PRACTICAL JOKERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23796, 1 May 1939, Page 18

PRACTICAL JOKERS

A PLOT THAT FAILED An authoritative explanation of the difficulty which confronted the crew of the Vickers gun used by the 3rd Composite Company. Army Service Corps, in its demonstration at Hanmer Springs, when the gun was firing sluggishly, clears away much of the mystery surrounding the episode. The oil which was in fact used was linseed oil employed as a lubricant not by mistake, but intentionally, as a joke. The Army Service Corps does not normally have a Vickers gun, but for the sake of this particular demonstration, a Bren, a Lewis, a Hotchkiss, and a Vickers were lent by the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry. The practical jokers in the latter unit filled a lubricating can with linseed oil, but they were foiled in their plan to prevent the gun from operating. No damage was done to the gun, and, indeed, it was considered that the work of the Army Service Corps in managing to get the gun to fire at all reflected greatly to its credit. It was thought fortunate, however, that the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry camp was over, for it is believed that the Army Service Corps would have retaliated in a very effective manner, particularly as the Army Service Corps never forgets the allegations made during the Great War about the way in which it failed to deliver the rum issue.