TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14596, 4 May 1918, Page 6

TOWN EDITION.

Redstone's Tiniroto - Wairoa and Morerc-Wairoa and Coast coaches leave town at 7 a.m. on Monday.

There are 32,000 special constables m London. They made a fine show m the royal procession. •

The Hobart Mercury states that a, fisherman recently found a German mine on the Tasmanian coast. The matter was reported to the naval authorities, and the mine was exploded by rifle fire. It is said that when the mine was found one of the fishermen fired a shot at it from a distance of about 50 yards, but was lucky enough to miss it.

It is said that some of the smaller hotels m tha backblocks of the Auckland province were so hard hit by six o'clock closing that the lessees threw them up and were only induced to remain m possession by being granted the promises at a. "peppercorn" rental — as Jow as 10s per week.

There appears, to be little demand by returned soldiers for land m Otagu. Some months ago a portion of the Clifton estate, near Balclutha, was thrown open, but it was not m request. Recently the Westcott Settlement, near Roxburgh, was on the market for discharged soldiers, and only three applications were received for twenty sectio is.

Mr. Julius Knight, the well-known actor, has recently, m collaboration with Miss Bosemary Rees, the New Zealand actress, visited most of the camps and hospitals of the N.Z.E.F. m- Great Britain. The party staged at each the short play, "The Mollusc," and, needless to say, the performances were highly popular.

No. 3 bore of the Taranaki (N.Z.) Oil Wells, Ltd., continues to flow at intervals, and 'a fair amonnt of oil is being recovered. One thousand gallons of oil have been forwarded to Feilding this ■week. Better progress is being made with the wo»k of recasing No. 5 well. The ten inch casing has been completed and the staff is now engaged m putting m the eight inch casing.

A cable message from Seattle announces tha launching of another 3200---ton wooden motor vessel, to the order of the Australian Commonwealth. The vessel was built by the Sloan Shipyards Corporation, and named the Culburra. by Miss Florence Lister,- daughter of , Governor Lister of Seattle. Immediatej ly after the launching the keel of another i vessel was laid, and the work of construction commenced.

I It was announced m the Australian ' House of Representatives that five persons had been brought to Australia to assist the supervisor of shipbuilding ih Australia. These included .* shipyard manager, who would receive a salary of £600 a year; a chief marine cngint cr, £1000; a chief draughtsman, £520; foreman iron-man, £400; and a foreman shipwright, £400. The chief marine engineer ha 4 not yet arirod m Australia. The engagement ?n each c;u-e was for three years. j Speaking of a demonstration of the efficiency of internal combustion engines, the case of the naval collier Maumee, 14,500 tons displacement, may be cited. The vessel was completed m" 1916, and is- equipped 1 with what are probably the largest Diesel engines m the world, as the twin engines m that vessel are of 2600 h.p. each and give her a speed of 14 knots. The Maumee was placed m commission m December, 1916, and by May, .1917, had steamed 18,000 miles, , her engines giving genera] satisfaction.

."There is a scarcity of nearly everything except money." So said a Newcastle (England) superintendent of police the other day. People seem to have money for anything, and m war-time ladies are not above paying £3 for a nightdress; It is the abundance of money possessed by. workers who have not been , used to it that has to some extent increased 1 the price of commodities. After the war all conditions may right themselves, but m the meantime

One hears much nowadays about the growing reunion of the churches which ths war has brought about. But a dual service, which recently took' place m France, is probably unique, says an English paper. Not far behind the lines two services were held simultaneously m the village church — the one being the usual Roman Catholic service attended by the inhabitants — whilst the other was a Protestant ono for a battalion of Australians "resting" m the vicinity. The proceedings opened by the singing of a hymn supplied by their own band. Then the French cure addressed his flock, after which it was the turn of the Protestants —and so on — each congregation taking it m turn until the service- was concluded.

, In an article m the American Magazine a writer says : "There are two things the soldiers always carry with them; photographs of the 'home folks' and letters from the 'home folks.' The pictures, often with a small Testament, are always m the breast pocket, over the heart. I think they somatimes are put there as a charm to ward off bullets. Anyway, that's where they always ore. And^the look m, a man's face when he shows you the picture of hip mother, his wife, his children, and you say — as you always db— that they are very beautiful, will bring tears to your own eves. And those packages of letters. They carry them around for months and read them over and over until the creases are so worn the sheets will hardly hold together."

By the last mail, Professor- Brown, F.R.S., of Yule University, gives an account to his sister, Mrs. J. C. Yorke, of Masterton, of the enthusiasm displayed throughout America m everything connected with the war, and m describing a .meeting held m Wolsey Hall— a huge building m the University city — for the purpose of hearing ah address by the Archbishop of York, says that the enthusiasm was such as he had never previously experienced m America. The building was packed to the doors, and at the close of the address the organ — said to be one of the finest m the world—rolled out "God Save the King" and "The Star Spangled Banner," which seemed to touch the heart of and make everyone m the building m a mighty resolve to stand side by side with the Motherland until victory should be won.

Dr. William T. Hornaday, a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Defence Society, has written a pamphlet, a copy of which Messrs. Angus and Kobertson, Ltd., of Sydney, send us, through Mr. C. W. Muir, m which \ he makes a very powerful indictment of the German nation from top to bottom. The pamphlet is divided into three chapters, dealing with Germany's blunders, her crimes, and her punishment. , Such acts as may be put down as chargeable to the (ordinary and inevitable horrors of war are omitted, and it is only possible to refer m very general terms to the revolting crimes which Germany has committed. In Brabant 897 persons, unarmed inoffensive civilians, old men, women, girls, boys and children, were shot or bayoneted, m the Luxembourg pror vinco over 1000 were bo served, at Arlon 119, m the Dinant arrondisseme'nt 606 killed from 3 weeks to 77 years old, and hundreds of others m different parts of Belgium and France. There is already enough printed testimony, Dr. Hornaday aays, to damn Germany m the eyes of the world for at least two centuries. Passing on to the killing of prisoners and wounded men by Germans, he says it seems from the evidence as if German soldiers have slaughtered probably 100,000 defenceless prisoners and wounded men ; and the order of a German Brigadier-General, Stenger by name, is quoted to prove that the soldiers acted under instructions. "Never m modern times have we seen such ghastly, such loathsome, such shocking and sickening brutalities of lust as German officers and soldiers inflicted wholesale upon the women of Belgium and Northern Prance." He warns Americans to be very careful not to fool themselves m measuring out sympathy for the German people, for every particle of it will be wickedly misplaced, as the great maBS of them are guilty of an unprovoked war and of wholesale and retail murdeT, rape, destruction, and tortures unparalleled even among the lowest savages of modern timeß,