Tourist and Traveller

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1485, 10 October 1918, Page 36

Tourist and Traveller

HERE AND THERE.

Mr. G. Gilmour, writing from Australasian Headquarters, describes the departure of the first batch of 700 of 7000 Anzacs who, under the new scheme, are being given six months leave to visit Australia. The scene was one of boisterous enthusiasm. Practically every man entitled to leave accepted, but a few officers declined, saying they had been in from the first, and would not be satisfied if they did not see the end. Mr. James McLaren, of Oamaru, has been appointed clerk of the Waitaki County Council. There were sixty-one applications for the position. “One of the most interesting sights during the building of the Panama Canal,” said Lieutenant Gillmore, during a lecture in Wellington, was pay day. “Each month 24 tons of silver and 15 tons of gold was paid out.” “The returned soldier’s badge is an honourable distinction,” remarked Sir James Allen in Wellington. “We are always proud when walking through the streets to see men with the badge. It is the mark of a decent chap.” At a luncheon tendered in New York to Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, Major Massey, son of the Prime Minister, was present. He and 70 men of a’ New Zealand battalion are the only survivors out of 790 who fought throughout the March battles on the West front. Major Massey was shot through the lungs and liver. He is on his -way to New Zealand, but expects to return to the front. News has been received in Timaru, by cable from Buenos Aires, of the death of Mr. C. N. Macintosh, a former Mayor and bank manager of Timaru. Mr. Macintosh was a New Zealand representative footballer. As a guide to the courses of currents in Cook Strait, the Marine Department has adopted a novel method for the information of mariners. The Department is arranging with captains of vessels to drop in certain parts of the Strait at short intervals wooden discs eight feet in diameter carrying a tin flag. These objects, which will be painted red, are to be first put into use about Wednesday next. A bottle containing instructions to report to the Department should any of these floats be washed ashore will be attached to them. —“New Zealand Times.” The fishing season opened in beautiful weather (says the W’aimate correspondent of the Christchurch “Press”). Many trout in good condition were taken out of the Waihao and Waitaki. Mr. Dellow got six, weighing 211 b. in all, the largest being 5%1b. A ” spring visit to Mr. Clement Wragge’s lovely tropical gardens at Waiata, Birkenhead, close to the wharf, should on no account be missed. The growth of the beautiful palms is prodigious, and great bunches of Fijian bananas are on the very trees. Even cocoanuts are growing, all in the open air, and pineapples, too, and the whole place is an object lesson in tropical horticulture in the Auckland climate. New and most valuable palms have been raised from seed from the Government gardens in Egypt, South Africa, Mauritius, Ceylon, India, the Malay States, Java, California, the South Sea Islands, Brazil, Argentine, and other parts of the world, and the method of growing these gems of the tropics is in itself an eye-opener. Truly Mr. Wragge has “made the desert smile” in a most marvellous manner, and everyone interested in the beautiful should certainly see the results of his unique work. The Australian military authorities state that on the service dress jacket of all officers and soldiers who have been wounded in any of the campaigns since August 4, 1914, there are to be worn strips of gold Russian braid, No. 1, two inches in length, sewen perpendicularly on the left sleeve of the jacket, to mark each occasion on which wounded. This distinction may be worn by discharged returned officers and soldiers on their civilian clothes.

A. E. Relf, the professional English cricketer, who prior to the war. spent a term in Auckland as coach to the Grafton Club, recently had his appeal against military service dismissed by the Berkshire Tribunal in England. Very little champagne is now being sent out of France, the necessities of military transport rendering it almost impossible to send supplies to England or anywhere else. Some of the largest firms occasionally have forwarded to them a consignment of three or four hundred cases, by canal, via Paris and Havre. According to calculated estimates of- the firms engaged in the trade, there are 60,000,000 bottles of champagne in the cellars of Rheims, the total value of which is anything up to £30,000,000. The fishing licenses sold in Timaru for the opening of the fishing season constitute a fresh record. Following a very poor season last year, the present condition of the trout streams in South Canterbury,, both as to water and fish, give strong support to the hope for a good time with the rod this season.

Lieut. H. S. Richards, of the Essex Regiment, who was recently killed in action, was the fourth New Zealand Rhodes scholar who has died on active service. The other three were: Sergt. Alan Wallace (Auckland), of the New Zealand Engineers, died of wounds at the Dardanelles; Lieut. Athol Hudson, N.Z.E.F., killed in France ;and Capt. Alan MacDougall, Royal Fusiliers, killed at Delville Wood. An Australian soldier in a letter home mentions an unenviable experience which recently befel him on the western front. He says:—“lt was mustard gas we got, and my body was all blistered, just as though it had had a huge mustard poultice on it. It was cruel. The respirator saved my life; I got very little gas on the lungs. We were absolutely drenched with the stuff; the Huns bombarded us continually for four hours. They fairly ploughed the ground with shells. Those with the mustard gas in were the largest; one ‘dud’ was 9in. in diameter across the base, and 40in. long.”

There were 102 applications for the position of clerk to the Eltham County Council. Bishop Verdon, of Dunedin, is paying a health visit to Rotorua. The trout fishing season in the Auckland Acclimatisation Society’s district is now open, and excellent sport for anglers is provided in the various reaches. The trout fishing season in Rotorua, Taupo, and other districts under the jurisdiction of the Tourist Department does not open until November 1. Visitors to Taumarunui will be delighted at the very up-to-date accommodation to be obtained at the Hotel Langmuir, which is situated directly opposite the railway station. It ranks undoubtedly as one of the leading private hotels in the North Island, and is in every sense a credit to the proprietor in point of modern convenience. The comfort of visitors has been the great aim of the management, and that they have admirably succeeded is borne out by the many appreciative remarks of the guests. Cosy sitting and drawing

rooms are provided, also lounge, commercial and writing rooms. The bedrooms are lofty and well ventilated, a great feature being the hot and cold water system which is installed in each bedroom. The cuisine is all that can be desired, and the general tone and refinement of this hotel is such that reflects the greatest credit on the management. The Hon. Geo. Fowlds’ remarks about the rum ration for troops on active service have aroused strong protest from returned New Zealand soldiers. Writing to the Dunedin “Star,” one of the soldiers, in supporting the views of others of his mates who have written in a similar strain, says: —“It is regrettable to see persons who should know bettei- mentioning such pettyfogging things here to-day. If the men in command do not know our Army want and require better than Prohibition extremists it is time for us to give up. To-day the majority of the heroes fighting our battle are men that drink. The Prohibitionists’ slogan of ‘Win the war’ is only the means to the end, and

they would gladly help in this, way, but they have no right to speak in the absence of our fighting men. We must be thankful that our soldiers are in other hands than those who object to the rum ration, and we as the men who tried and failed will fight this 'fight for the boys, if it is necessary, even against the Hon. George Fowlds.” More than ordinary care is being exercised by business concerns in Melbourne in allowing credit to customers. It is stated that the wholesale houses, knowing that their turnover is limited, are striving to make their trade select, and to this end they have expressed the opinion that they cannot afford to deplete their stocks on behalf of doubtful clients. A lad 17 years of age, who is earning £1 per day as wages in timbergetting at Catlins, appeared before the Magistrate’s Court at Clinton, Otago, on a charge that, being a cadet, he failed to attend drill on a certain occasion. It was not only as an amazing wage-earner that this lad attracted notice. Evidence showed that he was maintaining his father, his mother and ten brothers and sisters, the youngest nine months old. The Court entered a conviction and discharged the lad. That those anxious to safeguard the interests of the Old Country want the British soldier after the war to settle in his own Homeland and not migrate to the Dominions, is only natural, and in this connection a British officer who fought on the Somme makes the following interesting comments on the subject in a remarkable book entitled “After Victory”: —There is some project on foot for settling our discharged soldiers in the Dominions after the war. I do not say that we should not offer every facility in our power to the men who are determined to emigrate. I do not say that we should attempt to keep them at home by coercion, or place any barriers in the way of individual freedom in the matter of'emigration. But I do say that we shall be guilty of insane stupidity as well as wanton ingratitude if we lend our hand or our voice to any wholesale exportation to the Dominions or hold out inducements to our men to emigrate. These men have fought for their homes. Their home is here. We need them at home. We need their work; we need their influence; we need their children yet to be born. They are as the salt of the earth. They will be as the leaven of all that is great and noble among us. We need the type of men who fought perpetuated. They are. the type of the old-time Christian gentleman that was identified with British blood and was thought to be extinct in our age. We need what will be left of them to help us maintain our new ideal of civic and national duty. We need them to rally round the standard of peace on earth that they have borne for us through the surge of blood and death. Speaking at a dinner which he recently tendered to the visiting Australian pressmen at the Savoy Hotel, London, Mr. W. Hughes, the Commonwealth Premier, said: —“The average citizen wants peace, but he knows that you can no more attempt to persuade the man eating tiger to abate its fury by speaking soft words than secure by negotiation a lasting peace from Germany until her military power is broken. He wants peace very badly; so badly that he is going to get it in the only way it can be got—that is by destroying the military power of Germany, the great enemy of the world’s peace. As it is with Great Britain so it is with France. All is indeed well with the French people. They have endured much, made many great sacrifices, offered up the flower of their manhood. But their spirit is unbroken and they are resolute to endure until the end.” Speaking at a meeting of the members of the Stroll Picture Theatre Club in London Mr. Low Warren, one of the pioneers of the film industry, predicted that before long kinematography would be harnessed up to other great scientific inventions such as the telegraph, the cable, and wireless. It would even be with-

in the bounds of possibility to cable a short 'film many thousands of miles, and we might see pictorial representations of great events in New York or Johannesburg, Bombay or Melbourne reproduced on the screen in London the day after they had taken place. It might also be possible in the near future by means of wireless rays to show a topical picture simultaneously in a thousand theatres at the moment of its occurrence. By the will of the late Mr. James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, a corporation is to be created, known as the James Gordon Bennett Memorial Home for New York Journalists, in memory of deceased’s father, who founded the New York Herald. This corporation will promaintain a suitable home for- and give aid to newspaper men connected with newspapers published in New York. On account of the official obliteration marks on the black stamp not being always readily discernible, particularly at night, the Acting Post-master-general (the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald) has sanctioned a change in the colour of that stamp to chestnut brown. The new stamps are already in use. Mr. A. Smith, who has been appointed superintendent of the Auckland office of the Pacific Cable Board, has arrived in Auckland from British Columbia, accompanied by Mrs. Smith. The “British Australasian” says that Captain T. E. Y. Seddon, Canterbury Regiment, is returning to New Zealand for Parliamentary duties. Captain Symons, V.C., a member of the Australian Expeditionary Force, passed through Auckland, en route to Sydney. He is on leave after a lengthy spell on active service, and is accompanied by Mrs. Symons. Mr. R. J. Hobbs, of the South British Assurance Company, Ltd., who was transferred to the Sydney office three years ago, is on a holiday visit to Christchurch. “Out of 20,000 men who have returned we have lost the run of only 189,” said the Hon. D. H. Guthrie, in Wellington, in explanation of the systematic work done by the Discharged Soldiers’ Information Department. It is stated that more than the usual number of trout-fishing licenses have been taken out this year at Kaitangata, but there are few evidences of the presence of fish in the river. Anglers are of the opinion that the scarcity of fish is caused through the netting operations carried on about the mouth of the river. During the four years of war the number of casual paupers in London has fallen by fully 50 per cent. Captain J. D. S. Phillips, who for several years was master of the Royal Mail steamer Makura, has been appointed assistant marine superintendent to the Union Company of Sydney.

Mr. Hubert Percy Barry, formerly superintendent of the Waihi Gold Mining Company, died at Cambridge on Monday week. Mr. Barry, who was born in the county of Kent, came to Waihi nearly thirty years ago from South Africa, where he had been engaged in mining. Sir Horace Marshall has been elected Lord Mayor of London. He is head of a London publishing house, and was grant treasurer of the English Freemasons in 1901-1902.

Messis. C. J. Parr, M.P., and T. G. Price have been appointed to represent the Auckland Town-planning League at a conference of representatives of town-planning associations to be held at Wellington early in November. The Hermitage, Mount Cook, has been opened a month earlier than usual in order to allow full enjoyment of tobagganing, ski-ing, etc., to visitors. The Berlin “Lokal Anzeiger’s” navy expert, Captain Kuhlwetter, puts this question: “How is it that despite our submarines’ work we hardly ever sink an American troop transport,, or when we do sink one we always find that only the ship is lost, whereas the troops whom we really want to destroy are always saved?” To his own question, Captain Kuhlwetter gives this reply: “American transports travel in convoys, well protected against attack, and are very fast. Thus the submarines have a most difficult and dangerous task. This is particularly true in the Channel, where the enemy can choose the most favourable hours of the day and can protect himself by all sorts of devices, mines, nets, etc. To try to seize the bull by the horns here would mean attacking a powerful enemy front, which can be broken more cheaply in other ways. In other waters the enemy defence is not quite so easy, but there he takes advantage of the great number of available harbours of disembarkation. It is not possible for us to have U-boats waiting off every harbour until the transport can conveniently be destroyed. We have not so many submarines. It would be wasting them and their previous crews, especially as if the ships were torpedoed the troops themselves would not be destroyed It is not important for us to destroy the American troops, Hindenburg will take care of that. What

we must destroy are tonnage and cargoes. Besides, we do not always hear of every transport we destroy. To make it our only aim to sink American transports would be sacrificing too many U-boats without perceptible results.” Speaking in Sydney at an official welcome extended the French Mission at the Town Hall, General Pau said the mission had come to express the profound gratitude of the French nation and army for all that Australia had done, not only by the valour of its army, but also for the kindness shown to the unfortunate populations

of France’s invaded territories. “We come also to show that victory is sure,” he added, “and they who have made to hang over Europe for 40 years this terrible nightmare will be punished as they deserved.” This result would be attained, because the countries of the Entente, allied in one common ideal would not cease their efforts until they had struck at the head of the monster which had brought this disaster upon the earth, because without such absolute victory there would be no security for the future. They came, therefore, in the name of France and the Allies to express their confidence in a continuance of that aid which Australia had already given so generously. But after victory, there would still remain a great and a difficult task. When they had beaten down the nation which, in its immeasurable pride and disorderly ambition, claimed the right to dominate the world, they must prove that they knew how to organise. When they had disposed of those who desired

to exploit the whole world and create a monopoly for their own purposes, they must organise for the economic prosperity of the world. Mr. Wesley Frost, U.S. Consul at Queenstown during the period the Lusitania, Arabic California Gulflight and other vessels were torpedoed by German submarines, recently made an impressive speech at Detroit in connection with the Red Cross movement. He spoke from an open air platform, while grouped around him were scores of little boys and girls in Red Cross costume, thousands had assembled on the

pavement to hear his indictment of the Hun assassins. “You have seen these happy tots to-day,” Mr. Frost said, “and I thank God they are safe and sound at home. For I have seen the corpses of babies, purple with gangrene, washed ashore on the coast of Ireland from the wrecks of the ships that fell prey to German murder-boats. Oh, I saw so many children’s corpses that one afternoon when I stepped into the bedroom of the consulate and beheld my own little girl sleeping there I leapt back with an involuntary shudder, because she. lay so still. And all night long would they come to the consulate, men, women, children, who had been rescued, with the voices of their dying companions still ringing in their ears. The torpedo of the German submarine is like a knife in the back in the dark. Time after time some small sailing vessel, sighting a periscope, would surrender and beg for mercy like a tiny dog rolling on its back. And then, without cause and without warning,

it would be raked with shell-fire till its decks were slippery with blood. Sometimes the roughness of the sea or the distance would prevent as ' much murder as the Germans had a taste for, and some of the crew of the submarine would put off and overhaul a lifeboat loaded with the rescued. They would toss oars, sails and even the little cherished trinkets the sailors had saved from their sunken ship into the sea, and then, to give point to their hideous joke, empty the water cask, fill it with sea water, return to the submarine, submerge and leave their victims to perish horribly.” Consul Frost described the excruciating agonies suffered by some among the crews and passenger lists of torpedoed ships. Usually, he explained, the vessel’s boilers would blow up, and many would be “boiled to death in steam.” Others would be “blown into ribbons” by the shell-fire. Mr. S. R. Johnston has been appointed manager of the Mount Potts Station, Ashburton Gorge. The skins of nine opossums which had been illegally killed some time before were offered for sale at Invercargill on account of the Police Department, and realised £2 Os. 6d. Lieutenant-Colonel E. E. Porritt has Joined the Special C2 Medical Board as president, in place of LieutenantColonel Burnau. Since his return from duty on a hospital ship, Lieuten-ant-Colonel Porritt has recently been acting as president of the Special Reexamination Medical Board attached to the branch of the Director of Recruiting. “This district is one of the richest parts of the Dominion, and farmers, with the high prices, are asking a high price for their land,” remarked the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald when referring to the Government’s difficulty in acquiring land locally for soldier settlement, in the course of an interview in Gisborne. There were a number of farmers, he added, who were away at the war or whose sons were at the front. Recently, however, he had taken out a list of about 150 farmers with property extending from Mangatu to the East Cape owning from 3000 acres up to 40,000 acres. He was strongly of opinion that these men could hand over a portion of their land, pro rata, at a reasonable price, and that it was not too much to expect of them. He hoped that local land owners would take into consideration the fact (and he was not one given to making threats) that there was a demand for 7 and, and that it would be well for the owners of large areas of land to hand over a certain portion for this purpose. When there were large numbers of men anxious to get on the land some provision had to be made and he knew there were large areas held by individual men to whom it would be no difficulty to offer some of it to the Government. If they did not, the Government could not be blamed if something was done for the people.