Tourist and Traveller

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1473, 18 July 1918, Page 36

Tourist and Traveller

HERE AND THERE.

Mr. W. Downie Stewart, M.P., of Dunedin. is on a visit to Auckland.

In a speech at Helensville, Sir James Allen said that New Zealand to date had sent away 95,000 soldiers and over 22,000 had returned.

Lieutenant E. R. Black, youngest son of Mr. G. J. Black, of Gisborne, has been awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in Palestine, and is returning to New Zealand on duty. Lieutenant Black left with the 2nd Reinforcement in 1914, and has seen service in Egypt, Gallipoli and France, being severely wounded at Armen tieres.

Dr. H. Ick-Hewins, of Manaia, has been appointed resident surgeon to the Dunstan Hospital. Among the applications for the position were three lady doctors.

Mr. R. G. Robinson, superintendent of State forestry operations in the South Island, is resigning from the Department after nineteen years’ service.

Lieutenant Ezra A. Dobbie, of the Black Watch, is at present in Dunedin on leave for six months to recuperate from wounds and general debility as the result of active service. He has served with the British forces in Egypt, Macedonia, and France, and also in Ireland.

Shooting on the New River on Sunday (says the “Southland Times”). Messrs. Charles Mumford and J. Thomson secured a fine bag of 31 grey ducks. A number were also lost to the shootists because of the flooded state of the country.

Mr. W. P. Archibald, a well-known breeder, has resigned the management of the Karamu station (Hastings), with which he has been connected for many years, in order to take up farming on his own account.

The Wellington Savage Club sent a handsome wreath to the grave of Captain Dave Kenny, one of the prominent members of the club, who died recently at Walton Hospital.

Speaking at a meeting of the Christchurch Technical College Board of Governors, Mr. C. H. Opie, who is chairman of the Canterbury Education Board, stated that out of the 130,000 children in the Dominion, 60,000 never went beyond the fourth standard in the schools.

If the scarcity of typewriters becomes more acute, one will probably find these helpful contrivances only in the British Museum (says the London correspondent of the “New York Herald”). They are as expensive as motor cars were before the war, and the end is not yet. The reasons for the big rise in price are the prohibition of manufacture here, the restriction on importations, and the enormous increase in the clerical forces of London due to the war. The United States may prepare for the biggest typewriter export business after the war it has ever known. “We have had to ration ourselves in machines for a long time,” says the sales manager of a typewriter company. “If you were to put down £lOO for a new machine we could not supply you. Even our remodelled machines fetch as much as £3O. These cost about £8 before the war. A man wrote us the other day offering a second-hand machine for £100.”

A farmer who was appealing for his son, who had just come to military age, told the Military Service Board at New Plymouth that he had 16 children, nine of whom were sons, and four of them had gone to the front. The Board adjourned the appeal sine die, adding its congratulations to the appellant for his family’s record.

Mr. G. F. Wright, of the well-known Sydney firm of Maten and Wright, stock and station agents, has returned to Sydney after a business trip to New Zealand.

With regard to the ploughing up of grassland, of which one hears so much nowadays, it is not gei l erally realised how long such land takes to form, says an English journal. At Oxford some of the colleges are proud of their ancient lawns. A rich American, touring round the place, was much struck by the velvety turf of these “quads,” and he made minute enquiries of the gardener of one college as to the method of laying down and maintaining the grass. “That’s all, is it?” he exclaimed, when the whole process had been carefully described. “Yes, sir,” replied the gardener, with a twinkle in his eye, “that’s all, but we generally leave it three or four hundred years to settle in!”

Mr. R. G. Robinson, Superintendent of State Forestry in the South Island, has resigned, after 19 years’ service, to accept the position of Superintendent of Selwyn Reserves, Canterbury.

Mr. J. Meek, managing director of the Vacuum Oil Company, left Wellington last week on a trip to Sydney.

It was reported at a meeting of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society that since July 1, 1600 beaks had been brought to the office of the Auckland Society, and a reward of sixpence per beak paid. Hawks were very easily trapped and large numbers could be secured.

Surviving passengers of the Wimmera who left for Sydney by the Huddart-Parker Company’s Riverina last week included Mrs. Croft and her six children, Mrs. and Miss Browning, Mrs. White, Miss Alice Durn, and Mrs. Burt.

It is stated amongst those who should know (says the Otago “Daily Times”) that there is likely to be a severe shortage of seamen and firemen in New Zealand in the near future. The reason for this possibility is said to be consequent on the number of men who are deserting from New Zealand ships on each of their trips to America and Canada. The wages for both seamen and firemen are considerably higher in America to-day than those ruling here, and this is put forward as the chief reason for the men thus taking the opportunity to leave their vessels illicitly for the purpose of signing on on American steamers. For instance, the rate for firemen on the Pacific coast of America is 75 dollars a month, as compared with the award rate in the Dominion of about £l3. One seaman was asked how the New Zealand vessels returning from America made up their crews. He replied that “anybody” was signed on, the majority of them certainly not being expert seamen or firemen.

Recent reports from American railroads indicate that approximately 70,000 men have left railway service to join the colours. Inquiries addressed to all lines 100 miles in length or over brought replies from 119 railroads with a combined operated mileage of 201 081, or about 77 per cent, of the mileage of the country, says the “Railway Age.” These roads reported that 54,381 officers and employees had joined the armed forces of the United States since the declaration of war, of whom 1417 received commissions. * * * * “I know a man who had 8000 sheep and 800 head of cattle, who went into camp and left only his shepherd in charge,” said Captain Macdonnell at the Appeal Court, at Palmerston North, endeavouring to convince a hesitating appellant of the practicability of one man running two small farms.

There are now about a dozen different means of communication in the Army—lamp, flag, heliograph, shutter, telephone, telegraph, power buzzer, contact-aeroplane, des oaten rider, carrier pigeon, and messenger dogs. Round the last-named there is gathering a wealth of romance, for the dog’s value as a messenger is being daily proved in the Army. There has been formed in this country a dog school for training dogs in the arduous and important work of message-carrying under fire. The messages are fastened in a pouch on the dog’s collar; and, judging from the excellent results the animals are giving, the time should not be far distant when the names of certain heroic dogs will be as well known to the public as the names of our greater generals. There is an amazing interest attached to the daily life of a messenger dog. Each animal has a kennel of its own, which it is taught to regard as its own private property; and this kennel is taken with the dog to its final destination over-seas. Moreover, the keeper of a kennel of dogs is never changed; thus the dogs regard one man, and one man only, as their master. This is an important factor when the animals are taken to the trenches and liberated with a despatch in the pouch. As soon as the dog returns with a message it is rewarded with food. This reward always takes the same form —either meat, or bones, or some other delicacy—so that immediately a dog is released with a message it dashes off home in anticipation of the customary tit-bit which awaits it. To this end the soldiers in the trenches have orders not to pet the dogs or to give them any food whatever. The idea is that the messenger dogs should have a very “thin” time of it, so that when they are unleashed with a message their earnestness to get “home” will be stimulated. —Augustus Muir, in the “Daily Mail.”

1 Mr. Lloyd George and the Overseas Prime Ministers are attending the War Council at Versailles.

Lieutenant W. Cecil Leys, who has been on active service for the last two or three years, in connection with motor-transport operations on the Salonika, French, and Mesopotamia fronts, returned to Auckland last week.

M. Chayet, late Consul-General for France in Australasia, has, after six and a-half years’ residence in Sydney, been transferred to Guatemala, in Central America. . M. Chayet, who has been spending a short time in New Zealand en route, was given a civic welcome in Wellington.

Major F. G. Massey, son of Mr. W. F. Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand, has been awarded the D.S.O.

A Sydney man, writing from London, -relates a little story showing What an important part a “meat card” plays., in the social life of the day in unnaerrie England. The correspondent says he was strolling through Trafalgar Square one evening not long ago, when he met an old friend, a very wealthy landowner from the north of England. The Englishman was delighted to meet the Australian, and insisted upon him having dinner with him. The invitation was accepted with pleasure, and the two istrolled along to London’s most swagger hotel for an impromptu meal. •When the waiter came round for the •order and demanded the meat cards, it was discovered that the Sydney man had left his at home, and although the host was financially in a ■'position to buy up the whole hotel, he could not secure one ounce more meat than his own card entitled him to, so the meal proceeded with a division of the minute portion allowed for one, and as there was very little else except fish and a few kickshaws, the two friends had to console themselves with intellectual conversation.

Mr. M. W. P. Lascelles, at the conclusion of a lecture in Dunedin on Y.M.C.A. work, mentioned that he had seen during his visits to the various fronts,..the keen disappointment of some of our soldiers upon hearing time after time the words “Nothing for 1 you to-day” when they applied at the window for letters. Many expressed surprise that church folk, members of lodges, and so on had not taken the trouble to write soldier members who were away fighting. It was’ all very well, said Mr. Lascelles, to have a Roll of Honour in church or lodge room, and to feel pride in reading it, and to pray for those who.se names were on it. But they could do more —they could write the lads. ’ Nothing made a soldier “buck up”; more than a letter from home.

Discussing the industrial aspect of Papua,- the Australian Minister for Territories (Mr. Glynn) recently stated, says the Melbourne “Argus,” that he had finally settled a scheme in conference with the LieutenantGovernor of Papua, which aimed at greater production by the natives.

hey were at present compelled to plant a certain number of trees each year, and so exports of cocoanuts were increased through their planting. The scheme was directed towards promoting further plantations by natives in the vicinity of their villages. The Government would assist in the matter, and part of the products would be directed to the full benefit of the natives, and the rest would go indirectly for educational purposes, particularly technical education. It was intended to impose a tax for the purpose. If possible machinery would be used in the developments. The population was 350,000, and 8000 natives were employed on indentures at present, and 2000 casually. The trouble was that life could so easily be sustained in that country that great effort was difficult to promote. The chief missions were the Anglican, Catholic, Wesleyan, and London Missionary Society. The Wesleyans had a similar system in Fiji, and it had done good. Such were the general outlines awaiting final settlement. The tax also would be applied towards preventing and abating the diseases indigenous to the natives. Hook worms were one of the worst, and a doctor from the Carnegie Institute in America had been in Papua and reported upon it. One of the objects of the Carnegie Institute was to attend to such matters.

“Was I wounded?” exclaimed the exasperated Tommy in surprise. “No, mum, not at all. You see, there’s a careless chap in our company, and the night I got hurt he’d been eating oranges, and throwing the peel all over the battlefield. So, of course, when I went to see ’Aig ter ask if the night were dark enough ter have some fireworks, blow me if I didn’t slip on one of them bits o’ peel and cut me finger on a salmon tin.”

Something of the appalling power of submarine mines similar to those laid by the raider Wolff off the shores of New Zealand was demonstrated at Bridlington, England, recently, when a mine which was washed up by the sea exploded against a wall on the esplanade. As a result of the explosion, houses along the sea front were partially wrecked and hundreds of windows shattered. A number of people were cut and bruised, but no one was seriously hurt. Whole terraces of houses near the sea front had their windows blown out, ceilings brought down and doors smashed. One hotel has not a single window left whole. The force of the explosion threw sea water ovei’ the housetops in the promenade 300 yards away. People who witnessed the Scarborough bombardment state that the damage at Bridlington seems to be greater than that wrought on the sea front at Scarborough. There is not glass enough in the town to replace one-tenth of that which has been destroyed.

According to the “New Zealand Locomotive Engineers’ Journal,” “the depletion of the locomotive running staff —caused by resignations and enlistments —is becoming a more serious matter than some people seem to realise. There are few cleaners entering the service, and those who do so are in a year or two called to the ‘colours,’ so it seems a waste of time taking them on at all unless exempted from military duty. This system, of course, is going to hit the man in charge of a locomotive very hard, because there will be no trained men to assist him in his work in running the train. When we get back to a normal state of affairs it will be found that locomotives will be manned by firemen who have had no practical training, and this will place a great load of responsibility upon the engineer. The inevitable result of such a state of affairs will be a very serious accident, and, as usual, we expect, the engineer will be called upon to ‘carry the baby.’ There have been object lessons given all over the world of placing unskilled men upon a locomotive, and many homes have been plunged into deep mourning, and the State has had to shoulder huge compensation claims. The depletion of the staff on our railways in the locomotive department has got far below the safety line, and if not taken in hand soon will prove to be irrecoverable.”

Sir Samuel Evans, in the Prize Court, London, recently gave judgment in the cases raised by neutral shipowners practically contesting the legality of the British Order in Council, compelling neutral ships to call at a British port. The Order, he said, had for its object restriction of the commerce of the enemy in retaliation for their submarine campaign. Could it ever be forgotten that the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk when she was carrying nearly 2000 persons? “No more callous or cruel crime,” Sir Samuel said, “has been committed since the day of Cain. The first murderer seemed to have felt some shame and remorse as she denied the crime at the outset, and afterwards moaned that his iniquity was more than could be forgiven. But the authors and instigators of the inhuman, 'fiendish atrocity of the Lusitania were such beings as could rejoice and revel in it. Lest the civilised world, which stood aghast at the crime, might misunderstand or forget it, they struck a medal of a vile kind to celebrate and commemorate it.” Sir Samuel decided that the British Order was not excessive, and gave judgment against the neutral shipowners. Leave to appeal was granted.

In a recent Gazette the Secretary of Marine issues the following warning:—“It has been brought under the notice of this Department that a package of charged electric cell batteries was recently shipped at an oversea port and brought to New Zealand. Such charged batteries are very dangerous, as they are liable to start fires in a ship’s hold. Shipmasters are therefore cautioned against accepting them for shipment on then' vessels.”