NOTES AND COMMENTS

Te Aroha News, Volume XXXIII, Issue 15646, 14 July 1915, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS

In these days, when the word shirker ” comes trippingly to the tongue it would be well to remember what Mr A. S. Adams said in the Garrison Hall, Dunedin, the other night. “ I

have no sympathy whatever with the shirker,” he said, ” and do not envy him his feeling now or later ; but I would ask the whole of the community to bear these facts in mind when they are talking of shirking ; that 25, 000 men have been accepted, and that as Colonel Stoneham tells me, the proportion of young fellows volunteering and suffering rejection aver age 25 per cent of the total number offering for service. So that there are at least 6000 young fellows walking the streets who have volunteered and been rejected.

“ THE whole strength of Prussia lies iD the story of her career of military success =ince the days of Frederick the Great, a career broken for a brief interval by Napoleon, but only for its glory to be enhanced by a marvellous recovery. There is no love for Prussia in Ger many. There is only fear and respect and faith- Here hegemony is accepted and her commands obeyed because non-Prussian Germany believes that Prussia alone can save her from national weakness and dis aster. But if the policy of Piussa is shown to lead to disaster, we v. a hope that the spell will be broken, and that one of the least quarrelsome [and pugnacious nations in Europe—for so may non-Prussian Germany fairly be described —will reassert its natural self.’’—The New Statesman,

Mr E. Popper, a South x\frican, has applied in England for a patent called ‘‘ a safety belt to prevent the sinking of vessels.” In the course of an interview with the London Shipping World ” Mr Popper stated that his invention was the fruit of several years' experiments and investigation. He definitely claims that his system will make ships unsinkable, whilst at the same time they can be constructed o l his design cheap enough to be commercially feasible. Fie also gave the " Shipping World ” particulars of tests he had successfully carried out. Mr Popper hopes to get in touch with recognised shipping interests, preferably British, in order publicly to demonstrate the merits of his invention.