BATTLE OF YALDHURST.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 364, 4 March 1932, Page 6

BATTLE OF YALDHURST.

Troops Fight Flies and a Blazing Sun. Not the bullets of the attacking troops, but flies—those were the things that annoyed the defending forces at the Battle of Yaldhurst this morning. They lay out in the paddocks near the old Waimakariri riverbed, hidden in hollows and behind gorse bushes, sweating in their khaki uniforms and cursing the flies and the sun which blazed overhead. About two miles down the road towards Christchurch the advance guard of the enemy was pushing forward cautiously, with a screen of scouts and cyclists flung out well in front. There was no danger, however, of the farmers of Yaldhurst having their crops despoiled and their farmhouses burnt, for both attackers and defenders were Christ's College cadets, who had chosen a mock battle as a suitable finish to their ueek of training in “ barracks.” And so this morning part of the battalion marched up the Yaldhurst Road to attack the remainder who had a chain of outposts in the paddocks up to where the road ended. These outposts were vigilant in spite of the heat, for as a car containing a photographer and a reporter came up the road, a red-faced cadet stepped out of the middle of a hedge, so it seemed, and pointed a menacing rifle in their direction. They were allowed to pass, however, and drove through the gate into the paddocks. Here there was not a sign of an enemy head, until someone said, “ I w onder where they arc,” and the tip of a hat poked itself above about three blades oi grass and a kerosene tin, to betray the presence of three cadets armed to the teeth—with blank cartridges! As it was only a mock battle the attackers marched most of the way with drummers giving the step, and small cyclists wobbling in the shingle in front. Then the cadets in the hedge behind the gate fired three shots and the Battle of Yaldhurst had Tile outposts retreated at the run, and the attacking forces charged through the gate, opened out as the whistle blew*, and then suddenly flopped harcL on the ground. Another section charged through a heap of rusty tins and wire, and gained the shelter of a slight rise in the ground, and opened fire with empty rifles on the retreating outposts. The battle was still in progress when the photographer and the reporter passed the band, minus instruments and with buttons undone and handkerchiefs on their heads, plodding along in the dust to collect the wounded, as most bands do in wartime. Blank cartridges crackled occasionally and the flies buzzed all the time. Tha Battle of Yaldhurst was on.