LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1125, 19 December 1914, Page 10

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

. The heroic exploit of the " L " Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, at Compeigne, which resulted in tho V.C. be-

ing awarded to the plucky survivors.

■will be described in a full-page picture in next week's " Canterbury Times.'' It will bo remembered that the battery on© morning found itself confronted by a largo t'orco of German artillery find infantry. A heroic stand - was made, but the German fire was ovonvhelm- . ing, and all but one of the British guns - were put out of action and the men were killed or wounded. Three sur-

vivors served the remaining pun, and supports coming to the rescuo defeat waa turned into victory, all tho German gnns being destroyed or captured. Tho illustration shows the scene as the supports arrived, with the wrecked guns and the dead arid wounded lying about and the three gallant British artillerymen serving the last gun. It is a remarkable illustration, and one that will take its place among standard pictures of heroic deeds by British soldiers. Several other pages will be devoted to portraying war incidents. The titles of sonie of tho illustrations are as follows: —Scene on a battlefield (showing German dead"). King Albert inspecting troops at Fiirnes prior to engaging the enemy, New Zealand' troops in the Lord Mayor's procession in London, the destruction of Contich, Malines after tho bombardment, German refugees m East Prussia, Austrian recruits and their aged Emperor, destitute Belgians being fed at Bruges, and Australasian "' transports in the Suez Canal. Among Dominion subjects to bo illustrated will ho the floods at Greymouth, the gathering of the Canterbury pioneers on Anniversary Day, and the big fire at Goss's timber vards. The literary pages will be well stocked as usual . with interesting and entertaining read'ngt matter, with the news of the day am? special reports of the doings m the world of sport. There will also be a capital selection of short stories for spare moments, besides several tine articles on war and other leading matters of the day. The "Canterbury ■ Times" will be on sale locally on ..Tuesday next, at midday London "Times" (Id) -made a pro- ' fit last year of ouly £6072, or £}3.499 less than in the previous twelve months, when the price was twopence. This evening, at eight o'clock, in tho Bunmm Town Hall, Mr H. J. Marnner will deliver an illustrated lecture on "Gonuanv and Her Ar.pects of the AVar." The lecture. Till he given m - aid of the Sumner branch of the Royal Life Saving Society. Special Christmas services will be held to-morrow at Wesley Church, East B»lt. Solos and choruses from the *''Me** : *h,° will b* rendered at the <'ve«%fifijy.'ice, and a number of old Encs«» iSristmas carols will bo sung W t£7*boir. The preacher for the clay will bo the W. A. Sinclair. Temporary regulations showing how advantage 'may be taken of enemy patents and trade-marks are published Ik this week's "Gazette." By them th* 3arernor-in-Council may on appli-t-a^BiTto an y person order the. avoidance m suspension of any patent or license or trade-mark. The regulations are operative as from December .17. ■'.. . i

In the report- of the Arbitration Court In Thursday's "Star," in regard to the Application to have the watersiders inttoitfial agreement made into anaward, it was Mr M'Cbmbs, M.P., appeared itfcppose the application Mr M'fcombs states that this statement is incorrect, and that her Appeared to support the application, and to apply tor the modification of two clauses. For the convenience of people who wish to attend the orchestral concert in the ; Colosseum to-morrow night the committee of the Orchestral Society has arranged fop trams to run as follows : Sumner (so'edal trip) .and New Brighten, to leave Square at 9.&0 p.m., and North Beach (as far as Burwood) Biccarton (as far as Church Corner) and all threepenny sections to leave atter tho concert. A- soecial late train wm: also leave Christchurch station for, Linwood, Opiwa, Woolston, Heathcoto Bnd Lyttelton at 10.15 p.m. "It's very strange>that the three brothers could not settle this thing, Ga id the Chief Justice in the Wellington Supreme Court on Thursday morn.ing, after delivering reserved judgment in a case in which the plaintiff ami the two defendants were brothers. The wholo dispute, is his Honor pointed out, was over a piece of land worth : £lO, arncl the costs would run into hundreds of pounds. " They (the three . brothers), ought to have a medal prej sented to them by the Law Society," was his Honor's concluding comment on tho case. . The ." Star " is asked to correct a wrong impression which seems to have j gained ground in Christchurch as to the real object of the collection which is to be made on Christmas Eye for the Belgium children. There seems to be aD impression abroad that tho money raised is for the purpose of sending toys to these poor mites. Such is not the case. The idea is that tho whole of the money raised should be sent to the Belgium Minister in London to be expended in the necessaries of life for the Belgium children as a gift from the children of North Canterbury. Mr J. M'Combs, M.P., has received u communication from tho PostmastcrCJeneral in reference to a request from Mr. T. Wren, of Sumner, for an improvement in the telephone service at Godley Head lighthouse. ' Mr Rhodes points out that _tho telephone circuit to the lighthouse is connected over night •snd on Sundays and holidays with tho residence of the fog' signaller in Lyttelton and that if communication is desired, between tho lighthouse and Christchurch out of office hours tho fog signaller can communicate with the Christchurch exchange from tho postmaster's house. As the Police Station at Sumner and the residence of the postmaster at Lyttelton are connected the Christchurch exchange, 'urgent messages between Sumner and the lighthouse can be forwarded either way. r lt> was a terrible sight to see the .linden when we got over to her in' our boatp after the battle," writes 1-eading-Gunner Thomas M'Carthv to liis brother, who lives in Svdney. '" She was one mass of dead and dying. Not R thing was left standing on the upper fleck. Funnels, foremast, everything, tvas down; and not a scrap of "planking left. She was one mass of holes. Yon never saw anything like, it. Great praise is due to Captain Glossop. ■of the Sydney, for tho way in which he manoeuvred the ship. Their shells ■ were buzzing all round us. but very few hit us. Our captain was on tho bridge all the time, and one man onlv four feet away from him was killed. He was a messmate of mine. We were going at twenty-nine knots. The Action would have been a fine sight at • distance. But, oh! the after-effects of it were something terrible. What made Pur job so bad was being so far •way from the nearest port and having to take all the Emden's wounded on hoard for the 1600 miles to Colombo. Our two doctors had their hands full operating every other minute of the day."

J To-day's announcement. Messrs H&stie,'Bull, and Pickering's " gifts of fluaJity ■"-.■ at 'Christmas prices will bo available to-day until 6 p.m. Some Tory- goods are being jipwii. X

Tfie finest ingredients, lovely artesian Vat6r, silver-lined machinery combine to make Thomson's-Cordials equal to World's ibest If you want Limejuice, Ginier'vWine,' Raspberry Vinegar, or .Syrup with character, get 'Hpmsons. All Ford .and

t Th» Mavor.will conduct the drawing [ for t'-.e Belgian Art Onion at 4 p.m. on Wecijesday.

A .sale of work was held n,t St Matthew's schoolroom. St Albans, this afternoon and a. good number of 'visitors were present. , The proceeds will go towards paying off the debt on .the old church buildings. '

When .the New Zealand Expeditionary .Force' 'occupied Samoa, members found, in the school grounds, a collection of Samoau birds. The birds were taken care of by Major Head, and afterwards sent by Colonel Logan to his Excellency the Governor as a present to New Zealand. The Minister of Internal .Affairs has advised the Wellington City. Council that the Government lias decided to present the collection to the Wellington Zoological Gardens.

There is a strongly patriotic man m Otago who is extremely keen to get to tho front, but for various reasons, not the least of which is a certain, deficiency in brain newer, the authorities have rejected him. says the ''Otago Daily Times.." It is related that when volunteers were being called for South Africa this man was as. eager to get to tho frav as ho is now, but was faced with some difficulty regarding tho maintenance of his wife. Not to be beaten, he executed and presented at the enrolment headquarters a pseudolegal document, making over the lady to a friend during his absence Tho authorities, however, refused, to accept this ' Way out of the difficulty, and he lias still to receive his baptism of fire.

"The local money market continues the.even tenor of its way. showing very little effect from the world-wide disturbance consequent upon the war (states the "Trade Review"). Money is naturally not available in large sums for Government 'mid municipal loa.ns at normal rates; in fact, the value of money generally is somewhere above normal, but for the ordinary commercial and industrial needs of tho community there is a sufficient supply of; funds,, and the, banks continue to meet all legitimate requirements in this direction. The enormous demand for funds in the world's money markets caused by' the war is bound to keep up rates for some time to come, and consequently loan flotations, are practically out of the question.. Tho splendid prices which are being realised for our staple lines of produce will bring in a very largo supply of funds, while it is anticipated that our imports will exhibit a shrinkage for some time, and consequently our trade account will show an excellent credit balance. This will maintain the supply of money for general trading requirements at a. satisfactory level, and tend to keep rates steady at ■ a fairly normal figure." The. papers received by Mr Holma.n. the State Premier, from the ImperialGovernment, relative to the splend.d and generous support which has been given to the Empire by the princes and: peoples of India on European battlefields, _ aro naturally attracting much attention and discussion from manj points of view, says a Sydney correspondent. We. all feel that some acknowledgment of their bravery and self-sacrifice is due, and that it will be humiliating in the extreme if that acknowledgment takes the lines recently adopted by certain unions at Cockatoo Island rather than others which will be more worthy of Australia.-':. The language of the Viceroy of India, in opening the proceedings of his Legislative Council, was . statesmanlike and guarded. At that time there was much soreness in Judia at the refusal of Canada to admit Indian immigrants, and ho had to .appeal to the Ind'an public to view the .subi°et in no naixow, light. India had he*-rights. But so, lie reminded them, nave the colonies and the dominions. He expressed his confidence that, if it should be deemed desirable to negotiate with the colonial Governments, they, with their' strong Imperial instincts, would meet the Indian representations in no mean or niggardly spirit, provided tint, some, readiness to meet them half-way h&\ shown. He considered, rightly or wrongly, that the fact that the splendid Indian soldiers are fight ; ng side, by! side and shoulder to shoulder with | their colonial fellow-subjects against j the common enemy is a guarantee of j f"ir and generous treatment on Jxjthj sides in a controversy of this naturo.i The'war is going to he the oi many thinnrs hitherto-'considered sacrosanct. Wi'l it destroy the unwillingness of Australi°us to recognise the urgent needs and reasonable claims of their coloured fel'o'w-subjects ?