WAR’S FIRST DEAD

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 22 (Supplement)

WAR’S FIRST DEAD

LYING IN HIS HOMELAND, BEGINNING OF DEATH-ROLL. The first of the ten million men who fell in the war is to laid to rest in his own homeland on the 20th anniversary of his death. He was a Hungarian, Paul Kovacs by name, who was shot through the heart in a brief skirmish near the SemlinBelgrade railway. After the declaration of war in July, 1914, the Serbian forces guarding the bridge over the Danube opened fire on the Hungarian infantry the other side of the frontier. The ammunition of the Hungarians was quickly used up, and Paul Kovacs and another soldier were sent to the Customs house for fresh supplies. When they reached the bridge with the box ox cartridges Kovacs was killed and his companion fell wounded. One of those v/ho witnessed this tragic event has retold the story in a Hungarian paper, which has raised r fund to bring back the body of Paul from Semlin, where he was burled, into Hungary, for Semlin is now over 150 miles from the Hungarian boundary. PLAYS FOR THE POOR MARY WARD SETTLEMENT. At the Mary Ward Settlement, one of the most enterprising communities in London, the workers are not content with a hundred and one social activities in making life more bearable for the poor of St. Pancras. Every week from September to June a group of first-rate amateurs produces a different play, and as the settlement runs four dramatic training classes there is never any difficulty in finding good casts for 30 productions a year. People come from many parts of London to see the production of Androcles and the Lion, so much is the fame of the Tavistock Little Theatre spreading. To show his high esteem of the players John Drinkwater has allowed them to perform his Midsummer Eve, which had never been played before, as a curtain raiser. THE HORSE’S CHANCE GOOD FROM DEPRESSION. It's an ill wind that blows no good, the proverb says, and it is hard to believe that the depression which is now showing signs of leaving the world could have been good to anybody or anything. However, it managed to do a good turn for man’s oldest friend the horse in the lands where, more than any other, mechanical developments threatened its very existence. In the United States and Canada the tractor had for many years been ousting the horse from farms. Then came the depression. Farmers were forced to accept prices which were often below the cost of production of their crops, and often they could not dispose of their stocks at any price. At the same time, if they were not to give up altogether (for surely the depression could not last for ever?), the work of the farms must go on. Tractors need petrol and oil, and both cost money. But there was no money to spare. Horses need grain and fodder, and" most farmers had more of both than they wanted. That was the horse’s chance, and the farmers did the rest! HACHIKO THE FAITHFUL BRONZE IMAGE IN TOKYO. Little bronze images ->f Hachiko, the faithful dog, are to be presented to the Emperor and Empress of Japan. From the time when Ulysses, returning from his wanderings, was greeted by his old watchdog Argus, many a dog has won praise for 'ts fidelity. Without number are these loyal companions who hasten to greet their returning masters daily, and Hachiko was among them. Each morning he went with his master through the streets of Tokyo to the station, and each evening he was waiting when the train came in. It is a long time now since there was arty master to meet, for he was killed in a railway accident several years ago, but Hachiko still goes to the station twice every day. Surely in his heart of heart he must have given up hope, but he does what he thinks to be a dog’s duty, and the people of Tokyo have been so much impressed by his patient devotion that they have decided to make him a symbol of faithfulness. Therefore a committee has been formed to arrange for little bronze Hachikos to be made and distributed. It is a high honour, but Hachiko is worthy to join the immortal dogs. SO WORLD GOES ON SHARING OF TROUBLES. We have just heard this fine story of a South London woman who out .of her little is doing much, says the Children’s Newspaper. Her husband has been out of work three years. It was getting difficult not to feel depressed sometimes, so she be-, gan to look round for someone else’s trouble to share. Not far from her she found a family with six children, none earning any money, where the father had been unemployed for so long that his pay had ceased. Instead of this he was getting relief, and because that was slightly more than the unemployment pay their milk allowance for the baby had been stopped. With 20s a week to provide everything for the eight of them, after rent had been paid, the baby had to be fed on tinned milk at a few pence a tin. The neighbour has now given her milkman instructions to leave a pint. o£ milk every day for this hard-hit 1 family. What sacrifice that will -retail for her we do not know, but in making friends with people whom misfortune has made suspicious of the whole world we fancy she has found the -ay to lighten her own trouble.