TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14492, 2 January 1918, Page 4

TOWN EDITION.

A -man named (i'ollin Duft" lias been arrested by Constable Williamson ut Matawhero ior alleged theft from ;. dwelling, in respect of a silver watch, chain. etc. The matter will come before the Police Court to-morrow. There i-. a likelihood of police proceedings in connection with the incipientfire at the Kaiti school on Monday evening, also with respect to breaking into a bathing shed at the Waikanae beach, matters in. which Detective McLeod has been; conducting investigations. A presentation took place at the Bank of New Zealand on Monday, when Miss Ivy Crawford was the recipient of a handsomely bound set of Shakespeare's works. The presentation was mado by the manager on behalf of the staff, on the occasion of Miss Crawford's retirement from the service. "When first I saw the site ol" the present Bromley irrigation farm," said Mr E. Cuibhbert ut tlio Christchurch Drainage Board's visit of inspection, "there, was literally not enough feed on it 'to keep a goat. What it is now may be seen, aud the fact tliat sometimes wo have had over 600 head of cattle on it shows what- can be done in the .vay of tho scientific and practical disposal of sewage." Captain Chaplain Wilson, speaking at Rockdale, near Sydney, told an incident which illustrated how courageously Professor David, when badly injured, had thought, of duty before self. He had been Jet down with a bump 60ft into u. well and a doctor liad to be sent below to bind the professor up, before send- • ing him* up in a bucket, so severe were the injuries he had sustained. On tho way up Professor David gave the signal to cease winding, and then 'pulling out a notebook commenced to take notes on the geological* formation of the ground. Ou the occasion ef the opening of the railway to Motuliora, a deputation waited upon the Hon. W. I). S. MacDonald respecting the removal of the railway station staff from Matawai. , The Hon. Mr MacDonald has now written to the Mayor, Mr Sherratt (who as chairman of the Railway League introduced the deputation), forwarding a memorandum on the subject from the Minister of Railways. The Hon. W. H. Herries advises that it is considered that the present business at Matawai does not warrant the retention of the etotionmi&ster. He has, however, arranged for a caretaker to be appointed at Matawai, and he thought this would meet requirements in the meantime. Though trains whioh in former yea_s were crowded from end to end with holiday passengers have been -running half empty during this Christmas season, the railway authorities refuse to be convinced! they a_e pursuing a wasteful and suicidal policy in discouraging travelling (write, a Wellington correspondent). High prices, infrequent trains, and vexatious regulations ai'e driving people m hundreds from the railway to the road', and in addition to the loss bf revenue tho State is suffering, the rapid road I traffic is imposing an increased burden I upon the local bodies in the way of re-' I pairs. It is reported- now that the be- | ginning of all this sorry business was a j determination on the part of a high official to show the Government how the public could be kept away from race meetings, and* at the same time schooled in the exer_jse bf a wider frugality. The story is being passed around with circumstantial detail and realr* seems a little more probable than some others of the same kind that are being circulated. It is certain ministerial control of the lines no longer' exists. A mail coaoh of the type used in England a century ago is being built in CJhristehurch to the order of Mr. H. G. Ell, M.P., who intends to run it between the dn-istchurch post office and Kennedy's Bush (says a Christchurch paper). Mr Ell has taken great pains to secure a coach of correct design, and he has been assisted by a volume of prints- of the old coaching days, and has had to guide him also the recollections of s.me of the oldest colonists, who well remember the coaches of seventy and oven eighty yeara ago. The new vehicle ' will be drawn by four horses, and Mr H. D. Lance, an expert driver of four-in-hands, has agreed to drive it for an exhibition run around the citv, carrying as many old colonists as can be assembled who have actuallv travelled in the old coaches of a former age. It will be painted! in yellow, chocdlate and red, the popular colors of Sam Weller's days, and it will have the customary boot, under the driver's seat, as well as the top sieats and the extra seat at the rear where the guard was mounted with hi. horn. The first verified death from an American bullet fired by a United States soldier in trench -warfare was that of a 19-year-old German. He was the first prisoner taken by American soldiers in t j ,? rst ' excursi <>n over "No Man's Land," and he died in the American beld hospital just behind the lines. Two Americans were out "over the top" under cover of darkness and rain one night lecently, when they sighted two moving figures. The shadowy figures fled. Both soldiers fired. One Boche escaped, but the other fell. In two I 'mps the Americans were on him, finding the surprised Teuton nursing a badly shattered arm. He was escorted back to the trenches.- An American ambulance _tunibled along the treacherous and slippery road, under occasional shell fire, to the dressing station. There the German had been temporarily bound up. He was lifted aboard the ambulance by two soldiers—one from El Paso, the other from Oakland, California. The American ambulance slid and scurried back to the fielo" hospital. There 9. Texas surgeon operated at once on the prisoner. For a time he seemed to be progressing nicely, but the would had been infected and gangrene developed. American surgeons did their utmost to save his life, but in vain. s The prisoner said he was delivering mail to hit? comrades, and got mixed up in taking a short cut ir-ici-oss "No Man's Land." He added: ("The German soldiers in the ranks are 1 tired of the war and want it to end, but the officers want it to continue, as they are well paid. Oar food is good, but we know nothing of conditions in the interior of Germany. Sometimes no mail is permitted to reach ns for eight weeks at a time." Tlie doctor who operated said the prisoner was very game, despite his painful wound.