THE TOURIST and TRAVELLER

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1307, 13 May 1915, Page 40

THE TOURIST and TRAVELLER

HERE AND THERE.

Amongst the guests who were staying at the Grand Hotel, Auckland, last week were included the following: — Mr. N. R. Mackintosh, Auckland; Mr. H. A. Beauchamp, Wellington; Lieut.Colonel C. H. Turner, Wellington; Captain White-Parsons, Napier; Mr. R. Allan, Hoanga; Mr. J. Court,; Mr. J. H. Miller, Whangarei; Mr. L. M. Gleason, New York; Mr. A. Charles, Wellington; Mr. H. S. Elworthy, Timaru; Mr. J. C. Miller; Mr. H. C. Bagoh, Melbourne; Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Johnson, San Francisco; Mr. A. M. Welland, Sydney; Mr. A. Machias. Sydney; Mr. H. Davis; Mr. W. Douglas, Dunedin; Mr. S. Ogden, Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. C. Maudsley, Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. Low, Wanganui; Mr. C. Palmer, Sydney; Mr. C. Lord, Christchurch; Mr. R. B. Jackson, Nelson; Mr. Skensky, Melbourne; Mr. H. Vial, Wellington; Mr. J. A. Tate, Wellington; Mr. O. K. Bendall; Mr. J. D. Knight Melbourne; Mr. H. McCullough, Melbourne; Mr. H. D. Main, London; Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Carr, England; Mr. C. Stoddart, Liverpool; Mr. H. D. MacDonald, Christchurch; Mr. H. G. Kitto, London; Mr. P. A. Herman, Christchurch; Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Holmes; Mr. J. H. Vernon, Christchurch; Mr. H. B. Coupe, Putarua; Mr. and Mrs. C. F. C. Miller, Bay of Islands; Mr. George Fenwick, Dunedin; Mr. W. Reece Christchurch; Mr. C. B. Hardie, Wellington; and Mr. F. Hay, Wellington.

The guests at the Central Hotel last week included: Mr. and Mrs. Ballantyne, Rotorua; Mrs. M. Fraser, New Plymouth; Mrs. A. Maguire and Miss Rigg. Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Rossiter, Assam, India; Mrs. Crewe, Pahiatua; Mr. D. Crewe, Dudley, England; Mr. and Mrs. Walter Humphries. Napier; Mrs. E. Woods, Sydney; Mr. A. Henty Wilson, Sydney; Mr. J. W. Sparke, Sydney; Mr. J. R. Jones and , Miss. Jones, Gisborne ; Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Nelson, Perth, W.A.; Miss Dable. Melbourne; Mr. and Miss Pinkerton, San Francisco; Miss S’mpson, New York; Mr. Chas. Langdale, Fiji; Father Finn, Te Kuiti; Mr. C. J. Kerr, Opotiki; Mr. A. H. Johnstone. New Plymouth; Mr> J. Terry; Mr. J. F. Strang, Taumarunui; and Mr. and Mrs. Selley, Wellington.

The guests who were staying at the Royal Hotel last week were: Mr. R. L. Williams, Gisborne; Mrs. and Miss Weber, Gisborne; Dr. Reekie, Whangarei; Nurse Stronack Samoa; Mr. N. Bell, Huntly; Dr. Hales, Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. D. Millar, Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. V. Smith, Taihape; Mr. Maurice Ralph, Sydney; Mr. and Mrs. H. Bayly, Hamilton; Mr. and Mrs. Ludbrook, Ohaewai; Mr. Thurley, Sydney; Mr. Gammon, Tauranga; Mr. Haskell, Whangarei; Mr. A. A. Paape, Wellington; Major Mackersey. Whangarei; Mr. R. Thompson. Whangarei; Mr. and Mrs. Howard, Wellington; Mr. Riddel, Tauranga; Mr. Drake, Wellington; Mr. Sellars. New Plymouth; and Mr. J. R. Corrigan, New Plymouth.

Amongst the guests who were staying at the Star Hotel were: Mrs. Foster, Te Kuiti; Mr. S. Brown; Mr. and Mrs. Jagger, Stanley Bay; Mr. Yoeman, Sydney; Mr. S. Parrington. Wellington; Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Garrett, Auckland; Mr. and Mrs. Orkney, Sydney; Mr. Cameron, Te Kuiti; Mr. McCardle; Miss Hayes; Mr. Ryan, Sydney; Mr. and Mrs. Biggs. Vancouver; Mr. G. E. Finley, Te Kuiti; Mr. McDougal; Miss Barton; Mr. A. Lissamon, Te Kuiti; Mr. Mostyn Jones; Mr. Friedlander; Mr. McCarthy; Mr. Cornford, Cambridge; and Mr. Jennings, M.P., Taumarunui.

Mrs. J. Scott-Moncrieff left last week by the Riverina for Sydney.

Mr. and Mrs. W. T. S. Wilson, late of the Thames district, accompanied by their three children and maid, left for Western Australia last week by the Niagara.

Miss B. Worsp, daughter of Captain Worsp, of Auckland, left for Sydney last week.

Dr. G'eorge Brown, president of Australian Methodist Conference, accompanied by Miss Brown, left Auckland last week by the Atua for a trip round the Islands.

Mr. P. Slade and Miss Slade, of Sydney, left Auckland last week on a holiday tour around the Islands.

Mr. R. M. Booth, accompanied by two daughters left Auckland last week upon their return to Suva.

Mrs. R. S. Rankin, wife of an official in the Government service, Fiji, returned home by the Atua last week. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomerie, of the same service, also returned by the Island boat.

Mr. W. T. Winstone left Auckland by the Riverina for Sydney to catch the Aberdeen steamer Marathon. Mr. Winstone is a member of the South British Insurance Company in South Africa.

Dr. and Mrs. Short, of Westport, sailed from Auckland on the Atua for the round Island trip.

Dr. W. M. Sanders, who has been appointed by the Government medical officer at Haapai, Tonga, left last week, accompanied by Mrs. Sanders, to take up his new duties.

Miss de Montalk of Auckland, who is proceeding to Sydney to make a special study of kindergarten methods, left Auckland last week by the Riverina.

Mr. and Mrs. W. A.. Nelson, of Perth, W.A., and Miss Dabb, of Sydney, are at present in Rotorua. They will tour the Wanganui River and Wellington before they return.

Mr. Langdale, of Fiji, is at present on a visit to Rotorua. Mr. J. K. Bagster, of Melbourne is alsp staying in the Thermal regions. )

Mrs. F. L. Wright,, of Raventhorne Auckland, will leave by the Niagara on the 18Gi for a trip to California, in company with Mr. ai£d; Mrs. W. T. Eall.

Nurse E. A. Bennett, of Otahuhu, leaves by the Niagara on the next trip for Europe, to offer her services to the British War Office.

Germany and Austria together are estimated to have lost 3,500,000 men in battle, of whom 600,000 were killed. The Allies’ losses in men foot up more than 2,000,000, of whom 500,000 are dead.

Cracow is a most imposing city seen from a distance, ‘ with its many churches and belfries, and the Royal citadel of Poland towering high above the city. The Royal citadel was commenced by King Wladislaw in 1320, on the site of an old castle, which occupied the summit of a rocky eminence called the Wawel, overhanging the Vistula. It has been repeatedly damaged by fire, but much survives, including the Cathedral of St. Stanislaus. where are buried all the kings of Poland for 400 years, and many of the great men and heroes of Poland.

The Kurds, who are fight ng the Russians on the western front, as a rule fight better than the Turks, and give infinitely more trouble, though the task of the Russians has been hard enough, even against the Turks, for they have been fighting always in a minority of one to three. The Turkish soldiers, however, are ex-

tremely badly clothed and worse fed, and are ready to surrender at the first opportunity. The Kurds are a different race, at the same time hardier and more genuinely fanatic. The Turk is occasionally obstinate, but nevei* enthusiast c. The Kurds are better accustomed to privation, are fanatics like dervishes, and fight to kill or he killed.

Servia has neither gaols nor guards for the overwhelming number of war captives that fell, to 1 Or share. She .treats them therefore, as uninvited guests, towards whom the usual forms of hospitality must be maintained at all costs. Sixty thousand officers and men of the Imperial, Monarchy are now in Servia, roaming freely at their own sweet will, unless work can be found for them, or uni,ess they are laid up in the hospital. While the question of their support is a subject of grave anxiety to the Servian Government, they themse’ves are satisfied to be secure from artillery fire, and, above all, from attack with hand bombs, which is their idea of hell. “Are you; sure that they will, not attempt to escape?’’ a pressman inquired. “Only too sure,’’ replied a harassed offic’a’, and he pointed to a cart piled with

loaves on its way to the prisoners” food depot.. The Austrian commissariat was miserable,, and Francis Joseph s liege men came to us for a bit of bread.’’

The Stratford Acclimatisation Society has been buss'- looking after the interests of sportsmen in the district, and the secretary has how 122 pairs of hawks’ feet and eight pairs of shags.

With a view to preventing possible outbreaks of national feeling among the cosmopolitan population of the city, saloon keepers in San Francisco are displaying warnings to the patrons of their bars in the following terms: —“Please do not discuss the European war. If you want to fight, go to war. We are neutral.”

The Southern Lakes, it is complained in Dunedin compared with Rotorua, are not advertised as well as they might be.

“German confidence is diminished, but can be destroyed only by a defeat which they can neither explain nor hide, states ah English writer. Such a defeat might possibly have an immediate overwhelming effect on the whole nation if it should be decisive.”

The visitor to Cracow now sees only the remnants of its ancient glory. • St. Florians Gate —perhaps the finest monument of Gothic architecture in Poland —still marks the site of the ancient walls. In the old market place—Rynek Glowny, now rechristened Ringsplatz—still stand St. Mary’s Church of the thirteenth century, with its* exquisite high altar, and the old Clothhouse, now containing the national museum. Not far from it is St. Anne’s Church, with the tomb of Corpernicus, who, though born at Thorn, studied and died at Cracow. Above all, there is the Cathedral, the Polish Westminster, with the tombs of the Sobieskis, the Kasimirs, the Poniatowskis, and of Kosciuszko himself, and with statues from the great chisel of Thorwaldsen. But along with these monuments the visitor will find two belts of forts —one 30, the other 12 miles in circumference, guarding the approaches to the city against a Russian attack, and barracks and depots without number.

Sportsmen will be interested to learn that two of the chamois presented to the New Zealand Government by the Emperor of Austria some years ago—and liberated in the South Island —were seen last week in the vicinity of the Rainbow accommodation house, about 50 miles north of Hamner. Other chamois are doing well in the Mount Cook district.

A very interesting relic of the Turkish attempt to cross the Suez Canal has been received from Private J. A. Anderson by his brother, Mr. H. Anderson, of Timaru. The relic consists of a fragment of one of the zinc pontoons with which the Turks attempted to get across the waterway.

Twenty doctors left Melbourne by the Orontes for England recently to join the Royal Army Medical Corps. They are mostly Melbourne men, but one New South Wales doctor is included in the number. This batch, with others who have now left, completes the total of 100 asked for. The response of doctors to the War Office appeal was larger than the requirements. It is believed that should they be asked for, at least another 30 doctors could be sent.

Every time that the Queen Elizabeth sends a shell of a ton weight hurtling over seven miles of sea, bang goes £5OO of the British taxpayers’ money.

The pay of officers in the Russian army usually averages from £3 to £lO a month, according to the standing of the regiment. The salary of a general is not extravagant and yaries from £3OO to £5OO a year.

The Russian soldier is simply a child of nature. He is easily amused and easily satisfied, for his wants have been reduced to the minimum.

The Queen Elizabeth is 640 feet long on the water-line and 600 feet between perpendiculars. Her breadth is 90 feet 6 inches, and at her designed draught she has a displacement of 27,500 tons. The shaft horsepower estimated ,to give her a speed of 25 knots was 75,000. but on trial the power and, of course, the speed were exceeded.

Russian officers of all ranks are far more sociable and less reserved than those of other nations. In fact, says a recent visitor, I have frequently seen a simple soldier approach a colonel or general and ask him for a light or some small favour as a matter of course. The soldiers have even nicknames for their favourite officers, whom they regard as friends, advisers, and in loco parentis.

The standard in Russia, as regards height for military service, is very low as compared with our own. It begins at- sft. for infantry and sft. Sin. for cavalry. This is surprising, for very many tall men are to be found' in Russia. But the typical Russian, the backbone of the army, is not a tall man; he is of medium Size, fleshy, and thickly built.

One must approach Cracow as the Russians now do, from the vast plain which stretches eastwards, in order to get a proper impression of what constitutes the great interest of .the old Polish capital—the melancholy sunset of its proud and splendid past. It is from the east, and not, as most tourists, do, from the Silesian ridges on the north-west, that one sees in their multitude the towers and turrets, the steeples and domes of Cracow, and sees them untarnished by the network of narrow; tortuous, and dirty streets which characterise the city that was the glory of the Polish kingdom when that kingdom was the rival of Russia, the suzerain of Prussia, the possessor of a mighty sword that counted for a great deal in the fortunes of Europe.

An actual menu issued by a Paris restaurant during the siege in 1870-71 makes interesting reading in these latter days. It is:—Siege Bread; Horse Soup; Dog Cutlets; Ragout of Cat; Donkey; Fricassees of Rats and Mice; Fillet of Mule; Roast Ostrich.

Success in the Dardanelles for the Allies’ arms would remove all doubts from the minds of the Roumanians. With British and French troops entrenched and established on Turkish soil, they would be free from the menace of an Ottoman attack in the rear, and, with the ejection of the Unspeakable Turk from Europe, they might hope to share in the dismemberment of Abdul’s heritage on their side of the Bosphorus.

The new Director of Transport, Mr. Graeme Thomson, is “the greatest transport officer since Noah,”, is the

laughing expression frequently heard at the Admiralty when Mr. Thomson’s name is mentioned. He rose from clerk to Director in the record time of three months. He was a superintending clerk in October, Civil Assistant Director in November, and obtained his present position in the following month. A tall, soldierlylooking man with the face of a diplomat, the forehead of a thinker, a square chin and a bushy moustache. Mr. Thomson’s appearance conveys the impression of a rare combination of organising ability, accuracy, judgment, resource and rapid assimilation of ideas.

Mesopotamia (“between the rivers”), where fighting with the Turks is reported, is the district between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, extending from the foot of tire .Armenian mountains south-eastwards to near Bagdad. It has an area of 55,000 square miles, and is about 350 miles north of the Persian Gulf. Since the Turks made themselves masters of the region in 1515 it has fallen more and more a prey to barrenness and neglect. Held successively by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks, it has been the battleground of these mighty empires, and amongst its historic cities may be mentioned Harran, Serug, Apamea, Edessa, Nisibis, Nicephorium, Hit, Maridn, Mosul, Thapsacus and Amid.

Goats are very numerous in the Cold Lakes district of Central Otago. A correspondent at Skippers states that upwards of 500 were shot during the holidays on Mount Aurum.

Captain Walter Joseph Maxwell Scott, of the Cameron Highlanders, whose name is on the official roll of honour for distinguished service at the front, is the eldest son of Mrs. Maxwell Scott, of Abbotsford, and it is interesting at present to recall that military feeling has always been strong in the Scott family. During the period when Napoleon threatened invasion, Sir Walter Scott himself was an enthusiastic volunteer. His son, the second Sir Walter, became a lieutenant in the Hussars, and Lockhart’s only son, Walter Scott Lockhart, was a cornet in the Dragoons at his death. While Mrs. Maxwell Scott, whose mother was Lockhart’s daughter, sustains the literary, Captain Maxwell Scott continues the military traditions of the family.

The United States Government is now conducting a series of road experiments, the results of which are to be used to determine an engineering formula for vehicle taxation, based, in part at least, on the road destructive effect of all types of. vehicles. The idea is to obtain a universal formula on which to base taxation, so that a uniform tax may be established, each vehicle being levied so much per year according to the amount of damage—i.e., road wear —it causes, so that sufficient money will be available to build highways of the standard now required by the newer and faster traffic. It is, im fact; an extension of’the principle of taxing motor vehicles.

An observer would have us believe that Vienna displays an almost corpselike indifference to the chaotic fires - that burn luridly on the remote confines of the Monarchy. “Sufficient unto herself” she stares with haughty indifference a.t the destruction of distant towns, and the raided Hungarian or Galician villages. Her state of mind appears to be not unlike that of the French nobles when, in the Reign of Terror, they were led to the guillotine. “P-found no expression of sympathy,” he states, “no feeling of commiseration for the thousands of homeless, penniless, starving Galicians. No regret that the province had been lost to Austria —for, in Vienna, Galicia is already given up as lost beyond recall. This inherent, fatalistic attitude towards events is partly accounted for by the As’aic note in the Viennese character. It is well nigh impossible to obtain a clear idea of the war in Vienna. 1 . . Nothing could be more striking than the contrast between th.e Austrian-Germans and the Germans of Germany! In Germany the united strength,’- the ardent faith of the people in the righteousness of their cause, blaze fotth with an almost fanatical zeal. . Ini Vienna I .found, the-veryjop-posite—a cold, * lifeless, -indiffef.en.ee,;-? and absence of all positive dualities/x to an extent that is incredible. I. looked in vain for any word or phrased that should convey to me a feeling of confidence in their administration "OF" army.” -

A story is told about King Albert of Belgium which strikingly illustrates the calm heroism of the man whose throne and country it is our ambition to restore to him. King Albert was standing in the trenches behind a young Belgian soldier of (the 7th Regiment of the line, when the latter was slightly wounded in the arm. Seeing <the blood trickle down, the King told the man to go and have the wound dresseq/ while he himtook over his rifle and place in the trench. When the man. returned at the end of half an hour thp King quietly handed him his rifle and said, “I don’t know if I have hit anyone, but I took the best aim I could.”

Collecting German helmets is one of the latest fads in Warsaw, according to a correspondent of the Evening Standard. A German casque especially when new, makes a good ornament, and three or four months ago they fetched about £1 each. The defeats the Germans sustained in November and since then have greatly lowered the price and put an end to the new industry—the manufacture of German helmets fdr collectors. The desire <to possess a complete collection of all the varieties of these casques has given birth to what may be called “casquology,” which is not without its interest. The basic type of casque is the “Picklehaube,” wc.rn-by the Prussian infantry. This kind of helmet has a copper point on top and a copper edge along the rim. On the front is a gilded eagle, and the words, “Mit Gott fur Konig und Vaterland,” or in rarer instances, “Mit Gott fur Furst” and Vaterland.” There are many varieties of this helmet. The Prussian Guard is distinguished by a silver star on the -eagle; the artillerymen’s casques are supplied with a round ornament instead of the point; most of the cavalrymen wear helmets with chin -supports, ernamented with a design in metal; the. Uhlans of the Guard have casques with no ornament on top; the Landsturm has. the Cross of Culm on its headgear. The German hussars have helmets of hard leather, covered with black fur. Such a casque,; when ■•be’a’’ring' _l a'; skull, commands the highest price, for it means that it was worn by the Death’s Head Hussaus; but even these helmets have deteriorated in value since a number nf them fell into the hands of the Cossacks during the attack bin Petrokov.