When they are Monarchs of all they Survey.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVI, Issue 3453, 3 November 1915, Page 4

When they are Monarchs of all they Survey.

The bee, like the cat, is generally, "harmless and necessary," but' occasionally he goes on the rampage, and . then neither man nor beast can. stand against his onslaught. A curious incident was lately reported from' a. little town in France, where two colonies of bees,, in a state of insurrection, pouted everybody from the neighbourhood.

The priest of ,i» neighbouring place, accompanied by a farmer,, came to take possession of two bee-hives, which the farmer loaded on a cart drawn by two oxen. Half way home one of the hives fell off the cart and was' smashed. The bees, to a\engc the wreck of their happy home, attacked the ... farmer with s.'.ch fury that he. fainted and fell on the road. The cure, going to rescue in a tremendous "'hurry,'-.up-. set the other hive and became the object of the fierce attack of its inmates.

Workmen in neighbouring fields, hearing the cries in the road,-rush-ted to,the rescue of the men, and despite many stingSi got them to a -house, where they were attended by a doctor. Meanwhile the bees, deprived of their human prey, at-tac:-ed the two oxen, and: stung them so severely that the two boasts started on a mad race down the road. They were finally stopped by ,a woman, who paid for her 1 luc'<\ by being almost smothered in bees, and had herself to be resi;'.:e:.l by the villagers. So savage . ("iiii). the bees become.... that .thp .road was practically impassable for two full clays, and the workers in the neighbouring fields had to take special precautions to protect them:x'l.e,s t'rom their fury.

; o:ne time ago a truck got loose 011 a 'sluing and, leaving, the metals chargal into the station-master's garden, wliere stood three bee-

Lives upon their trestles. Needless to say, the truck's attempt ,to run o.er the bees' was fruitless and, by way of revenge for the truck's intrusion upon their domain, the bees o.er ran the railway station and loo'c complete possession of it. The station-master, two porters, and the ticket clerk had practically to flee for their livesi and the signalman in his;, box, who, by dint of keeping his windows closed, managed to I eep the bees out, had a Very busy time 'warning all incoming trains , on no account to stop at that particular station. During twenty-four hours people who had business which necessitated their going by train had to drive six miles to the next railway station before they could get a train, and the road had to be picketed to prevent people appronching tao near. \ The bees in possession of the station were estimated to number about twenty thousand.

Bees lately ,took possession of a church in the Midlands. The church is a very old structure, and the sexton had noticed a gripping from the old oak roof which he presently discovered to ,be honey. He made an investigation, and discovered not only a tremendous store of honey in the roof, but a great colony of bees. On the Saturday, with the Vicar's permission, he and some of his cronies, who thought they knew their business, attempted to deprive the bees of their store. They onlj- succeeded in bringing an .army of fierce insects into the church, and had to run for thoir lives, leaving the sacred edifice in the possession of the enemy. For the first time within living memory there was no service in the chirch on the morrow, for the bees were, holding an indignation meeting of their own. Indeed, 110 one even ventured inside the churchyard, as every window in the place was darkened with bees, and the whole edifice hummed like .a great hive.

At the end of last year there w<.re no •'ewer than- 145 'Dreadnoughts or Bu[ er-Dreadnoughts building. Of these 29 per cent, were British.