to beat. He will be 88* this year, has filled a chair in the Brisbane City Council for 50 years and stands six feet in his socks. Now then, John P., measure up. * * * * ' Lieut. Frank R. Fischer, of the 6th Battalion, Australian Infantry, who was killed in action in France on August 10, was the third son of Mr. Hugo Fischer (well known in Adelaide musicale circles) and brother of Madame Elsa Stralia, who has won distinction in London both in opera and on the concert platform. Before the war he had visited New Zealand several times in the interests of the firm (Messrs. Wm. Houghton and Co.) that employed him. Wben war broke out Lieut. Frank Fischer's brother Harold enlisted with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and was killed in action at Lone Pine, Gallipoli, in August, 1915. On receipt of the news of his brother's death Frank Fischer at once to take his place and accordingly enlisted in Australia in 1916. He quali-

fied for a commission at the Duntroon Military School and in March last was promoted in the field to a full lieutenancy. And now he, too, has made the supreme sacrifice. # * • . ■» * The Grace family Continue, to do their share in the war and to pay their share of the Toll. Lieut. Harni Grace, who used to be such a fine performer in the Wellington Rugby arena, "played the game" just as strenuously on the field of battle and fell at Gallipoli while gallantly fighting in the attack on Sari Bahr. And now his brother, Liemt. W. I. H. Grace, has been wounded (this time severely) for the second time since March 21. In prewar days Lieutenant "Bill" Grace was a solicitor in Auckland. A younger brother, "Dick" Grace, who was a medical student at Edinburgh in 1914, enlisted in the Royal Scots and has recently been numbered among the wounded. * * ■» Private John Campbell Lindsay Ewing (killed in action August 24th) comes of a well-known Dunedin family. He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. James Ewing, of Wellington-road, K-il-birnie, Wellington, and was barely 23 years of age. He was educated ,at Lyttelton and Berhampore Schools and at Wellington College. He was a studious and promising young man, particularly clever in designing and very handy with tools, both carpentering and engineering. He qualified ?s ail engineer when he entered camp. In his six months' experience . the Front he had taken part in the A 7 arious engagements. * * * •* Another young New Zealander who has just "gone West" is Sapper Alfred Springall. Like young Ewing, he was also an engineer, and, like the latter again, he was an ardent young patriot, both of them enlisting from a keen sense of duty. In fact, with both Ewing and Springall it was New Zealand first, last and all the time. Sapper Springall, whose father was a well-known Government surveyor, was qualifying as an engineer when he attested in October, 1915, as

a member : of tlie lOtli Reinforcements. He took part in many engagements and was; eventually gazetted in January of this year as having been awarded the Military Medal for acts of gallantry in the field, an honour which, his accustomed modesty prevented him from mentioning in letters to his friends. He was a keen lover of all manly sports, and his death from wounds on August 26th is deeply regretted by many friends. Much sympathy is felt for his. parents, now resident at Birkenhead, Auckland.-