THE TOURIST and TRAVELLER

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1297, 4 March 1915, Page 40

THE TOURIST and TRAVELLER

HERE AND THERE. The guests who were staying at the Grand Hotel, Auckland, last week included: Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Smith, Wellington; Mr. Herrick, Hawke’s Bay;*Mr. D. O. Hamilton, Wellington; Mr. C. Lord, Christchurch; Mr. G. H. Stubbs, Mangarangi; Mr. W. L. Webb, Melbourne; Mr. C. Jones, Wellington; Mr. G. James, Wellington; Mr. K. Maclean, Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. R. V. Dulhunty, Sydney; Mr. Sadler, Sydney; Mr. W. H. Morton, Pasadena, Cal.; Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Eilbeck, Sydney; Mr. L. W. Baxter, Sydney; Mr. F. Lewis, Sydney; Mr. R. Al. McMillan, Chicago; Mr. F. W. Brownrigg, Allahabad, India; Mr. and Mrs. S. R. Levy, Mr. C. Green, Wellington; Mr. A. Cowie, Alloa, Scotland; Mr. and Mrs. Braund, London; Mrs. Beding'fleld, Canada; Mrs. H. Gordon, Sydney; Mrs. O. Fitz-Gerald, Sydney; Mr. R. Shemsky, Melbourne; Mr. J. M. and Miss Stewart, Melbourne; Mrs Downey, Melbourne; Mr. J. D. Bull, Brisbane; Mr. P. Marks, Sydney; Mr. R. Reeks, Sydney; Mr. G. Legge, London; Mr. C. Nathan, Wellington; Mr. AL Myers, Wellington; Mr. D. M. Findlay, Wellington; Mr. Earon, Wellington; Mr. C. E. Pemberton, Melbourne; Mrs. and Misses Alexander, Sydney; Mr. J. Scott, Sydney; Dr. and Mrs. Kahlen Derg, Gisborne; Airs. Duthie, Welling ton; and Mr. D. Milligan, Wellington * * * Amongst the guests staying at the Central Hotel last week were the folawing:—Mrs. J. Duncan, and Alisses Duncan, of Wanganui; Airs. J. Brice, Alarton; Mrs. J. Withnall, South Australia; Airs. C. Thow, South Austral a; Mrs. and Miss Campbell, Sydney; Mr. A. D. Duncan, England; Mr. J. M. Drewette, Welling on; and Mr. and Airs. Gordon, Fiji. •fc J. R. Jones, of Gisborne, accompanied by his daughter, left for Vancouver last week by the Alaheno. Air. Harold Large, formerly of Napier, now of London, left Auckland last week on his return to England. * sis sis Air. Charles Nathan, of Wellington, sailed for England last week. He is going Home to offer his /services to the military authorities. sis sjs * The ordinary tourist, traffic to Germany is still being carried on by neutral countries, we, are informed by local shipping agencies, and although there has been some falling away the traffic in neutral passengers through Germany to Switzerland and Italy still continues. * :}s s|: * Mr. A. D. Campbell, a well-known English sportsman, has returned from a big sea fishing trip to Russell, and now is at Okorolre engaged in luring the wily trout from the cool depths. % : i : Mrs. C. Sheath and Miss Phillip, of Ponsonby, Auckland, have left on a trip to the Wanganui River and Mount Egmont. They will be away about three weeks. •n * * =>■ Mrs. E. W. Alison and Mrs. Fotheringham, of Takapuna, have gone on a tour of the Wanganui River and thence to Wellington. * ❖ :jc !»: Mrs. O. Fitzgerald and Mrs. H. Gordon, of Sydney, are at present on a visit to Rotorua, and proceed to Wellington via the Wanganui River. * Sfc =1: * Dr. and ■ Mrs. Hall, accompanied by Miss Black, of Sydney, are on a visit to the Hot Lakes District the Wanganui River and the West Coast gorges. Mr. R. Grigsby, of Auckland, left for Sydney last week by the Maheno. * * * * “Where the Sultan’s horse’s hoof has trod the grass will grow,” is an Eastern proverb, and five centuries of tragedy lie compressed in that nutshell.

Mr. A. T. Hookey, of Gisborne, left Auckland last week by the Tarawera upon his return home. * * * * Mr. and Mrs. D. Clayton, of Auckland, went to Sydney by the Maheno on a holiday trip. -tThe Californians are generously assist ng the Belgian Fund. In San Francisco alone £17,800 was subscribed in cash, and £20,000 worth of foodstuffs was contributed. ♦ * * » At the Lord Mayor’s banquet, Lord Kitchener, dressed in khaki, with a black band on his arm and his sword girt to his side, carefully put on a pair of spectacles and read his plain, mat-ter-of-fact statement, that “Britain needs more and more soldiers.”

In parts of Germany the winter is so severe that many sorts of roses can only be preserved by completely burying them in the soil. •i ; *i« •!’ <I : Brussels is now treated as part of Germany, and all the babies born in the city are registered as German subjects. * * * * According to the “Berliner Tageblatt,” an unusually large number of tenants of houses and offices in Berlin and the environs have given notice to quit to expire in April. * * * * “As I told you before,” writes Private Horace Simon to his relaives in Invercargill: “Our camp is right on the desert and there isn’t a speck of grass on it. Well, some ingenious fellow pounced upon half a bag of oats and wheat, and sowed it round some of the tents. The seed took root and now a good number of the tents are like miniature garden cities. They look very decent. . . . Soon there will be corn in Egypt; and very handy, too.”

Trout Lake, at Tower, Michigan, has been the scene of the capture of an enormous trout, given as “close to 351 b.” ♦ :I: * * It has been said that the British soldier in the field lives well and often has what might be termed luxuries. He gets his meat, 12 ounces being allowed each man. Then he has 16 ounces of potatoes, 8 ounces of fresh vegetables, when they can be procured, 3 l / 2 ounces of milk, an ounce and a half of sugar, and a quarter of an ounce each of tea, coffee and salt. The French ration is somewhat different. It consist of 32 ounces of bread, 9% ounces of meat, 3% ounces of fresh vegetables and 1 ounce of sugar. The French soldier also gets,

whenever possible, about half a pint of red wine and coffee. He does not like canned meats, and is given fresh beef whenever possible. The daily ration of the German army is 26 ounces of fresh bread or 17 ounces of biscuit, 13 ounces of raw meat_. fresh or salted, or 7 ounces of smoked beef, pork, mutton, bacon or meat sausage, 4 ounces of rice or 8 ounces of flour or 52 ounces of potatoes, coffee or tea, sugar and salt. * * si! If the unrivalled magnificence and infinite variety of the scenic country beyond Lake Wakatipu were more widely known the call of the west would assuredly grip hundreds of athletic tourists who at present are content to follow the beaten path. Such is the emphatic opinion of a party of Dunedin gentlemen who, with Guide J. Edgar, have just completed a delightful walking tour from Elfin Bay to Paradise. Leaving Queenstown on February 12, the party disembarked at Elfin Bay at noon, and that afternoon covered the 11 miles to Greenstone

Hut, via the beautiful Rere Lake and the Greenstone G‘orge. Next day the Lake Howden Hut, 15 miles distant, was made at the close of a bracing walk along the banks of the emeraldhued Greenstone River. Through the noble birch forest skirting Lake McKellar, the dazzling pinnacle of Mount Christina formed a magnificent landmark during the earlier part of the journey. On Monday the sidelings skirting the Hollyford Valley were traversed, the Earland Falls and Lake Mackenzie being passed, and a stiff climb up the untracked slope of Ocean Peak accomplished to the junction with the track over the Harris Saddle to the Routeburn Huts. The gorgeous panorama of the Hollyford Valley, flanked by majestic ice-clad peaks carrying the view past Lake MeKerrow out to the Pacific Ocean, was in itself a sufficient return for the day’s walk of 16 miles. The verdant Routeburn Valley made buoyant spirits and light footsteps next morning until the Dart was reached, and the travellers were conveyed across by trap, the 14-mile stage from Routeburn Huts to Paradise being completed by noon.

It is, of course, in the numbers that we put our faith so confidently as regards the eastern theatre. Germany and Austria have doubtless combined huge armies there, and for a short time longer they may outnumber the Russians. But inevitably the great armed millions of the Czar will overflow the German hosts. The Russian authorities have a habit of understating their numbers, so that an estimate is not easily reached. We may judge, however, what that minimum is likely to be from the Russian population. In 1850 the population was 74,000,000. In 1897, 129,000,000, without including Finland. In 1904, 149,000,000. Some say to-day it has reached 180,000,000. Every year 1,300,000 men reach military age; every year for twenty years past 450,000 men have been taken into the army and drilled and equipped. The mobilised army, with reserves, consists of six million men. But in addition to this force there is the militia of one million, and the full strength of the Landsturm. It is obvious that Russia has enormous resources in human material to fall back upon if she should find it necessary to improvise new armeis, as Germany is doing. Her military strength is indeed illimitable, and with its immense force slowly gathering the Russians can afford to take German advances calmly. The Huns are but advancing into an iron trap.

Two of the latest torpedo-boat destroyers, built by Messrs. White, are named Botha and Tipperary. • * • • Lieutenant-Colonel Davidson of ’he Peruvian Army, has returned to Nelson. He expects to leave for South America in a few weeks’ time. * * * * Dr. Gilruth, Administrator of the Northern Territory, and well-known in New Zealand, leaves Melbourne on his return to Darwin at the end of the month. •» a • * The South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society has decided to import some Engl.sh teal, French red-legged partridge, and ptarmigan for liberation in the Mount Cook district. It is believed that these birds will do well there, and add to the attractions of the Mount Cook district from the point of view of sportsmen, as well as the ordinary tourist. “Fair Play,” the English shipping paper, of December 31st announces that Mr. Godfrey Holdsworth has been appointed assistant manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company in London as from January Ist. Mr. Holdsworth is the son of Mr. Charles Holdsworth, managing director of the Union Company. * a ♦ • “We get a little practice at trench digging,” says a New Zealand boy in Egypt, “and often come upon old graves, and the mouths of all the skulls were filled with a blue bead. Roman coins have been found; they are very plentiful. One man found a gold and silver signet ring and was offered £2O by a jeweller, but refused the offer.” • • • « A party of tourists when crossing over the M'Kinnon Pass recently were fortunate in witnessing an avalanche that came off Jervois Glacier, Mount Elliott, and made a deafening roar in the canon below. The weather was fine and bright, and the beautiful snow-capped mountains were at their best. * • • « “I have journeyed over the theatre of the great Austrian defeat, and have followed the trail of the retiring army,” says a “Times” special correspondent. “There are myriad evidences of the completeness of the great debacle. The retreat is a terrible tragedy of war. The whole route is a litter of abandoned impedimenta of every description. The roads along which the Austrians fled are strewn with corpses, demonstrating the havoc worked by the Servian artillery. All unoccupied houses and shops have been looted from floor to ceiling by the Austrians.” • ♦ V ♦ It has been determined (says a statement issued by the Canadian Premier) that the number of men under training can be increased in the immediate future to 50,000, in addition to the 8000 men engaged,in garrison and outpost dtuy. Instructions will be given that the additional number thus proposed shall be enlisted forthwith. The Canadian forces thus organised for active service will be as follows: —Forces already despatched (including the regiment garrisoning Bermuda), nearly 33,000; forces engaged on garrison and outpost duty in Canada, about 8000; forces under training in Canada, 50,000; total, 91,000. As soon as the second contingent goes forward a further enlistment of 17,000 men to take its place will be made, bringing the total up to 108,000. Thereafter, further expeditionary forces will be followed by the enlistment of men to take their place as arranged in the proposals made public on October 19. * * * * Siam is making rapid headway, according to Mr. Gerald Morris, a representative of the Eastern Tin Syndicate, an Australian concern. He has just returned to Sydney after securing a concession of territory there. A railway line which would ultimately run from Bangkok to Singapore was being built by the Siamese Government and the Federated Malay States. One peculiar feature was that, though it was being built with British capital, the majority of the sectional engineers were Germans. The Siamese were inclined to side with Germany, mainly on account of their antipathy towards France arising from the boundary dispute, and the Germans were, of course, not slow to take advantage of the current in their favour. * * a • I have spent two days in Bremen, says a traveller, a very different Bremen from the bustling city I knew

ten years ago. I stayed at the Kaiserhoff, a good but not the leading hotel. There were only two other people staying there, and Hillmann’s, the Bremen hotel, was deserted. Cafes and theatres, however, are open and in full swing, and the restaurant at Hillmann’s is nightly crowded with officers in uniforms, not the resplendent coats of other days, but the sober “field grey” uniform. I went one evening to the Central Cafe, and the crowd there was enormous. The streets are very quiet and the tramway cars nearly empty. There are evidences on every side of unemployment, many places of business shut, shops deserted, the harbour silent. The docks at Bremerhaven are crowded with shipping of all kinds, but there is no life. The smokeless funnels of the ships and the unfrequented wharves here, as at Hamburg, are eloquent testimony of England’s grim grip on Germany’s world-trade. One is not allowed to see much in the harbour, but I was told that there were some transports there filled with troops to be used for a raid on England.

The gallant Stewart, as well as the brave, big-hearted Colonel Fred Burnaby, was buried beneath Egyptian soil, but Gordon’s grave has never been found. Indeed, it is doubtful if he was ever buried. No one was ever discovered who had laid his remains to rest, the generally accepted view being that the ashes of the hero of Khartoum are mixed with the sands of the Soudan.

The British blockade stops imports into Germany of roughly six thousand million marks (£300,000,000) and exports of about eight thousand million marks (£400,000,000), together with an oversea trade of 14 milliards of marks (£700,000,000). A glance at the figures of the imports shows the frightful seriousness of the situation. What is the position, for example, of the German textile industry if it must forego the imports of oversea cotton, jute, and wool? What could she do in the event of a war of longer duration without these raw materials, which in one year amount in value to 830 millions (£41,500,000)?

It is interesting to note that ever since Germany began to make preparations for a great war the Kaiser has been investing immense sums of money on the other side of the Atlantic. He is one of the largest landowners in the Western States —not in his name, of course —and owns a considerable section of property in the West of Canada. So notorious is the fact that it was at one time a standing joke at Vancouver that, although the Kaiser was a large owner of property in a certain district, lie declined to join the local ratepayers’ association, which would have been materially issisted in its propaganda by the use of his name. According to financial experts, the Kaiser’s numerous investments in America can only mean one thing. To quote the words of one of these experts, “They indicate very plainly that the Kaiser, at the time when he was preparing to stake the fortunes of his dynasty upon an attempt at the conquest of Western Europe, was also preparing for the possibility of failure by consolidating huge financial resources in the United States and the neighbouring Dominion, in case he had to escape to that part of the world.”

The Turk presents one of the most remarkable anomalies offered by history. In his individual capacity he is delightful. Multiply him by millions or clothe him in a little brief authority and he is impossible. Between the official and the unofficial Turk there is a great gulf fixed which has never yet been bridged, and probably never will be. The higher he rises the lower he falls. The cream of Turkish society never comes to the top. Why this should be so is inscrutable, but the fact remains.

Britain’s wonderful financial power has been called the e.ghth wonder of the world. “The normal gold reserve at the Bank of England amounts to about £30,000,000. When I left England,” says a recent visitor, “it was £69,000,000. When war was declared there was a bank holiday from Friday to Tuesday. The Government extended it to the following Friday, and in the meantime the Treasury printed £1 and 10s. notes, which had the British Empire behind them. When the bank re-opened on Friday there were long queues of people waiting for their money. They got it in Treasury notes. There was no panic,

but there are always a number of excitable people who withdraw their deposits. They soon quietened down, however, and things went along as usual. Not only is Great Britain financing her own expenditure, but she is financing Belgium, Servia, the Dominions, and I’m not sure she fs not assisting France. It is the wonder of the world.”

“In Antwerp,” said Mr. Waters, reporter of the American “Christian Herald,” “I saw over one thousand poorly clad women, one in bedroom slippers, stand shivering in the snow and slush waiting for food to be doled out to them, and this under the shadow of a big hotel where well-fed, well-clad soldiers drank and made merry. In Malines, under the shadow of the cathedral, its walls caved in, its old stained-glass windows now but ragged remnants of a beauty that can never be replaced, I saw men, women and children gazing disconsolately at the ruins of the houses that once were theirs, poor people who begged something to eat of us as we passed. On the road to Brussels we overtook thousands of refugees tramping dejectedly along, weary and forlorn, returning to the villages and towns where there is not now food enough to sustain those who are already there. In Brussels we saw women holding babies snuggled to their necks, standing at the cold street corners begging a centime for food. We visited the distributing stations, and saw the bread sent over by kind-hearted people being handed out in all too meagre rations.”

The pay of privates in the Russian army is about tenpence a month, that of sergeants about half-a-crown a month. * * Mt * From the top of the . Eiffel Tower Paris can speak to Warsaw by means of wireless telegraphy. And the Hertzian waves travel clean across Germany !