The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1915.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3215, 27 October 1915, Page 47

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MERCURY. (WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1915. ) THE WEEK.

“Nunquam allud natura, allud sapientia dltlfc.* —Juvenal. “Good nature and good sense must ever Join.’*—n Pops.

“The end is not in sight” :in this brief

A Stimulus to Recruiting.

but pregnant message his Majesty the King has placed beioro the Empire

the gravity of the present crisis.. “More men and yet more men 'are wanted to keep my armies in the field, through them to secure victory and an enduring peace.” Here the appeal of the King to his people takes on a personal and intimate note which the circumstances ol the case thoroughly warrant. “I ask you, men of all classes, to come forward voluntarily and take your share in the fight. 1 ' The King, exercising the Royal prerogative in the most timely fashion, in these words makes a determined and dignified effort to lift the recruiting question out of the realm of political controversy in s which in the United Kingdom at least—it was in imminent danger of becoming immersed. The greatest peril to the Empire at tha present time comes not from German guns or submarines, or even Zeppelins, but from the discord and friction at Home engendered by sincere and earnest persons of opposite views. The controversy which has been carried on between the Conscriptionists and the Anti-conscriptionists afe Home presents anything but an edifying spectacle, and the knowledge that in turn Lord Kitchener, Sir Edward Grey, and Mr 1 Asquith have been denounced by an overzealous band of Unionists must have provided the German War Lords, matter foe much grim satisfaction. That the feeling was not all on the one side is evident id, the statement made by Mr H. W. Massingham in the Nation "that “the conscription ists will not break through tha trenches lined by three million trada unionists.” The continuance of such a wordy warfare is obviously detrimental to the best interests, not only of Great Britain, but of the Allies as well, and everyone will rejoice at the Royal effort to placa the matter in its proper light. The King's appeal should give the needed stimulus to Lord Derby’s recruiting campaign, and if,, as is fervently to be hoped, the voluntary response is adequate, there will be no more talk about compulsory service. Another great impulse to the recruiting movement, and one appealing strongly to tha manly sentiment ever to fie found in British hearts, is supplied in the dastardly, murder of Nurse Cavell, a tragedy which has aroused anew universal 1 against, German methods of frightfulness. Tho spirit thus aroused, had full sway during tho great recruiting meeting held in Trafalgar Square, when a resolution was passed declaring that the country would not return its sword to the scabbard until Nurse Cavell’s murder had been avenged. As a result a stream of recruits flowed on to the platform, thus givingpoint to Lord Derby’s anticipation that all the men required will he forthcoming bv the end of November. It is to ba hoped that a similar stimulus may ba communicated to this Dominion, where for the first time since the war begun the recruiting shows signs of flagging. The fact should be stressed that the National Register now being compiled leaves no loopholes for laggards. It is compulsory upoif every male inhabitant of New Zealand to secure a copy of the schedule prepared and to answer the questions correctly, under pain of a heavy penalty. The questions addressed to every man between tha ages of 19 and 45 who has not already volunteered for service at the front are so searching as to sheet right home to him his responsibility to his country, his Empire, and his fellow-man. One direct result of the National Registration to render evasion if not impossible. +.i-ia action of Kins’ Ferdinand

Following tne action oi iviug_ i

The Balkan Imbroglio.

in openly associating Bulgaria with the Austro-German-Turkish Alliance, the situation in the Balkans!

has developed into a. perfect imbroglio, and tha wildest rumours fire current. The Allies made a determined effort to_ win Greece over from lier attitude of strictest neutrality by the offer of. the immediate cession of the island of Cyprus, together •with a share of such other advantages a 9 may accrue to the victorious Allies after the war. To these tempting overtures King Constantine has turned a deaf ear, and his obduracy goes to prove that he is hom'd hand and foot by his pledges to the Kaiser, pledges doubtless in the making and taking of which the Queen of the Hellenes has had much to do. At _tha moment of writing the case of Rumania—the largest and most powerful of the Balkan States —appears more hopeful. If tha report can be accepted as correct, Rumania’s irresolution has at length been

replaced by a measure of decision. _ A Bucharest message stales that Rumania s adherence to the Allied cause is dependent Upon the despatch of 400,000 troops and that England and France, having accepted the terms of intervention, King Carol is preparing to attack Bulgaria Meanwhile, whilst the diplomatists of both belligerents have been at their busiest, all eyes arc anxiously turned towards bttle &ei-bia, assaulted on the one hand by the Bulgarians and on the other by the AustroGerman forces under von Mackensen. bo far as can he gathered by the contradictory nature of the cablegrams, Serbia is nutting up an heroic resistance, and_ is being materially assisted by the stiffening of British and French troops sent up from Salonika. The Serbians are great fighters, and their love of their native land is so intense as to amount to something akin to fanaticism. Already it is evident that, even should the invaders ultimately succeed in hacking their way through Serbia, thereby establishing direct communication with Constantinople, it will only be at the price of exceedingly heavy losses. Meanwhile the Bulgarians have suffered for their temerity in the bombardment of the coast along the dUgean by a squadron of British, French, and Russian warships, and in particular Dedeagatch has suffered severely. It is reported that as a result of the' bombardment 1000 Bulgarian soldiers were killed and many wounded whilst damage was done to the extent of many million pounds. The situation _in the Balkans is fraught with the most important possibilities, and the course or events for the next four weeks will be watched with the most intense interest. The recall of Sir lan Hamilton from Gallipoli, and his replace-

The Failure in the Dardanelles.

ment by Oeneral Monro, together’ with the resigna tion from the Cabinet of Sir Edward Carson, gives point

to the question which to-day is being asked: “Have wo failed m the Dardanelles?” It is a question with which New Zealand and Australia are deeply concerned, seeing that so many brave boys are buried in lonely graves in that faraway land; whilst hundreds of broken and battered men are coming home after taking part in those gallant and bloody encounters, the accounts of which have thrilled the imagination and stirred the most sluggish blood. Sir Arthur Conan \j)ovle, in an article contributed to the '■Daily ’ Chronicle, sets himself to answer the question in a strain which rebukes the pessimistic critics, and which should inspire a feeling of optimism all over the Empire. After all, failure is only a comparative term, and failure to reach the main objective may nevertheless carry with it many important if subsidiary successes. Thus the Germans have failed to reach Paris and Calais, Petrograd and Moscow ; they failed alike in their attempted submarine blockage and in their aerial invasion of the British Isles. Yet it would be idle to deny that in the course of these operations they have gained some valuable, if subsidiary, victories. In like manner, although the Allied attack at Gallipoli has failed to force the Dardanelles and to clear the way to Constantinople, the enterprise, as Sir A. Conan Dovle points out, was nevertheless worth undertaking. “We have,” he writes, held up a great hodv of the best troops, who otherwise would have been operating against us or the Russians. If. on the qkher hand, it be argued that the DaidanePes -campaign was ill-conceived and attended by many miscalculations, the same criticism may be levelled against much of the German strategy; and they pride themselves upon being past-masters in the game of war. Sir A. Conan Doyle s article should have a heartening effect upon all in the Dominion who at the presort time are" inclined to view the war in gloomy tints. “It is too early to say we have failed at the Dardanelles,” says Sir A. Conan Doyle; and the words are wise ones. Had there been no Dardanelles campaign the Austro-German operations in the Balkans would not have been entered upon. Already there are signs that the enemy is attempting an advance in too many fields, and a defeat in one of these may prove the prelude to a general collapse. Attention has been directed to one circumstance in connection

The Two Million Loan.

with the flotation of the two million loan for public works purposes which will

(bear a little stressing. On the whole, jonditions are favourable for the loan, in t-iew of the considerable excess of the deposits over advances which the current Jank returns reveal. This "ratifying condition of things is due largely to the satisfactory prices now ruling for all New Zealand products, .and a noticeable shrinkage in both the value and volume of the *mpo r ts has been a contributory cause. It fs thus evident that the Dominion can eadlv absorb the two million loan without unduly entrenching upon the liquid capital ordinarily reouired for commercial enterprise and trade expansion. It is possible. of course, that the Government will be able to attract all the money they require from the larger financial institutions, although the facilities offered to the smaller capitalists to invest are not to be lightly passed bv. It is unfortunate, however. that, owing to the time of year selected for the flotation, the agriculturists and nastoralists as a class will he precluded from participating in what Sir Joseph Ward has designated a patriotic enterprise. Pending realisation of harvests and wool clips, the majority of those engaged in pastoral and agricultural pursuits are dependent upon advances from their bankers, and this is just the time of year when their indebtedness is the heaviest. Were it possible to postpone the flotation of at least a portion of the foan until the new year, its success would ’be proportionately enhanced by the eager participation of the farming community.

place and Macandrew street, on Friday Bishop Ncvill mentioned the interesting fact that he had received from Gallipoli a letter from a New Zealand soldier, informing him that ho felt very grateful for an Otago Witness, which had been sent to him. It contained a picture of the laying of the foundation stone of St. Paul’s Cathedral in tho Octagon, and its pages had delighted him so much that he had spent a happy day in looking through it amid all the misery of the trenches. The engineer (Mr Strang) remarked at tho meeting of the Western Taicri Drainage Board on Friday that great trouble and inconvenience were caused at the pumpingstation through eels getting into the pump, notwithstanding the fact that iron screens were erected on the drains. Tho eels, in getting through the screens, bent the iron bars. When an eel gets into tho pump it means much delay, as about two dozen bolts have to bo unscrewed, and perhaps when a start has been made, in five minutes another may get in. A Press Association telegram states that at Ashburton on Friday Harry Stevens and Thomas Connolly were each fined £3, with costs, on a charge of catching or destroying trout with explosives in the Ashburton River, and £2 each for illegally having fish in then* possession. Three other men were fined £1 each on the former charge. A good story of naval self-reliance and ready adaptability in the face of imminent danger is told by a correspondent. One of our submarines suddenly found itself, when cruising within a five-mile radius of Heligoland, with its engines out of commission, and quite incapable of temporary repair with the means available on board, with the result that for two days she had to be practically derelict within range of tho guns of the island. At last she aroused the attention of six German trawlers, which surrounded her, and threatened her with immediate disaster. The submarine, however, made as great a show of vigorous preparations for attack as she could, with the result that all but one of the trawlers sheered off. The one that remained was presently boarded by an armed party from tho submarine, and used to tow the damaged vessel into a British port, a proceeding which took three da.vs. A brief, but interesting, letter has beep received by a well-known resident of Wellington from a member of tho New Zealand Forces who is a prisoner at Constantinople. Tho writer is Corporal Frank Sheppard, a native of Oxford, England, who was at Bovin when ho enlisted. The envelope is inscribed at tho front and hack with an inscription in Arabic characters, apparently equivalent to our “passed tho censor,” the address, of course, being in plain English. In the letter, which is dated August 15, and written from the Hospital Militan-e,. Constantinople, Corporal Sheppard says: “I am only slightly wounded under the chin, a flesh wound, and an extremely lucky one, and am being treated here very well and with every courtesy. I have several friends write to mo, and time docs not hang much. I am not allowed to toll you how all this happened. That 'will have to wait. I am rather anxious to get some nows myself, but that is impossible here. I expect to bo well soon, and will write again and let you know how things arc.” A young man named James Souquct, residing at Mount Cargill, was admitted to tho Hospital on Sunday morning - , suffering from injuries received through being thrown from a milk cart. From what can be ascertained of tho occurrence, it* appears that the horse bolted and fell, breaking its leg and throwing out Mr Souquet and his son. The latter was able to proceed to his homo, but his father had to be taken to tho Hospital, where his injuries received Attention. The following nominations for trustees for the various subdivisions of tho Western Taieri Drainage District have been received : —Momona—Charles Campbell, nominated by George Ford and Thomas Hewitt; Snow—Jamas Miller, nominated by Alexander Moynihan and John A. Bruce; Lee Creek —James T. Gibson, nominated by George Lyall and Jho. Jas Walker; Lakes— Richard A. Kempshell, nominated by Robert Petrie and David Doull. The four gentlemen named have been declared elected by the returning officer (Mr W. E. M‘Lean). Messrs Campbell, Miller, and Gibson were retiring members, and Mr Kempshell sat • on the board some years ago. He takes the place of Mr Doull, who did not s§ok re-election. There were no nominations for tho West Taieri subdivision, which is represented by Mr Wm. Thomson. The Governor will now ho asked to fill the vacancy, as required by law. Mr Thomson, who did not sock re-election, will retain the seat until an appointment is made. Exactly the same thing happened three years ago. Mr Thomson did not offer himself for re-election, but afterwards accepted re-appointment. Messrs R. Sadcl, Commissioner of Crown Lands for Otago, with Messrs G. Livingstone and T. A. Munro, members of the Land Board, have returned from an official inspection, extending over two days, of tho Benraore property, which is to bo subdivided and offered to the public in February (says tho Oamaru Mail). The visitors were genuinely impressed by tho appearance of the Eenmoro country, which the Commissioner described as the finest estate of tho kind in New Zealand,-and as being in better heart than any other Grown property in tho South Island. The place is remarkably free from rabbits, and feed is plentiful throughout its wide range. It is expected that there will bo altogether 40 subdivisions, varying in area from 700 to 10,000 acres, each containing an area of arable laud of 100 acres or more. The

members of tbo board paid a high compliment to the management, to whose skilful and careful husbandry may bo ascribed the high state of efficiency attained at Benmore. At the meeting of the Wellington sports executive at Banks’s College on Wednesday night to consider the question of recruiting. Dr Newman, M.P., mentioned (says the T : mos) the case of a greyheaded man who had enlisted, giving his ago as 39. “When wore you born?” asked the recruiting officer. “In 1876,” was the reply; and that, of course, was all right. But file man went on to talk about his wife and family. “When were you married?” asked the officer, to which the recruit" replied, “In 1881.” “ Oh, thou,” said the recruiting officer, “ you were married when jou were five years old.” But the recruit was enrolled all right. Speaking to a Wellington Post reporter, Mr Alexander Macpherson, Field Instructor for the South Island, who has just returned from the United States, said that while at Vancouver ho found the people there very anxious to obtain New Zealand lamb, mutton, and butter, particularly butter, which is held in the highest esteem. The only complaint they make is that they cannot get enough of it. Whenever possible they buy it in preference to their-own. After leaving the Panama Exposition, where ho carried out the duties of Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Commission, ho made a series of visits to the various agricultural instructional institutions of the States and Canada, and found a groat deal to interest him, though in many respects it is on very different lilies to that of New Zealand. In most places the cattle are housed, and are fattened on grain. In regard to experimental work, he said. New Zealand is not, generally speaking, much behind America, but throughout the various Governments are providing every possible facility to get the people on to the land, and their efforts are proving highly successful.

Dr Newman, M.P., speaking at a recruiting meeting on Wednesday evening (reports' the Wellington Post), said that he thought it rather mean that some men would not let their own sons go and fight, but ■were letting other fathers’ sons go and fight for them. He knew of one man who had called his four sons together, and had said to them: 11 If any one of you goes to the front he won’t got a shilling.” “ Of course, he only says that sort of thing in the bosom of his family.” Mr C. G. Wilson said ho thought it was the mothers rather than the fathers who wore keeping the boys at home. They thought it all right for other mothers’ boys to go. But they wouldn’t let their own boys go. There was an unusual development at a meeting of creditors, held at Auckland on the 18th, in the estate of James Langmuir, of To Efuiti and Te Awamutu, draper and picture show proprietor, who filed a petition in bankruptcy at Hamilton on October 9 (says the Herald). Counsel for the bankrupt, Mr J. H. Luxford, in explaining the position to the official assignee, Mr IV. S. Fisher, said the estate was likely to turn out happily for the creditors. His client filed owing to misconception of his position. On his own showing he was solyent. Within a week it was hoped to pay all the creditors 20s in the £. Bankrupt’s hand had been forced by a creditor at To Kuiti. The assignee said he was very pleased to recommend the creditors to adjourn the meeting for a fortnight to enable the bankrupt to conclude the arrangements in hand. This recommendation was agreed to. A general holiday was observed on the 25th inst. in celebration of Labour Day. The weather in Dunedin was fine, but rather cold. A large number of people took advantage of the opportunity of spending a day at various holiday resorts. The Labour Day Carnival in Auckland was a great success, despite threatening weather (says a Press Association telegram). The procession was the longest yet seen on Labour Day, a feature being over a mile of military men. A Press Association message states that the elaborate arrangements made to celebrate Labour Day in Wellington were marred by heavy rain. An excellent procession was organised, and was held during an incessant downpour. The working trades’ displays wore a feature of the procession. It was found necessary to postpone the athletic sports gathering, which was to have taken place at Newtown Park. Amongst the doctors at present working under the Pvod Cross in Serbia is Dr Ada M‘Laren, who is a New Zealander, being a daughter of the late Mr T. W. Wilkinson, of Higham, C'hertsey. Dr M'Laren took her medical degree at Edinburgh in 1802, and since then has held various public positions. For several years she was medical inspector of schools for the Corporation of Birmingham. In May she joined the Berry Relief Unit (London) and went to Serbia.. By last mail letters were received from her from a hospital near Nish, where there was still a great deal of sickness among the peasantry, an epidemic of diphtheria raging at the date of writing (August 17). Dr M'Larcn had visited Belgrade, and spoaks of the great beauty of the country at the junction of the Save and Danube, v.ith the Austrian town of Sernlin in the distance. At date o£ writing all was peaceful, but momentous decisions were then being made, and the wildest rumours reached the hospitals, which doubtless are now filled with wounded from the battlefields near at hand. An extraordinary coincidence, vouched for to bo true, was related to a Napier Telegraph reporter by a prominent resident on Tuesday. Some time ago a Napier lady, who has a son at the front, had a big cake made at a local caterer’s. Inside the cake was inserted a very small tin containing a

letter and a pound note. The cake was carefully iced, packed, addressed and posted The person to whom the cake was addressed was walking- down a Cairo street, and in a shop noticed a cake with a foi-n----loaf on it. The soldier boy spent some of his money on the cake. To his utter astonishment he found therein a tiny tin, but his amazement can be far more easily imagined than described when on opening the tin ho found it contained a letter addressed to himself, and also a pound note. The story scorns incredible, but it is vouched for. How the cake got to the Cairo caterer is another story that the Napier lady would very much like to know.

A Press Association telegram states that the Hon. W. Fraser (Minister of Public Works) left Wellington for the south on the 25th. He will reach his electorate on Wednesday, and will inspect a new bridge which is being erected at Luggato. The Minister will visit a number of places in the South Island, and will subsequently inspect various works in the North Island.

An entertaining account of the manner in which the British victory in the Mesopotamian Valley was celebrated in Gallipoli by a combined Australasian and Turkish feu de joie is given by the correspondent of the Melbourne Argus. When the news of the British success had come through, it was arranged that at a given signal a feu do joie should be fired with ball cartridge, right round the Australian and New Zealand position, to be followed by three cheex-s. Every available man was put into the firing-lino, with the magazine of his rifle charged. “The shooting,” says the correspondent, “commenced on the right, and swept from a three miles’ arc like an approaching rain storm. The Turks replied wildly, with the result that instead of only one there were two bursts of fire to celebrate one side’s victory, and the other side’s defeat. When it was considered that the enemy had been stirred up sufficiently they were left to continue wasting ammunition while our own men took off their caps and cheered as only soldiers can. It was a vocal roar that could be heard for miles, and there is reason to believe that the Turks expected the troops to hop over the parapets and come at them with the bayonet. The shooting lasted over an hour, and when the excitement in the enemy’s lines had subsided, Rod Crescent stretcher-bearers could bo seen at work.”

The Fore River Shipbuilding Company, of Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.A., has (remarks an exchange) just completed ton electric submarines for England in the record time of eight months. They were ordered in January, and are now lying finished in the shipyards at Quincy. By agreement with Charles M. Schwab, who took the order, the boats will be held in American waters until after the war, as a result of Teutonic agitation in the United States, and an appeal to Uncle Slam. Twelve of the submarines made at Quincy for the British Government, on the authority of Mr James A. Robertson, the Queensland Commissioner to the Panama Exposition, who recently visited the Fore Shipbuilding Works, have already been delivered in England, via Montreal. Mr John B. Herroshoff, the famous American yacht designer, who died recently, was the man most responsible for the successful defence of the America Cup, for he designed the Vigilant, Defender, and Columbia, which defeated the British challengers Valkyrie 11, Valkyrie 111, and the first Shamrock, and he also designed the boat which was, in happier circumstances, to have raced the latest Shamrock. The marvellous thing about .Mr Herreshoff was that he was blind, and had been blind from the ago of 15. He only knew by his sensitive touch the shape of the boats he designed, yet that touch enabled him constantly to correct and modify the subtle curves of the modern racing yacht. He must surely bo one of the most remarkable cases of overcoming the terrible handicap of blindness. The shape of the modern yacht was something he had never seen. Yet he could conceive it in his mind, and carry it, as English yachtsmen know too well, to perfection.

Some 30 miles from Gisborne lies Whatatutu, which, although a place with about a dozen residences, is one of the most important rendezvous for bushmen on the East Coast (says the Times). Whatatutu is nothing if not intensely patriotic, .and the residents of the surrounding districts may bo justly proud of their fine record in the matter of enlistments. Originally a batch of fine men wen* to the front, and the little party had the misfortune to fare badly. Then followed a splendid recruiting rally, with the result that that centre can now boast of having put between 60 and 70 recruits through its hands. In honour of the remarkable patriotism of the people in the district, the station-holders have had installed in the local hotel a roll of fame, which takes the form of a slab of polished i-imu hanging in the hall, which the names of all who have gone to the front have been inscribed. When shearing is completed another big batch of recruits from the Whatatutu district is promised. In Mr Forrest, licensee of the hotel, avho was at one time a member of Lord Roberts’s bodyguard in South Africa, the recruits have had a splendid friend, and the stationowners, one and all, have treated the men offering their services most considerately. If other districts had organised as completely and as successfully as Whatatutu has clone, there would to-day be no need for any talk about holding recruiting meetings.

Mi’ Charles Ludwig-, one of the settlers on the Waihi Plains, who was terribly injured by a blasting accident in the Waimato Bush on May 13, was discharged from the Waihi Hospital a few days Mr Ludwig's recovery (writes the Waihi correspondent of the Thames Star) is a remarkable

instance of surgical skill, coupled with physical endurance. His recovery was never anticipated, the unfortunate man having been injured in a most shocking manner. One of his legs was so badly injured that amputation seemed inevitable. The leg was fractured in two places, and a portion of the bone shattered to a pulp. A portion of one eye protruded from the socket. His hands, head, shoulders, and body generally received terrible injuries. In this condition. Mr Ludwig bandaged his hand with lunch paper, tied something round his leg to stop the flow of blood, attached a rough splinter, and in the process pressed th* protruding bones into their places. In this state he propelled himself with one hand, backwards, for nearly a mile over a rough track. Previous to starting ho wrote on a scrap of paper in his own blood the direction which ho intended to take. Ho was ultimately rescued by some railway hands, and taken to the Waihi Hospital.