Tourist and Traveller

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1472, 11 July 1918, Page 36

Tourist and Traveller

HERE AND THERE.

No man under 51 can now become a London special constable. * * * * Mr. A. Veitch, of Wellington, has left on a visit to Sydney. 3i: # • » tfi

The members of the Wimmera’s crew who survived from the disaster left for Sydney last week.

In response to a request from Sir James Allen for homing pigeons for use at the front, the Canterbury Flying Pigeon Club has decided to offer 100 birds immediately, and 100 per month until, and including, January. Mr. Cedric Kirkley of Christchurch, a member of the club, has offered to go to Wellington to give the Government any information it needs on the subject.

. The value of boy labour on farms is not held in very high estimation by at least one Marlborough landowner. Speaking to an “Express” representative on this subject, he remarked: “If you have one boy, you’ll get a boy’s work; if you have two boys, you’ll get half a boy’s work; if you have three boys, you’ll get no work at all!”

Mr. John Traill, the last of the survivors of the original founders of the Huddart-Parker Co., died at Melbourne recently, aged 92 years.

Mr. E. C. Purdie, advisory inspector to the Auckland Board of Education, has been appointed secretary and treasurer to the Board out of 37 applicants.

Mr. N. H. S. Law, late headmaster of the Tauranga District High School, has resigned his position in order to take up an appointment as inspector of schools in Wellington. Prior to leaving he was farewelled at a gathering at the Opera House and presented with tokens of esteem.

Speaking at the Linwood School recently, the Hon. G-. W. Russell stated that New Zealand was the tenth country in the world as regarded the size of its flocks. “You may not know,” he said, “that there are more sheep in Hawke’s Bay than in the whole of the German Empire. In Hawke’s Bay there are 6,217,000, and in Germany 6,000,000.”

“I cannot and will not consider it any palliation of a crime to say that a man has done his duty to his country,” said the Common Sergeant (Mr. H. F. Dickens, K.C.) in sentencing an ex-soldier at the Old Bailey to six months for forgery.

Mr. Justice Edwards has gone on a holiday trip to New South Wales.

Colonel W. H. S. Moorhouse has left on a trip to Suva.

Mr. and Mrs. W. >N. Seay, of Christchurch, intend spending the winter months in Fiji and Australia.

At the Sydney stud sheep sales a Deniliquin stud ram sold privately for 2500 guineas.

Mr. Hurst Seager, of Christchurch, will represent the Allied Association of Town-planners of New Zealand at a conference to be held in Brisbane this month.

Mr. L. F. de Berry, M.A., Rector of the Hokitika High School, has been appointed headmaster of the High School at Marton.

Mr. B. M. Wilson, general manager of the Tourist Department, is paying a visit to Rotorua. He is accompanied by Mrs. Wilson.

The trustees of the Auckland Savings Bank have voted a sum of £lOOO as a donation to the Salvation Army’s Red Jersey Fund.

Sergeant Eric Jordan, son of Mr. E. Jordan, of Northcote, Auckland, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for bravery in connection with the Somme battle.

Captain Holinder and Captain Reece, of the New Zealand Forces, arrived in New Zealand last week after having been on active service in Mesopotamia.

An indoor bowling rink, stated to be the first of its kind in New Zealand, has been opened by members of the Lyttelton Bowling Club. The room is 94ft. by 22ft., and the surface of the floor is padded with heavy scrim.

Speaking in Christchurch, the Hon. G. W. Russell urged young men to get on the land. They should come back to the policy of cutting up the lands, subdividing them, and give the people a chance. In that lay the future prosperity of the people of New Zealand. In this connection, an idea he would suggest to his friends of the Education Board present that night, was to have a farm conducted by the board, making it a portion of the education system. Boys from school could go there for a week-end, or a day or two, so as to get the country atmosphere. Once they got that he was sure the boys would say they did not want to go back into an office.

So far 6000 of the promised 20.000 shipyard workers from the British Army have been returned to England.

Five hundred and eighty-eight men have now been contributed by the North London Railway to the Forces, representing 30 per cent, of the men originally employed by the company. Three D.C.M.’s, two Military Medals and one mention in despatches have been gained.

Lieutenant E. R. Black (son of Mr. G. J. Black, sheepfarmer, Poverty Bay, formerly of Akaroa) was one of four New Zealanders who received the Military Cross in Egypt. The presentation was made by General Chaytor. Lieut. Black, who has had nearly four years’ active service, is now on his way back on duty.

During the war with Spain, the army of the United States at its maximum strength aggregated 272,000 men and officers. The army now in the field and training is estimated to be fully eight times as great as the maximum number under arms in the Spanish-American war. The number already in the military service is twice as large as any force ever mobilised by this nation.

The news that Captain Mack of Wellington, who is slightly wounded and a prisoner in Heidelburg, came to his relatives through the Red Cross, and was transmitted within two days of the occurrence. * * * A remarkable operation has been performed on ex-Corporal Robert Leyden Martin, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who was wounded a: Loos. A shrapnel bullet entered his shoulder, passed through the collar-bone, and lodged in the muscle of his heart. Recently it was discovered that the bullet had moved slightly, and Martin entered Leeds Infirmary, where it was successfully removed. * & * * The death occurred in Wellington recently of Mr. Alexander H. Turnbull, a well-known merchant, who was prominent in art, scientific and yachting circles. He was 49 years of age. Mr. Turnbull made a hobby of collecting books and documents bearing on New Zealand, and it is believed that he had the finest collection of its kind in existence, which he has bequeathed to the King to constitute a reference library for Wellington. The conditions of its use are left to the Government, which is asked to take the British Museum and Mitchell’s Library, Sydney, as a guide. In order to house his collection Mr. Turnbull recently built a brick residence, half of which is taken up with the library.

Large tracts of land in the Midlands and West of Ireland have been seized by the Board of Agriculture as the owners have not complied with the tillage order. The lands have been let to small farmers and cotters for tilling.

“We know from those who have worked it out that the purchasing power of the sovereign, as compared with pre-war times, is now only 13s. 6d.,” said Sir James Carroll at Gisborne.

Lieutenant Frank Moore, of Johnsonville, writing from Palestine on April 22, says: —“We are resting on the east bank of the Jordan to recuperate our horses after some severe going on the opposite bank. We swim them in the river and in the Dead Sea. The latter is so salt that nothing living can drown. A man can float in its waters in a sitting posture with his legs crossed. The fertility of the alleged beautiful valley of the river Jordan is mythical. The east bank is bare of cultivation, and the west is little improved. However, there is plenty of water, often too much, if the country were in the hands of people sufficiently energetic to utilise it.”

“Some of the saddest sights of this war that I have seen have been during the last few weeks,” writes Corporal Walter J. Thompson, in a letter to his wife who resides at 6, McLaren Street, North Sydney. “Picture, if you can, the thousand civilians who were leaving their homes to escape the advancing Huns. Old men and women, so feeble that they could scarcely walk, young mothers with babies in their arms, poor little kiddies, some not as old as my own little son, trudging along the roads to escape the Huns —but all of them with a cheery word and a blessing for us boys who were rushing along the roads to try and save their little homes for them. At one place I saw a French soldier, probably home on leave, taking his poor old bed-ridden mother away on a wheelbarrow. Dozens of times I have seen women with a couple of kiddies, a little bit of food, and a few clothes in a perambulator, rushing along the roads to get back to safety. That is just what would happen to you people in Australia were we ever invaded. One day last week a French soldier, who was home on leave, came home to see his wife and kiddies. I happened to be there when he arrived at his little cottage. It had been badly hit with a couple of shells, and his wife and kiddies had gone—God only knows where. His eyes were full of tears, and turning to me he said, in the ‘pidgin’ French we all use, ‘My wife has gone, my children have gone, and my home is a home no more.’ And these French soldiers —God made a grand and glorious man when He made the French soldier. We are proud to fight alongside them, also the Jocks.”

Dr. Robert Hutchison, speaking at the West London Hospital, said the reduced diet had brought about a general loss of weight. There were three ways in which loss of weight could be retarded: (1) by the increase of food; (2) by the taking of less exercise; and (3) by encouraging long hours of sleep. The deliberate taking of unnecessary exercise was equivalent to the wasting of food, and he strongly criticised the action of masters of schools in allowing their boys to indulge in athletics at the present time.

A party of fishermen, whilst fishing near Ruggedy the other day (the “Western Star” records) saw quite a number of deer on the beach. They were quite tame, showing that they had not been molested by the hunter. # * * ♦

The Rev. Matthew Mullineux, M.A., recently awarded the Military Cross, was in New Zealand two years ago. Mr. Mullineux gave up his position as chaplain to the Flying Angel Missions to Seamen in a port in America, and worked his passage across to New Zealand in the stokehold of a mail boat. Mr. Mullineux was a famous footballer in his time, being captain of an English team which visited Australasia.

“In the United S:ates everyone has a flag, and those with boys at the front have a special flag with a star for each boy in the Army and Navy,” writes a New Zealander who is at present in the United States. “The Americans have just put over their third Liberty Loan. They asked for three billion and got four and a-half. They had 100 blue-clad soldiers from France in New York to help the loan and also 500 wounded Australians, who took New York by storm. The people went mad over them, and they were a 'fine husky lot of men, too. New Zealand should send a ship through the Canal with 500 New Zealanders in time to help with the fourth loan. It would be a wonderful advertisement for New Zealand. Millions of people in New York don’t know New Zealand is on the map at all. Send big men. Australians and Canadians tell me the New Zealanders are the finest troops in France — best dressed, best behaved, and best looking. Five hundred New Zealand troops well dressed marching up Broadway would be worth a million to New Zealand, and be worth millions to the Allied cause.”

A soldier, recently returned from active service, on alighting from a train at Lyttelton the other day, happened to glance up at one of the arc lamps which are placed at intervals above the station platform, and was astonished to see upon the white enamelled surface of the lamp-shade, in bold, black lecters, the words “Bayern, reg. trade mark. Made in Germany.” Upon further examination he discovered that the other lampshades also bore mute testimony to the fact that they had been manufactured in the “Vaterland,” and also that the Railway Department, in neglecting to use a small quantity of British-made paint to hide the offending inscriptions from the public view, was setting a poor example to private individuals by advertising Ger-man-made goods.

At the last meeting of the Otago Acclimatisation Society the president (Mr. G. W. Mclntosh) referred with satisfaction to the fact that the rainbow trout placed in Lake Hawea some time ago were now taking to the river. It would be an important asset for the society, he said, if this fish could be stocked in the river between the lake and the point where it joined the Molyneux, and now that they had some evidence of the fish staying in the river it would be a good thing to follow it up this year by getting as many eggs as possible and liberate the ova in the river and lake. The society decided to proceed with the rainbow stocking of Lake Hawea this year, and arrangements will accordingly be made to strip some rainbow trout at Lake Hawea and have them hatched out at Pembroke.

Sir Robert Hadfield, the great steel maker, of Sheffield, addressing the Society of British Gas Industries, produced what he described as two o> the most remarkable specimens of steel the members had ever seen. He said that both had been twenty miles up in the air—more than 105,000 feet, and that they were parts of a shell from a long-range gun fired into Paris. “The weight of the shell is believed to be about 3501 b.,” added Sir Robert. “It has a muzzle energy of 49,000 foot-tons and a gun pressure of 28 tons per square inch. At the muzzle the shell would perforate six feet of wrought iron, or about 54in. of mild steel. When the shell leaves the gun it must have locked up in it as much energy as our present 15in. shell.’

Commenting on the pi'esent war situation, Lovat Fraser, the eminent English war authority, says: — “Even if the Germans are soon firmly held on both battle fronts, we must not expect any cessation of the fighting. The enemy aim at a fight to a finish, and so long as we hold our own, Mr. Lloyd George’s suggestion that the battle may last all the sum mer is pretty certain to be realised We must take very little notice oc the stories of German losses or of the impending exhaustion of their troops, just as we should pay no attention whatever to the pleasant intimation that German submarines are disappearing from the seas. If a German submarine could bombard

the capital of Liberia, far away on the west coast of Africa so recently as last week, it is fairly obvious that the submarine power of Germany is still extensive. I believe that the temporary withdrawal of many German submarines is in some way related to the new offensive in the West. Hindenburg commands the German Fleet as well as the German Army, and the armies and warships of all the subordinate allies of Germany. He will use everything he can when he thinks the right moment has come.”

I was able during my stay waiting for orders in London to run down to Cambridge to see some of our cadets at the O.T.C. (writes Captain T. E. Y. Seddon in a letter to a friend in Wellington). Allen and Breach (formerly of Ikamatua), who were with me at Passchendaele, were at Queen’s College, and were as happy as students in peace days, and both doing splendidly. Our fellows have done very well at Cambridge, excelling in drill, studies and games. Allen was stroke in his crew. I also saw Cyril Stringer. All the Canterbury men were nearly finished their course, and were looking forward to getting their commissions. I was the guest at Cambridge of the Master of Downing. One day I ran down to Oxford to see how our cadets were there. Colonel Heaton Rhodes was to go with me, but was unable to do so. I had a letter from Colonel Rhodes to the Master of Balliol. He personally very kindly showed me several of the colleges. Again I heard nothing but praise for cur New Zealanders. He

lauded the Australians who had done their military training at Oxford, and then when asked about the New Zealanders he exclaimed, “They are super-excellent.”

Writing in reference to the exhaustive inquiry recently held in Australia regarding the high price of boots and shoes in that country, and the inferior material used in the imported article, a correspondent makes the following sensible comment: —“Revelations in the recent inquiry into the boot manufacturing trade indicates (among other things) we have been living in a fools’ paradise. It makes one wonder what inquiries into other trades would reveal. Apparently, Australian manufacturers can and do put up goods equal to, and better than, a lot of imports, and the people of Australia have been buying them for some years, and with evident satisfaction, believing them to be ‘best imported.’ It is a pity all Australian manufacturers have not sufficient courage to brand their manufactures ‘Made in Australia,’ and put such workmanship and quality into them that the gcods would be their own advertiser. The public are a lot to blame —in asking for ‘imported’ in preference to the home product; and now that we know the ‘Made in Australia’ article (despite camouflaging of brands), can be supplied in good quality by reliable firms —let the slogan of every good Australian be ‘Australian-made goods for everybody every time.’ ”

Mr. J. Harrison Jones has returned to Dunedin after a business tour of

America, in which he visited Washington, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and other centres. Happening to be in New York when the last Liberty Loan was floated, Mr. Jones told the Dunedin “Star” that he was much interested in the endeavours made to extract the relatively small sums from the working people. Amongst the many and various schemes, Liberty bonds were sold in the streets and in every hotel, and at every theatre throughout the States the manager allowed time for a five or ten minutes’ address for the same purpose. Large meetings were also held in front of the Post Office and Treasury Buildings every day at noon, when speeches were made by prominent politicians and soldiers from the front. One day a Canadian Highlander rose at one of these meetings and made a short address, and then put up for sale a German helmet, the proceeds to go to the loan. Somebody promptly offered lOOdol. “No,” he said, “that won’t buy it; I want 50,000dol.” This statement met with a certain amount of derision, which ended when Mr. Morgan’s secretary stepped out of the crowd into the bank and returned with a draft for the 50,000d01., which he promptly handed up. Others followed suit, and the helmet realised in all 200,000d01.

“The dirtiest hole in New Zealand, bar none,” was Chaplain T. F. Taylor’s description of Trentham Camp given at Wellington the other evening. “It is the wettest place in New Zealand, and the coldest place ever invented,” he added.