HISTORIC LINKS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4533, 6 February 1942, Page 5

HISTORIC LINKS

BINOCULARS FOR THE ARMY PAIR 200 YEARS OLD GOOD AS ANY Binoculars through which their owners have had brought close to them some of the greatest thrills in the world—the Derby, the Melbourne and New Zealand Cups, the clash of mighty armies, and the spectacle of great ships of peace and war—are among the 7000 pairs now at the Army ordnance depot at Wellington. They represent those so far received at the depot in response to the national binocular appeal. It is estimated that 50 per cent, of the binoculars received are useful for the Armed Forces either as they stand or by use of their component parts for other purposes. Every pair is acknowledged by letter sent by the ordnance depot in which the thanks of the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, are conveyed. Some of these binoculars or other visual aids will have the experience of “fighting” for both sides in their lifetime of utility. A first-class pair of Zeiss dial sights used on a German 70-millimetre gun in the last war, and a good German mortar gun sight, are examples. As well, there are the many German binoculars brought back as souvenirs after the 1914-18 war. The workmanship in some of these binoculars, which are 25 to 30 years old, is so good that they are equal to any produced to-day. Those in this age group are by no means the oldest sent in. For example, there is a pair 200 years old which have proved equal in strength of vision and clarity to any others received. The makers most represented are the German Zeiss and the French Lemaire. Such good quality has been put into these Zeiss binoculars that despite the passage of the years the instruments will serve to-day an Empire at war with the country of the manufacturers. Besides German Army binoculars from the Great War, some issued to the New Zealand forces then, and stamped with the Army number, have found their way back to the ordnance depot from which they were originally issued. DONORS SENT NOTES Many donors have sent notes with their binoculars; one for instance expresses the hope that his pair will be useful in “giving hell to those little yellow devils.” “May the user of these, in whatever sphere, show the same devotion to duty as that shown by the heroes of the sea, both past and present, and the same determination to win through in spite of odds,” writes Mrs M. S. Kent, Balfour, Southland, formerly Miss M. S. Burkett, Dover, England, a descendant of Captain John Harvey, who won fame on the “Glorious First of June,” 1794. Mrs West sent a pair of binoculars as a gift to the Navy. Those who wish to sell their binoculars are, on an average, placing upon them a value of £lO to £l5; some £25. If the expert at the ordnance depot does not consider a pair worth the price asked, they are returned. The disposal of the binoculars to the Armed Forces being voluntary, there is no question of a seller being sent a sum below his own estimate of value and possession retained against his will. IMPRESSMENT TO BE SUGGESTED

A suggestion that binoculars should be impressed by the Government, as rifles have been, is made by the New Zealand Returned Services Association.