JOTTINGS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16545, 19 November 1915, Page 6

JOTTINGS.

A total of 800 men of the Eighth Reinforcements belong to tlie Presbyterian Church. Two of the men who left Masterton on Monday morning in the Wairarapa quota of the Tenth Reinforcements are grandfathers (says' the Times). They both hailed from Dannevirke. A set of bowls presented by Mr W. "Benton were sold at the Featherston bowling green last week, in aid of the Rotorua cottage equipment fund, and realised £70 3s 6d. . A well-kno.vn figure in Lrtbour circles, Mr Elijah J. Carey, secretary of the Wellington Oooks' and Waiters' Union, has enlisted for active service with the reinforcements Dr W. G. Borrje, of Waimate, has jo ; ned the Army Medical Corps, and left Waimate yesterday for Trentham. Mr L.' Falcon jr, of Riwaka. has just received word from the Australian Government that one of his sons was killed in the fighting at GalliooK in August. This is the second of Mr Falconer's sons to lose his life in the defence of _ his country. A costly record of patriotism has fallen to the lot of the 6th Manawafcu Mounted Rifles .{savs the Times) v Since the outbreak of the war 35 of* the corps' officers have answered the country's call. Of these officers 13 have boon killed. 14 wounded, three arc sick, one in Egypt, and the remaining four are still in the firing line— surely a record to be proud of. A 'hurried postscript to a private letter dated September 21, and received in Auckland from a person aboard the hospital ship Maheno. refers to the submarine peril. It reads: "We have just received an^ urgent S.O.S. call to go to the assistance of a French boat torpedoed about 80 miles from' us. We are hurrying away at full speed," but I suppose we shall arrive too late to be of much assistance." Private James Anderson, son of Mr Anderson, of Geraldine, and formerly of Timaru, has had a record in the war which must be rare (says the Timaru Herald). He left with the machine gun section, was present at the first larding at Gallipoli. and until the date when his letter was written, had served in ell the fighting at the Dardanelles without receiving a scratch. At the time of writing. he_ had gone for a fortnight's rest to the island of Lemnos, the first time ho has been off duty. Writing to a friend in Masterton. _Dr J. A. Cowie says (reports the Wniraraps Times), thr.t he is now having a busy time in th; Con-naught Hosp'tal nt Aldershot. whero ho is engaged in the surgical ward. On t,h? dav lWove the letter was written. 'i big butch of wounded were broutrht in from th« Dardanelles, including several New /Wlnnflcra. At Aldershot there are two hnßpitnls. "ach hiwiiig over a thousand bods. Since leaving MiEterton Dr Oowio hns spent A, good doal of time in Scotland, and after- - wards fn London.

Mr R. Smith, of Tiraaru, is in receipt ot a private cablegram from his eon, Private R. H. Smith, stating (says the Herald) that he is now convalescent, in King George Hospital, London. Private Smith waa book in the treucbes on August 15, after recovering from his first wound, and this private cable is the first intimation that his father has had that ho wa3 wounded A second time. All kinds of luxuries have been taken buck to Anzac by wounded men returning to their units. Those who have been through the fare know its simplicity, and do not forget tieir comrades when they have an opportunity of making their existence a little more cheery. Many tons of preserved fruit, chocolate, cakes, and eggs have been carried to the front in returning soldiers' haversacks, but a trooper recently (says a correspondent) struck upon a novel idea. lie took a crate of live chickens. His intention is to turn them loose in a coop in his unit lines, with a view of obtaining a constant supply of eggs. Major B. C. Freyberg, of Wellington, is now a commander m the Royal Naval Brigade This unit- has had some startling experiences recently,' for in Hood's No. 1 Brigade on September 21 there remained but five officers out of an original 120. In his battalion Commander Freyberg is. the only officer who went through the Antwerp expedition, only 30 men remaining with him, Mr Harry A. Evetts. who successfully passed the medical test at Napier on Friday night, can lay claim to a record for persistency that will take a deal of beating (says the Hawke's Bay Herald). Mr Evetts made no fewer than seven successive attempts to pass the test, and waa examined by three different doctors. Each, time, however, pome slight physical defect barred him from passing. He was, however, determined to " get through," and recently underwent an operation to a foot in Napier Hospital. Mr R. Murie, who was last heard of en route to England from British East Africa to join the Royal" Flying Corps, ■>writes to a Southland friend the Times) that he joined the corps, and got his stripes as sergeant-pilot. Later, however, another opening presented itself, and last month Mr Murie wrote from London that he was leaving for Southampton next day as lieutenant in the 10th Labour Battalion of the Royal Engineers. What lay ahead of him . after reaching Southampton ho did not know. The deep feeling of loyalty to the Empire among the people of South Africa is demonstrated by a letter received by the Rev. R. S. Lawry. of Christchurch, from his son, Lieutenant R, A. R. Lawry, who is in a, London hospital, where his wounds are being attended to. Lieutenant La-wry states that a South African lady, of Dutch parentage, who v'sited the wounded men has two brothers. Both of them left their farms to fight with General Botha against the British in the last Boer war, and now both have left their farms again to fight with the British against the Empire's enemies. Mr J. O. Batchelor, of Fitzherhert.Manawatu, has received a letter from his son. Captain A. F. Batchelor, who was wounded by shrapnel at the Dardanelles. Captain Batchelor, who has recently been promoted to his present rank, was despatched to England ifor medical treatment, but after being four days at. sea, just off the rock of Gibraltar it was found his case demanded immediate attention, and an- operation was nerformed and the shrapnel removed from his shoulder. Thereafter he made fine progress, and landed in England on the highwav .to recovery. He is now doing. well, and expects to be back in -the firing line shortly. "NOTES ON THE CABLES." TO THE EDITOR. Sie,—l read your paper regularly, and have founds" Shrapnel's'' "Notes on the Cables" both interesting and informative. I wish, however, he could manage to cure himself of his tendency to give way to acute bouts of pessimism tvh en the messages contain unfavourable news. In his notes- in your issue of 9th inst. he concludes as follows—viz. : " The fact is that Germany, is on the verge of collapse. The campaign against Serbia is a flash in the pan, as well a 6 an attempt to save Germany at the expense of Bulgaria and Turkey." " Shrapnel's" notes in your issue of to-day, with the exception of the first paragraph, are a dismal wail of pessimism, in astonishing contrast with the above-quoted confident utterance. I hope "Shrapnel" will not allow the croakers, of whom there are too many,, both in the Old Country and elsewhere, to get him down. —I am, etc., J. E. Watson. Inveroargill, November 17. , IWo have referred the above letter to "Shrapnel," who writes in connection with it-: --'■ The paragraph quoted • from the issue of the 9th met. indicated the true condition at the time, and' Still holds good, except that to a certain extent Germany has recuperated herself for a time at the expense of Bulgaria. The failure of the diplomacy of the Entente Powers, and their neglect of Serbia, have been productive of results that are worse than were anticipated. The food stress of Germany has been relieved, and if Rumania should be forced to throw in her lot with the Central Powers many's oil supplies, as well, will be greatly increased. The fortunes of war vary from day to day, and it must be admitted that at present Germany has, on the face of things, scored all along the line in the Balkans. It is still a flash in the pan, but unfortunately a very big one, and has been productive of a ff reat crisis, which, if it develops favourably for Germany, wall increase her strength and remove from her doors the danger of failing supplies, and will therebv postpone the punishment which, we all hope, awa'ts her, and which we would like to see quicklv administered. The ( facts, unfortunately, speak for themselves."—Ed. O.D.T.] •