PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 40, 12 June 1915, Page 4

PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

CHANT TRIUMPHANT.

Dardanelles, 1915

Roll muffled drums o'er hills where heroes lie Wrapped now for aye in calm and dreamless sleepEmpire lives on because the heroes die. Sound the "Last Post" in valleys where the sons Of weeping women wrought their lives to keep— Their requiem grand the roar of hellish guns. Rouse, Britons,.rouse, your brothers' blood outcries For swift advance and vengeance for its loss— Each grave a beacon light to soldiers' eyes. Write well their deed upon the scroll of fame, Water with tears of pride their hallowed tomb, Honour for evermore their gallant name. Choke back the sob that rises in the throat, Hoist high the Flag, and fly it at the peak— Let mourning cease, and ring a joyful note. Time shall not dim the gallant fight they fought, Glorious their lives and glorious, too, their death, Glorious the victory sacrifice has brought. Toll first the bell, and then, with joyful ring, Peal forth thanksgiving for the death they died For God, for Empire, and for Britain's King. Claude L. Jewell. ® ®> ® Captain J. A. Wallingford, the world-famous rifle shot and musketry instructor, now of the New Zealand section of the British forces at the Dandanelles, has been decorated with the Military Cross, a distinction second only to the V ictoria Cross. "Wially," one has always been given to suppose, was "lent" to New Zealand because the British Army couldn't have kept the brilliant sergeant-major out of a, commuch longer—andj it isn't the thing don't you know. Everybody knows all about his uncanny skill with the rifle and revolver, but Wallingford himself always declares that by persistence any man who is not really deficient can make himself shoot accurately. New Zealand territorials regard him with profound respect, not only for his way of driving home instruction, but for his wonderful knowledge of the science of taking cover. New Zealanders, despite the rot that comes through about "disdaining cover," are very good at the art, but Wallingford could outwit most of them. In fairly open country on one occasion he got four men to conceal themselves. "I will retire for five minutes, and then work back to you —watch for me!" he said. They duly watched. In ten minutes Wallingford, who had used every bit of cover fold in the ground, and who carried a bit of scrub to hid his face, stuck his head/ over a rook, and said, "Hello, boys, here I ami" Then he chuckled. ''Jones," he said, "I've drilled you through the second button of your jacket, Smith you're a severe wound casualty—gun shot wound left arm—Robinson, the butlet hit you in the forehead, Brown, ■who's your next of kin?"

Lieutenant Percy, Tivy Emmerson, of the Wellington Mounted Rifles, killed' in action in the fighting at the Dardanelles, was a gallant soul. He was incapable of fear. He began his soldiering in what used to be called the "Torpedo" corps of the New Zealand Permanent Artillery, joined' the First New Zealand Contingent, and served valiantly and well with that little corps and with all other succeeding corps until the end of that war. He was distinguished for a modest intrepidity. He took risks because he liked them, and he was eminently suited for the commission he obtained before he left Africa. "Tiny," as his intim- , tes caikd him, was a son of the late I'oLce 1: speotor Emmerson, of Nn pi.*-. XV the Emmerson. boys were finished horsemen, and "Tiny" was a born horsemaster. Riding in a steeplechase some years ago, his horse fe'' with him, very severely injuring him. He was capable ci indefinite! v repeating acts of courage a.'.d dtvotion. It is mentioned here agu/i that he wore the Royal Humane Society's medal for a parti -alarly gallant act at Napier. In an endeavour to save the life of a drowning woman in terrible weather at the Breakwater he battled in the water for an hour and a-half to rescue her, and succeeded iji bringing her body ashore. "Tiny" was cordially esteemed by every man, but particularly by soldiers. His wife accompanied him on active service, and belonged' to the Nursing Division.

v w w . . Hinted that Mr Massey is about to make a descent on the Taumarunui electorate from New Plymouth, and, per medium of speeches to important deputations, convert an erring public to the true gospel according to St. Bill. The excuse for this invasion of the enemy's territory is that "Ricketty" Russel has spoken

at Waitara, and that Sir Joe threatens to descend on Otorohanga or somewhere else in the King Country. Thereat, William and Co. are perturbed!. There is reason for perturbation, if one can rely upon reports from the scene of war, for it is freely predicted that far less than a century of votes will decide who is to eat the apple and who the quince.

The squabble is being fought on personal rather than on party lines. For instance, during the general election campaign (so it is alleged) a railway man gave Mr Jennings, Opposition candidate, a ride on his jigger. Thereupon, Wilson, Government candidate, reported the matter (again, so it is alleged), and cost the kind-hearted jigger driver his job. This story is being retailed' in the backblock camps, but the writter is assured that it is utterly untrue. Here is a tale the Government might or might not feel disposed to answer: Is it a fact or is it not that the number of labourers on the Stratford-Okahukura railway have been greatly reduced ? If so, is the occurrence due to the progress of the line, or has it any connection, remote or otherwise, with the voting power of the Opposition. Of course, one does not like to suggest such horrid things, but then this is a Government that, when out of the Bay of Islands, doesn't do these naughty actions.

Dr. Robert McNab, member for Hawke's Bay, is to take a hand in the Taumarunui election hair pulling contest. Don't know how he fared on the East Coast, but how will he answer questions as to what he did in 1907, when he nailed his colours to the mast but was forced into an ignominious retreat ? Nevertheless, he will be a farmer talking to farmers, and a visit from the historian is not to be despised.

"The Bugler" blows a call:—Notethat in its reference to the late Lieutenant P. T. Emmerson the"Herald" declares that in the First S.A. Contingent he was called "Tiny" because he was the smallest member of that little corps. "Tiny" was probably not heavier than 11 stone and not taller than sft 6in— still he was not the smallest. The smallest man in the show was "Little Jim" Nairn, of Wellington, a small person as hard as nails and as sharp. Another man not of higher altitude than "Tiny" was "Shadow" Ernie Frith, of Marlborough. Ernie is again heading for the trouble. He was nicknamed "Shadow" because war agreed with him so well that he rose gradually in weight from 9stone 61bs to 13 stone and had to lace his khaki together with string. There were other skinny men, too, who pulled through. I have that wooden match appearance myself.

The Democracy is again triumphant. The Hon. F. H. D. Bell, K.C., has been made K.C.M.G., and now is one grade higher in the social scale than Sir Walter Buchanan, the knight bachelor and bachelor knight. Mr Massey, who, one presumes, decides for the King, in these local matters, curiously enough does not wrest a bauble from the hand of loyalty for himself, and he wears merely the proud distinction of a Privy Councillor. It is becoming the habit to titularly exalt the chief of the Legislative Council, and if the people have had nothing to do with any accession to that decorative office, all the more reason why he should be titled. Sir Francis H. Dillon Bell is a wealthy lawyer with an aloof manner, and one is justified' in the assumption that beearnestly believes in his own eminence. He is only 64 years of age, but looks more, and possesses a ponderosity of demeanour calculated to inspire the nervous old gentlemen of the Council with his eminence, and. to make the jury want to hide. Heis a born New Zealander, and began his schooling in Auckland, although he wrested his degrees from Cambridge and is a barrister of the Inner Temple. He has a reputation for mathematical exactitude, scholastic knowledge and highly honourable conduct in all the affairs of life. Arise, Sir Francis!

Lady Madden, of Australia, has a novel notion, and has expressed it with due regard for her own feelings against the baby-slayers of Germany. Australia has had a very great deal of trouble with its Germans, and her ladyship suggests, that they should all be put in leaking ships and sent to sea. If they manned the pumps and kept pumping they would be saved. If they knocked off pumping they would drown. A number of "influential German prisoners" lately complained to the Australian authorities that the carpets in their quarters were wearing out, that they did not likeAustralian wines, and "that "the ration mutton was not of good quality." Another mob of Germans, evidently not so influential, recently "struck" because the camp commandant demanded that they should! bathe themselves once a week. "Are we slaves?" they asked-.

Mr D. Bodle, an Auckland territorial officer, gives some instances of Sir John French's aouteness of observation. In the operations near Colesberg, Sir John French was riding quietly along with a single staff officer for companion. A Boer shell fell within six yards of the great cavalry leader, imbedded itself slightly in the earth, but did not exElode. Sir John hopped off hisorse, threw the bridle to his companion, picked the shell up, examined the time fuse, and immediately gave his own artillery the range he had thus ascertained. The Boer gun fired no more shots. Another instance shows the value of accurate knowledge. French, desiring to know if New Zealanders understood the peculiar effect of the intensely clear atmosphere on judgment of distances, asked some of them, "What distance is that bill? (pointing to it). The answers ranged from 400 yards to 1500. "It isexactly four miles/ said Sir John.

So the great Australian Sir George Reid, K.C.M.G., P. 0., etc., etc., is not to be reappointed. While Joe Cook held the reins of office in 1913 Georgie came back and bad a great reception. Joe promised him an increase in screw and reappointment, if he was in power when Georgie's term expired, but, unfortunately, the enemy ruled. It has not been stated 1 , but it is clear that caucus, with its policy of spoils to the victors, has again triumphed. The Federal Caucus is a queer thing. One day it actually set up one of its number, the most hopeless of all, as leader of the party, with a view to his becoming Prime Minister. He was beaten by Andy Fisher, who had, however, very few votes to spare. Caucus believes that all sweet jobs should go as rewards to the faithful. Harry Morton, an Independent, saved the New South Wales State Government from extinctioni a couple of years ago by taking the Speakership, when Henry Willis, the putty Napoleon, retired. After the elections, Caucus bumped Harry, and gave the job to R. D. Meagher, otherwise well known to fame.

Returned to Auckland by the Riverina on Tuesday, Major H. Peacook, who has had more thin a normal share of real bad luck. The major (then captain) Peacock had charge of the Maori troops at Avondale, and by diint of tact, geniality, firmness and excellent organising power, converted the native raw material into a fighting force that is not to be despised. When Colonel Jimmie Allen, Minister for Defence, visited the camp a couple of months prior to' the departure of the men he was so struck with the immense improvement they had made under the guidance of Peacock that he there and then promoted him, an honour which was highly appreciated, not only by te new major, but by the men themselves.

In the fulness of time, Peacock and his men departed amid the plaudits of thousands of approving Aucklanders. The ship went to Wellington, which port had only been left a few days when the major caught enteric fever, that bete noir of the soldier. At a port in West Australia it was found necessary tx

place him in the public hospital, where he had the misery of sojourning for nearly three months. There came a relapse, and so serious did his state become that hie wife was cabled for. She came, she saw, she conquered, and brought her husband back by the Riverina. The major is as yet very far from well, and that fact causes him pain and disappointment. Nevertheless, he experienced a vein of pleasure in the news that he was to train the Maori reinforcements, and his one hope is to be so restored to health that he can proceed to the scene of carnage at the earliest possible opportunity.

"The Bugler" writes:—The late Lieutenant P. T. Emmerson, killed in action, always took risks, and his comrades seemed to believe he was bullet proof. The closest call he had in the South African war was during a clever rear-guard action fought by ew Zealanders outside Bloemfontein. "Tiny" was hunched up on his horse, his riding pants rucked into ridges over his empty stomach. A bullet entered one side of the creased garments, piercing the folds right across. When the garments were removed they presented the appearance of being neatly buttonholed at inch intervals all along the waist-line. "Tiny's" comment was: "This is an occasion when a fellow feels glad hie isn't full of tucker."

Among the casualties this week appears the name of Corporal Vincent J. B. Hall, son of Mr Thomas Hall, the well known District Registrar of Lands at Auckland. Corporal Hall, although born at Penrose, was better known in the South of this island than up here, for most of his life was spent down below. As a boy he went to the State school at Napier, and then later to the Napier High School, where he invariably appeared at the head of his forms and at the head of the rushes on. the football field, too. He finished his education at Victoria College, Wellington, where he graduated M.A. with honours in languages. Subsequently he became attached to the teaching staff at the New Plymouth High School, the boys of which soon had! instilled in them, among other things, a keenness for rifle shooting, becoming, in a short time, decidedly efficient. It was at

the time of the retreat from Mons that Corporal-Hall was fired with the desire for service at the front, and accordingly he joined the Wellington infantry battalion, in which he was offered a commission. It was characteristic of him that he should have refused this offer, for he felt it was not fair that the lives of the rank and file should be entrusted to a man Whose eyesight was not absolutely. without blemish. There is still' another Hall at the front, in the .person of Mr T., Hall's second son Lionel. :

The expansive smile noticed of late on the face of William Ferguson) Massey has been justified by the result of the Bay of Islands by-elec-tion. His candidate, the all-power-ful William Stewart, has flown into the shoes of Vernon Reed, annihilating George G. Menzies, Sir Joseph Ward's pal, by over 900 votes. The result was somewhat of a foregone conclusion, for the popular Willie was altogether too much of a hurdle for the cautious Menzies. The new member has spent practically all of his life in the gum ridden North, and, starting in business first in a small way, gradually amassed handi'uls of the filthy lucre, until he has attained the position of a J. J. Craig of Kawakawa. It is admitted by even his keenest supporters that William can't talk, but they reckon he'll make a most excellent road, railway and bridge getter. And what more, we may ask, is wanted in the New Zealand Parliament?

Paddled into Auckland lately wearing & solemn Scotch look J. G. W. Aitken, M.L.C., a Wellington philanthropist and a confirmed bachelor. Mr Aitken is one of six men in New Zealand who stick to the mutton chop whiskers of the storied 'sixties. He is a citizen who is not without honour in his own city and who was for a bunch of years Mayor of Windy. He is a very strict man and beer to him is anathema, andi tobacco a curse. He was a merchant and accidentally discovering that his firm was doing a little in the fragrant weed he was horrorstricken. Sinoe which nothing of a pipeful nature has been sold by the firm. Mr Aitken has sat in the House of Representatives and is now enthroned in the Upper Chamber. He is a dear old man, a great favourite with the ladies, and won't marry any of them. In figure he is largely waistcoat and in accent Doric,

Lieutenant-Colonel Tracy R. Inglis, M.D., second in command and operating surgeon of the New Zealand Hospital Ship, is .being feted and admired by his medical, lay and military friends. The doctor is a Melbourne boy, and his father was commandant of artillery in "Marvellous." The doctor, in 1898, became cross-country champion of Victoria, and has indeed always taken a live interest in outdoor sports and recreation®, which have happily included the most useful of all sports— soldiering. In Auckland he has been cordially esteemed, and was for two years medical superintendent of the hospital. He has been a most assiduous territorial medical officer, and as O.C. the ambulance corps has done exceptionally fine work. He has, by the way, reached his promotion by examination. The colonel is a stickler for accuracy, a good disciplinarian, and an unobtrusive, decent man. The appointment may be cordially approved by all lovers of efficiency. By the way, he is the nephew of that Victorian sporting celebrity the Hon. Mr Inglis, the "Omnond" of the garden State. With so excellent a chief as Colonel the Hon. T. Collins he is bound to give a goo! account of himself.

They manage these things better in New Zealand! Australia prises from his exalted pedestal as Federal High Commissioner Sir George Reid, K.C., while the Hon. Tarn Mackenzie still reigns on. The possibility is that the N.Z. Government can see no political chance for the Hon. Tammas and extends, hie period iaii the Old Country as a reward for his masterly handling of the Government for upwards of five minutes. Sir George, one of the most brilliant lawyers in Australasia, can, of course, earn a crust when he returns. Mr Mackenzie during a portion of the extended term presented to him by a grateful Government will have the advice and assistance of New Zealand's official correspondent Mr Malcolm Ross, whom some brilliant epic work on his fight in the Dardanelles is so soon expected. A small olose political coterie in London presided over by Tarn sliould subsequently wrest from His Majesty a couple of Knighthoods. It is hardly possible Mr Ross will be able to dissuade the Hon. Tammas from rushing into danger with himself. The reappointment disposes of the presumption that Mr F. M. B. Fisher, formerly also a professional politician, intended to assume tbe frozen mutton job in London.