HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1422, 26 July 1917, Page 34

HERE AND THERE.

Lieutenant Herbert Drewitt, of Christchurch, has been successful in passing his final examination in the Royal Flying Corps. Lieut. Drewitt is now engaged in scout duty in England.

Mr. P. M. M’Kay, of Nelson, who has invented an automatic arm and hand, is leaving for England shortly to place his invention at the dsposal of the War Office. A Wellington company with a capital of £2OOO has taken up the patent, and is sending Mr. M’Kay to England.

A shag shot on the Waitaki river recently was found to contain a salmon 16 inches leng.

Major R. D. Hardie, son of Mr. G. M. Hardie, of Palmerston North, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Major Hardie served on Gallipoli, and has been twice wounded.

Lieut.-Col. R. R. Grigor, D. 5.0., has returned to Balclutha, after having been, absent for nearly three years. Lieut.-Col. Grigor (who then ranked as major) left New Zealand with the Main Body in command of the 12th Squadron Otago Mounted Rifles.

The Hon. C. J. Johnston, Speaker of the Legislative Council, has left for America, on a health-recruitmg trip. He is accompanied by Mrs. Johnston and his daughter, Mrs. Arthur Duncan.

Mr. Justice A. H. Simpson, Chief Judge in Equity *n New South Wales, has been granted twelve months leave of absence, preliminary to his voluntary retirement from the Bench.

Captain Robertson, one of the bestknown shipmasters in the Dominion is visiting Wanganui. Capt. Robertson made many fast trips across the Tasman Sea at the time that he was in command of the Barquentine St. Kilda and is a familiar figure on the coast.

His Excellency the Governor-General paid a flying visit to Auckland and had a day’s shooting at Waiwera before returning to Wellington.

Mr. Gerald Anderson, who is a wellknown English press correspondent and traveller, is at present on a visit to New Zealand.

The death is announced in a cable message from London of Mr. Patrick O’Brien, Nationalist M.P. for Kilkenny, Ireland, since 1895.

Lieutenant P. F. E. Schuler, who accompanied the first Australian contingent to Gallipoli as special war correspondent for “The Age,” and subsequently enlisted in the Army Service Corps, has died of gunshot wounds received on active service in France. Lieutenant Schuler, who was the only son of Mr. G*. F. H. Schuler, editor of “The Age,” had been on active service for about twelve months.

The estate of the late Mr. Duncan Rutherford of Canterbury has been sworn for probate at under £350,000.

Georges Carpentier, the French boxer, is going to the United States to give exhibitions on behalf of war funds.

Mr. G. A. Giller, who has been in the employ of Messrs. J. G. Ward and Co., of Invercargill, for the past seventeen years, has been appointed manager of the newly-established Feilding branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-Operative Distributing Company, Ltd.

The interned Australians in Switzerland have recovered wonderfully after their tragic experiences as prisoners in Germany. The men divide their time between sport and educational work. Some of the junior officers have taken instructional courses at the Geneva and Lausanne Universities. The men at Ourren and other places are receiving instruction in motor driving, bookkeeping, and carpet making.

“America in particular I regard as a great field for future development of tourist traffic, and during the year the Department has had a great number of inquiries by letter as well as visitors from the United States,” says the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, in the annual report of the Tour, st and Health Resorts Department. “One of the leading tourist agencies on the eastern side of America,” says the Minister, “has recently sent a personally conducted tour under its general manager right through New Zealand, and that firm is desirous o" establishing reciprocal relations with the Tourist Department which will result in a number of its clients visiting these shores.

At a meeting of the Canterbury Licensed Victuallers’ Association held at Christchurch, Mr. E. Nordon, who for the past fifteen years has been secretary of that body, tendered his resignation on account of ill-health. The association accepted the resignation with extreme regret, and placed on record its appreciation of the fifteen years of faithful service rendered by Mr. Nordon. On relinquishing bis duties in September, Mr. Nordon proposes to visit Australia, and on his return will settle in the North Island.

Mr. William Philcox, a well-known Auckland builder, died at Devonport last week. He leaves a widow and family of three sons and five daughters. Mr. Philcox had resided in Auckland since 1855.

Mr. J. W. Whittaker, of Palmerston North, has been appointed auditor for the Government in connection with the butter-fat levy. His duties will cover the whole of the Dominion.

Two or three days a week, when the weather is favourable, the King works on the potato plot in the gardens at Windsor Castle. His usual hours are just before and after tea, and his helpers include Princess Mary, who, as already announced, has an “allotment,” and Prince Henry.

Making mention of the soldiers’ graves at Gallipoli, the Prime -Minister, in the House of Representatives, said that at the Imperial Conference he had moved that the piece of country where the dead men lie should be placed under British control. His idea was not agreed to at once, but it was agreed to in the end —and he had not the slightest doubt that in any peace negotiations that subject would be very carefully considered. (Hear, hear.) Further, France had handed over in perpetuity to the British Government the land in which our soldier-dead are buried.

Mr. J. H. Anderson, Acting-Consul in Chief for Sweden to British Australasia is on a tour of inspection to the Swedish Consulates of the Dominion. • • . • Mr. S. L. Peck, formerly assistant secretary of the Auckland Y.M.C.A., has arrived from Sydney in order to occupy a similar position in Welling..on. . , , Mr. Walter Leitch, general manager of the Blackball Coal Mine, has been appointed engineer and manager at Mount Torlesse, Avoca, Victoria. Despite the continuance of the war, • • » • the number of visitors to Rotorua dur ng the year has been well over the average. “For obvious reasons,” said the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald, Minister in charge of Tourist Resorts, “the number of oversea visitors has greatly lessened, but this deficiency has been made, good by the increased number of vis:tors from within New Zealand. The absence of the wealthier class, and the consequently reduced spending power of those who went, is evidenced by the fact that the revenue from the various trips shows no material increase. A factor in the numerical increase of visitors was doubtless the fact that there are in Rotorua a large number-of soldiers in the local military hospitals whose relatives have been visit ng them.”

Captain Cossentine, late deputy-har-bourmaster at Napier, has joined the Arahura as third officer.

Stuart Armour, who in February of this year predicted the entry of the United States into the European War, has since then made very careful mathematical calculations, and gives it as his opinion that the war will come to a close in March or April, 1918 (says the “New York Herald”). Mr. Armour, who has made a name for himself as a prophet in Western Canada, makes the following predict on: “From the viewpoint of astrology, the- entry of the United States into the great war has given us another factor to be taken into consideration in arriving at a conclusion Of the time the war will endure. With this addition to the forces of right the war can by no means last past July, 1918, and those men who are talking of two or three more years of war are mistaken. There is much evidence that the war will close in 1917, though from the stellar influence of the United States, now to be taken into consideratton, it may possibly last until June or July, 1918. However, when the evil aspects that are brewing against the Kaiser are considered, in my opinion, the utmost length the war can go is to March or April, 1918. If the war is not ended in 1917 the end of it will be . so clearly in sight that the world will begin to 'figure on what shall be done when peace arrives.”

Visitors from the Old World have been few in number (says the Hon. W. D. S.‘ MacDonald, in his annual report of the Tourist and Health Resorts Department), but there has been a steady influx of visitors from America and Australia, while New Zealanders, being debarred from visiting other countries, have turned their attention to the attractions of their own land. The Minister adds: “With these satisfactory results in the lean years it is not unreasonable to expect that when affairs return to their normal conditions there will be a great influx to our shores of visitors from other parts of the world. The total value of tours booked was £38,867, against £35,476 for the previous year. The revenue derived from commission amounted to £lBl7. This branch of the Department is proving of real convenience to the travelling public and the booking bureaux are being availed of by increased numbers each succeeding year.”