THE TOURIST and TRAVELLER

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1429, 13 September 1917, Page 34

THE TOURIST and TRAVELLER

HERE AND THERE.

Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Cresswell, Christchurch, who are in London at present, intend returning to New Zealand shortly, and hope to reach the Dom nion before October.

Mr. and Mrs, Gerald Stead have returned to Christchurch from a trip to America.

Captain Bernard Charles Tennant, R.A.M.C., a New Zealander, has been awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the field of action.

Sir James Allen (Minister for Defence) stated that the pensions and allowances grante.d by the War Pensions Board from April Ist to August 31st of the present year were as under: —To soldiers, 2116; to widows and wives (including 619 children-, 436; to other dependents, 589. The aggregate annual value of the pensions and allowances, he added, was £205,283.

At the Grand Hotel, Wellington, the Eastern Extension Cable Company, wh ch has just rearranged its submarine communications between New Zealand and Australia., celebrated the successful conclusion of the work by entertaining Sir Joseph Ward (the Postmaster-General), the Hon. R.Heaton Rhodes, Mr. Donald Robertson (Public Service Commissioner), Mr. W. R. Morris (Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department), and the heads of the various G P.O. departments at luncheon. Those present also included the officers of the Eastern Extension Company’s cable steamer and the local staff of the company.

Au old resident of the Eketahuna d str ct, of Swedish extraction, who died in his 90th year, could not speak a word of English, although he had lived in New Zealand for over 40 years (says the “Wairarapa Age”). His wife, who pre-deceased him by about five years, was also unable to master three words of the English language, and had the distinction of never having ridden in a ra Iway train.

News has been received of th?, deat' of Sir Thomas Royden, Bart., one of Liverpool’s most prom'nent men, at one time Lord Mayor of that city. Sir Thomas Royden was head of the “Indra” line of steamers, the Australasia branch of which has been recently merged in the Cunard Line. His grandson is Mr. J. R Rooper, New Zealand manager of the Cunard Company (Australasian service).

In all countries where prisoners of war are to be found there the Y.M.C.A. has its establishments for their welfare. American associations have taken a large part in this particular work, in Switzerland, for instance,

where permanently unfit men from German prison camps are recuperating. In southern Italy, where the British fleet has bases, on the islands of the Eastern Mediterranean, at Salonika, in Palestine, in Egypt right down to Khartoum, in Mesopotamia, India and British East Africa —in short, in every part of the world where soldiers are gathered the Association is to be found seeking to meet the needs of the men and to alleviate, if it may be, the hardships of their lot.

“No one travels first-class nowadays except officers,” was a recent remark by Judge Rentoul, K.C., in City of London Court.

On the occasion of the Royal visit to the Newcastle shipyards recently, the King and Queen were greeted by two million people, whose welcome was of the heart'.est description Their Majesties took a keen interest in the remarkable developments in shipbuilding which they witnessed at the various yards, and questioned some of the workers in every shop and yard. In the works of Sir James Laing and Sons the King singled out the oldest man in the yard, a furnace fireman over 80, who had 60 years’ service with the firm. Another man of over 70 had 40 years’ continuous employment. In Messrs. Doxford's yard the King and the Queen walked out upon the skeleton frame of a ship while seven great travelling cranes moved continuously overhead.

Summoned recently by the Leicestershire War Agricultural Committee for failing to cultivate a seven-acre field, William Peberdy, a Barwell farmer, was at Hinckley fined £5 or 25 days’ imprisonment. He replied that he had the money but would sooner do “time.”

Timothy McCarthy, one of the Weddell Sea party who accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on his 750-mile journey in the small boat from Elephant Island to South G'eorgia, was recently killed while acting as gunner in a ship that has been torpedoed.

During the recent visit of the King and Queen to the shipyards at Newcastle, His Majesty, when inspecting one of the workshops, saw a onearmed man and exclaimed; “Hullo, Sharp; where did you lose your arm?” Sharp, and ex-chief petty officer, knew of the royal tour and was not taken by surprise; but the King was astonished to meet a former shipmate in H.M.S. Formidable and Inflexible. Their Majesties expressed sympathy with Sharp, whose maiming was due to a gun’s back-fire.

A pleasing feature of the recent v sit of the King and Queen to the shipbuilding yards at Newcastle was the modest, though none the less effective, manner in which the workpeople conveyed to The’.r Majesties the determination of all employed to do their utmost in assisting to win the war by working steadfastly at their trade. On entering one of the shipyards the following message immediately met the eyes of the King and Queen: “We will deliver the ships.” Th’s was the vow to the King, roughly painted on the raw skin of a ship they were working on by the men of one of the shipyards at Newcastle. Later, when visiting the Tynside works, the following valiant resolution was encountered by Their Majesties: “We’ll deliver the boilers.” Th s was the pledge that the Tyne men had chalked up on the iron wall for the King to read.

The recent horse census revealed 2,100,000 horses in Great Britain, Mr. G. H. Roberts states; among them being 76,000 carriage and trap horses three years old and over, 39,000 riding horses and hunters over 15 hands, and 371,000 ponies and cobs under 15 hands;

Sweden is richer in water-ways than most European countries, but in consequence of the mountainous character of the country the rivers cannot be rendered navigable to any great

extent. The largest river, the Klaralven (River Klar), which after flowing into Lake Vaner, continues as the Rivei’ Gota, is about 440 miles long. Among the extraordinarily numerous lakes, the following are the most important: Lake Vaner (the third largest lake in Europe), with an area of about 2150 square miles, Lake Vatter (733 square miles), Lake Malar (449 square miles), and Lake Hjalmar (185 square miles). A master wood turner told the Shoreditch Tribunal (Eng.) that he would have to close down and lose the work of 40 years, as his man had to go “But,” he added, “if you think that is the right way, gentlemen, so be it. Long live England!” At the luncheon given in Wellington by the Eastern Extension Cable Company, Sir Joseph Ward said the first cable between Australia and New Zealand was laid down in 1876, so that it had only existed during the span of a man’s life. Indeed, there were men of middle-age in New Zealand when the cable was laid who were still alive. The first subsidy paid was one of £7500, and they were helped in that by New South Wales

paying one-third. As to charges, the first rate per word was 11s. 2d., which in 1893 was reduced to ss. 2d. In 1900 they commenced laying the Pacific cable, and in April, 1902, the rates to the United Kingdom were reduced from ss. 2d to 3s. 4d. per word (ordinary rates). In December the same year the rate dropped to 3s. per word, whilst the present rate was 2s. Bd. per word. The rate to Australia was reduced from 3s. Bd. to 2s. 2d. in 1893, and on the Pacific cable coming into operation, the rate was cut down to Is. per word. In 1909 it dropped to 9d , and to 7%d. in September, 1912. Sir Joseph Ward spoke of the fine work the Eastern Extension Company had done in allowing the next-of-kin of wounded soldiers to send three messages of inquiry free of cost, with the replies. The company had sent 30,000 of such messages, and had received 20,000 replies. When they reflected what that meant they would agree that the company deserved the thanks and congratulations of every section and all classes of the community. (Applause.). He looked forward to the time when the cable rates would be even lower than they were to-day, as the result of the development of their co-adjutor and competitor, the wireless.

The success of the fund established in April, 1915, by the National Committee for Relief in Belgium, which

appeal up to May 31 last, when the United States Government assumed financial responsibility for the cost of relief, yielded a total of £2,411,222 18s. 2d., is due (says the second annual report of the National Committee) mainly to regular weekly and monthly collections organised by loyal and willing helpers who have worked with equal devotion in such far separated points of the Empire as Birmingham. Auckland, the Seychelles, British Honduras, Wei-hai-wei and Montreal. During the last 13 months two special appeals have also been made. The first, issued in July, 1916, was to the children of the British Empire asking them to help the children in Belgium. They responded by contributing over £60,000. The ‘second, also for the children in Belgium, was a Christmas dinner table collection, made by means of small envelopes. This has so far brought in over £150,000. In regard to both of these special appeals the committee desire to express deep gratitude to the education authorities and school teachers throughout the Empire for their invaluable co-operation.

Four “conscientious” objectors in England who visited Lyme Regis and jeered at some wounded soldiers for fighting for their country have been recalled to the Army, states Sir George Cave.

“If you turned hell upside down you could find ‘Made in Germany’ stamped on the bottom,” shouted Billy Sunday, the American revivalist, as he announced to his audience of 18,000 his subscription of 25,000 dollars to the Liberty Loan.

“Far be it from me to make any prophecy, beyond saying this: that in all sincerity I think things are so shaping that the end is not really very far off,” said Lieut.-General Sir John Maxwell, Northern Command, at York recently.

Germans and Austrians still at liberty in England number about 22,000, of whom 10,000 are women, states the Home Secretary. Germans naturalised since the war began number 146. There has been none since last November.

An interesting exhibit'on of the work of wounded soldier patients at the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, Shepherd’s Bush, London, was opened

recently by Lady Lloyd, accompanied by Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Lloyd, General Officer Commanding the London District. Soldiers were to be seen wearing and making artificial limbs and appliances. The whole process of making a limb, from the taking of a plaster cast to the finished article, was shown, while at other stalls, soldiers, from almost every part of the Empire, provided with these mechanical appliances, were engaged in fretwork, carpentry, cigarette-making, tailoring, working in leather, electrical engineering, and many other tasks. The work of patients confined to their beds —in embroidery, painting and plaque decoration —was sold by willing helpers. King Manoel and Queen Augusta, both of whom take a deep interest in the work of the hospital, were present.

The following were included in last week’s arrivals at the Grosvenor Hotel, Timaru: —Mr. and Mrs. A. Begg, Mr. T. B. Fairbairn, Mr. H. Bowden, Mr. J. C. McNeill, Mr. W. E. Hurley, Mr. J. Shaw, Mr. P. Todd, Mr. W. A. Slowley, Mr. C. A. Duncan. Dunedin; Mr. Edmund Cross, Mr. J. Blakely, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Talbot, Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Merton, Mr. J. R. Cameron, Mr. C. Louisson, Mr. J. F. Grierson, Colonel Cooper, Mr. G. H. Christie, Mr. A. Queree, Mr. H. C. Rodgers, Mr. W. I. Carney, Mr. J. A. Philp, Mr. Selby Lucas, Mr. Thomas Perry, Mr. R. Nettleton, Mr. N. Andrews, Mr. T. H. Baker, Mr. H. Hargreaves, Mr. G. W. Hargreaves, Mr. A. Turner, Mr. J.

Moody, Mr. W. Ballantyne, Mr. W. B. Penhey, Mr. E. C. Armitage, Mr. S. T. Hincksman, Mr. A. L. Tucker, Mr. F. McCullough, Mr. O. W. Seaton, Christchurch; Mr. E. W. James, Mr. B. N. Jacobs, Mr. D. A. Fay, Mr. W. A. Midlane, Wellington; Mr. C. H. Woodcock, Mi-. John Beck, Mr. G. A. Laird, Melbourne; Sergeant C. E. Hitchings, Tauherenikau; Mr. A. W. Taylor, Mr. A. Martin, Auckland; Mr. and Mrs. J. Ford. Foxdown; Miss F. Perry, New York; Miss Lilian Tucker, U.S.A.; Miss D. Thornton, Mr. A. Bristowe, London; Miss M. Rowley, Mr. and Mrs. Higginson, Mr. Barry Lupino, Mr. F. Green, Sydney; Mr. W. R. McLaren, Mr. and Mrs. S. Mackenzie, Timaru: Mr. W. E. King, Invercargill; Mr. W. F. Hamilton, Ashwick Flat.

The British working man has shown in no uncertain fashion that he greatly resents being deprived of his beer (says the London “Daily Mail”). The Government’s scheme for compulsory reduction in brewing has been greatly modified. The amount of drinking generally has, however, greatly diminished. This is no doubt due to the various regulations limiting the hours of sale and the conditions of sale that have come into force since the outbreak of war. The Central Control Liquor Board has issued some statistics to show that while in 1914 the average weekly convictions for drunkenness in England and Wales were 3388, they fell to 2517 in 1915, 1544 in 1916, and this year up to May 20 to 1039. The notreating order struck at the roots of one great cause of drinking. The rapid rise in the price of spirits and beer has made for sobriety. War has worked many wonders in Germany as in England, but none more revolutionary than rhe recognition which women have won for themselves as indispensable members of industrial society (writes Frederic William Wile, late Berlin correspondent of “The Daily Mail”). It is barely 20 years since the - Prussian Statute books barred women, along w'th children and lunatics, from the right even to attend political meetings! Women began filling men’s jobs in Germany considerably earlier than their unimagined talents were discovered in wartime Britain. They mounted the conductors’ platforms of the tramway cars, for instance, almost simultaneously with the mobilisation order on July 31, 1914. At first these Kriegsfrauen (war women) were only the wives of men called up, who took up the work more in the keep - the - home - fires - burning spirit than out of utilitarian motives. Germanic women, of course, were not strangers to manual labour of arduous sort. In Austria-Hungary nearly half the nation’s women were professional wage-earners. In Germany they did scavenging work for years before the war, and it did not out-

rage the susceptibilities of German “gentlemen” to see a woman harnessed to a dog, pulling carts and vans. Indeed, when I first arrived in Berlin, now nearly sixteen years ago, an animated discussion was raging round a “scientific” pamphlet entitled “Ist das Weib ein Mensch?” (Is woman a human being?)