Tourist and Traveller

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1492, 28 November 1918, Page 36

Tourist and Traveller

HERE AND THERE.

Major R. E. Cooper, son of Mr. Henry Cooper, of Ponsonby, Auckland, has been awarded the Croix de Guerre. * » • Trenthani camp is to be used as a hospital for returned soldiers, in which will be 1000 beds and accommodation for the staff. The present buildings with the necessary alterations will be used. ♦ • • • Lieutenant Harold Ellison Speight, M.C., who died at Whakatane from pneumonia, was the only son of Mrs. Marion Speight, of St. George’s Bay Road, Parnell. Deceased left New Zealand with the fourth reinforcements and served through the Gallipoli campaign. He was promoted to lieutenant in France and was awarded the Military Cross for saving the whole of his battery in the face of great odds. An Aucklander, who has experience of similar epidemics in England, recommends the following simple plan for preventing or assisting to cure influenza. Get a clean pipe and some cotton-wool, place two or three drops of eucalyptus on the wool and inhale deeply, filling the lungs, and exhale through the nostrils. This simple remedy was largely used in the great epidemic * in England in 1890, with the best results. ♦ * ♦ * The Palmerston Mayor’s appeal for workmen to build another annexe at the hospital received a splendid response, between 30 and 40 carpenters and volunteer workers attending at the institution last Saturday morning. In a very short time the floor was laid down, the walls erected, and the building finished and ready for occupation by night. The annexe is designed to hold thirty beds. * * * • The chairman of the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association’s Building Committee, Mr. O. T. J. Alpers, informed a reporter that as soon as the association’s announcement was made that it intended to collect funds for the erection of a “Hall of Memories,” a lady called him up on the telephone and asked that she might have the privilege of heading the list with a contribution of £25. “Need I add,” Mr. Alpers remarked, “that the lady is the mother of soldiers!” « ♦ * * Mr. Robert B. Mac Duff, civil engineer, died at his residence, Onehunga, from influenza-pneumonia. He was advisory engineer to the Onehunga and the Taumarunui Borough Councils and other local bodies. He was very prominent as a footballer a few years ago, and represented New Zealand and Auckland. Mr. Mac Duff was well-known on the Thames goldfields. He was 40 years of age, and leaves a widow and four children. Mr. John Duder, chief officer of the Arahura, died in Auckland of pneumonia,. aged 30 years. He was the eldest son of Captain A. Duder, exharbourmaster at Auckland. * * « • Friends of the Bishop of Christchurch on Tuesday week noticed an unexpected huskiness early in the morning, and wondered (says the “Lyttelton Times”) if the prevalent epidemic had captured him; but he cheerily explained that the end of the great war had reunited him with an old friend from which he had been separated for four years—his pipe. Early in the war Bishop Julius renounced the weed. * * * * Particulars of the deed for which Private J. Crichton, Auckland, received the Victoria Cross are as follow: Private Crichton, though wounded in the foot, continued with the advancing troops despite the difficulty of canal and river obstacles. When a counter-attack forced back his platoon, he succeeded in carrying a message involving the swimming of the river and the crossing of an area swept by machine-gun fire. Returning to his platoon, he undertook on his own initiative to save a mined bridge, under the close fire of machine guns and snipers, and succeeded in removing the charges and returning with the detonators and fuses.

Only 586,000 tons of paper reached England in 1917, as against 1,798,000 tons in 1914. # * * Private George Wilberforce Wilson, medical hypnotist, died from influenzapneumonia last week. * Sir Walter Buchanan, M.L.C., has given £lOO in aid of the relief of sufferers by the influenza epidemic in Masterton. During the hearing of a case at the Central Police Court, Sydney, a police officer stated that the annual loss due to pilfering from wharves and ships at Sydney amounted to £lOO,OOO. Mr. Alfred C. Black, a well-known journalist, succumbed to an attack of influenza at Dargaville and passed away on Sunday week. Mr. Black was an old resident of Northern Wairoa, and he had a wide circle of friends in Auckland and the Far North, who will miss his genial presence. He was associate editor of the “North Auckland Times.”

Until the conclusion of peace all restrictions at present in force with regard to the landing of persons in New Zealand will be continued, stated the Minister of Internal Affairs. * » » • Mr. E. V. Sale, dentist, who died at Devonport from influenza-pneu-monia, was an Association football representative and cricket representative. He was born in Taunton, Somersetshire, and came to New Zealand several years ago. He was 35 years of age. * # * $ In answer to an appeal by the Auckland Yacht and Motor Boat Association, a number of owners of yachts and launches held a fishing excursion on Sunday and secured several good catches, contributed as follows: —Mr. E. J. Kelly’s motor boat Daisy, 140 fish; Mr. W. Wilson’s yacht Heartease, 100; Mrs. Grandison’s motor boat Caprice, 78, including a kingfish sft. long; Mr. S. H. Leyland’s motor boat Jean, 35. Mr. Cord’s open sailing boat Wishbone, 30; and Mr. Matheson’s motor boat Morero. 19. The fish is for the consumption of sufferers from influenza.

Mr. Evan Parry, Chief Government Electric Engineer, has resigned his position to take up an important appointment in the Old Country. Mr. Thomas Green, known as the father of Gore, the town’s first Mayor and a successful business man, died last week after a long illness, aged seventy-nine. * * * * In a sketch of President Wilson, Professor Bliss Perry, of Harvard University, says: Any good portrait of the President is a Quiet denial of some of the myths about him. Here is a steady, alert face, Scottish-Irish in every line of it, homely, powerful, trained a bit fine, perhaps, and sharpened to a fighting edge. Like many men who have worked hard, lived clean, and slept soundly at night, the President is stronger physically at 61 than he was at 40. His eyes have not lost their gaiety, and his lips are just as capable as ever of the old eager, brilliant smile. Yet the face is on guard in these later years like that of a practical fencer.

Sir Charles Grant Burdett, Bart., of Eltham, died from pneumonia, at the age of 41 years. He was formerly in business in Palmerston North as a dentist. More recently he had been attached to Awapuni Camp as dental officer, and while there was seized with influenza and pneumonia several weeks ago. nc * * ♦ The death has occurred from influenza of Mr. John Kane, of the staff of the Royal Oak Hotel, Wellington, a man well known by the travelling public of New Zealand. Mr. Ernest Y. Redstone, a commercial traveller known all over New Zealand, died from the prevailing malady. The deceased, who was the eldest son of Mr. William E. Redstone, of Hataitai, was a native of Wellington. For a time he was in partnership with Mr. Harry Price, of Christchurch, under the name of Price and Co., general merchants. Latterly he had been travelling for the firm of Laery, Beveridge and Co., of Wakefield Street, Wellington. He leaves a widow (nee Miss Eva Godber) and one little girl.

Dr. Verdon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, ’died in Wellington last Friday. For many months past Bishop Verdon had been in failing health, and about six weeks ago he was advised by his medical attendant in Dunedin to go to Rotorua for a change of air and treatment. He was on his way back to Dunedin when he was attacked by his last illness, bronchitis, leading to heart failure. • • • • Speaking at the British Scientific products Exhibition,. Professor A. Keith said that wars of the future would be won in the laboratories of the country. He hoped the war had taught us that the most valuable assets we could have were strong laboratories with strong men in them. The provision that was being made to-day for scientific training in the universities was quite inadequate. In Germany thirteen out of every thousand of the male population went to the universities for such training; in England the proportion was less than five per thousand. » * * * “The public.” said Dr. Chesson in Christchurch, “should shun any person who they know during the previous fortnight has been laid up with the disease.” The root of the whole trouble lay in people going about who knew they were sick. “The warning cannot be made strong enough,” he said. “The public should shun a person who is suffering from the disease as much, or more so, than if it was smallpox, as it is far more infective. Personally; I have had considerable trouble at times to impress upon persons holding responsible positions this aspect of the thing, and to induce them to take proper care.” * • * ’ Another victim to the scourge of the epidemic is Dr. Peter McNab, a well-known Auckland practitioner, who attended his patients until he reached the point of collapse. When the call came for doctors for war service, Dr. McNab enlisted, and left New Zealand with the Seventh Reinforcements, with the rank of captain in the N.Z.M.C. He served in Egypt and France, and subsequently at the New Zealand base depot at Sling and the New Zealand Military Hospital at Codford. He returned invalided in March, 1917, and resumed his practice in Auckland shortly afterwards. Dr. McNab, who was 34 years of age, leaves a widow and two children. ♦ ♦ ♦ * Members of the Commercial Travellers’ Association in Wellington have adopted in this epidemic crisis an excellent means of assisting, and in a most practical manner. They are securing all the bovril and meat extract they can, and boiling it down, reducing it to its proper proportions, and sending it out to the various hospitals in gallon jars. The hospitals are in touch with the association by telephone, and a call is promptly responded to. Their efforts are also directed to the bottling of lime juice, oranges and lemons being practically unprocurable by the poorer people. This preparation is being sent to the Town Hall for public distribution. « * * * One of the impressions left on the mind of General Pau after a few weeks’ experience of Australia’s public men is that they are addicted to long speeches (says the Melbourne “Age”). The French Mission was entertained at Federal Parliament House to lunch, and was to have attended the State Executive Council meeting at 2.30 p.m. to receive gifts from the Ministry, but the first function overlapped the second. In a courteous apology for being late General Pau said: “In this charming country of yours when speeches are begun it is very difficult to end them.” State Ministers for a moment looked guiltily at each other. It is true that the general had tactfully refrained from saying whether hei regarded the characteristic to which he referred as a virtue or a vice, but Ministers evidently appreciated the French veteran’s good-humoured quip. Further speeches . were eschewed. Not even the Premier ventured to utter a syllable on behalf of his Ministry, which made the gifts to the mission. The only speeches at this function were those of the Governor and General Pau himself.

The death occurred at Wellington of Captain Arthur Howell, master of the Commonwealth and Dominion Line cargo steamer Port Alma (formerly the Indralema), who fell a victim to complications following upon influenza. * * * * Sergeant H. J. Laurent, winner of the coveted V.C., is a son of Mr. J. Laurent, of Hawera, Taranaki, and grandson of Mr. R. M. D. St. Laurens, who is still alive at the great age of 93 years. With regard to demobilisation (said Sir James Allen, in the House of Representatives), the position was that steadily and without advertisement the Defence Department had been releasing men from the camps. The camps had been divided into blocks for medical purposes, so that fit men, contacts, convalescents, and so forth might be kept distinct, and the men were being released as fast as the medical authorities thought safe. If he had allowed men to leave in large numbers in the early stages of the epidemic they would have carried the disease all over the country. He had considered it his duty to hold the men until they could safely be let go. As soon as a man had been eight days clear of infection, and had been three times disinfected, he was allowed to leave camp. He hoped in the course of the next few days to be able to release a large number of convalescents. The Defence authorities realised that men were mdre liable to infection when massed together in large bodies, and it had made every effort to scatter the troops. All available buildings had been used for this purpose, and tents had been procured from all parts of New Zealand after a hurricane unfortunately wrecked the canvas camp in the early days of the epidemic. Men who had been allowed to leave camp on sine die leave were not expected to return. In fact, they would not be admitted to camp if they did return.

HOW WAR AFFECTS PEOPLE. In a recent interview Sir Robert Armstrong Jones, the distinguished nerve specialist, outlined the changes which he saw in the English people, and particularly the mental changes directly produced by the war. Taking war shock and shell shock first, Sir Robert Jones expressed the conviction that they were misunderstood by the public. War shock is common, being involved by harrowing thoughts and pictures of the war, and especially by exaggerated prophecies of what is going to happen when the next offensive is expected. The pictures called up in sensitive minds are terrific, and, according to the mental expert, are those of fear. This fear is not ordinary fear, such as danger usually excites in people whether brave or not; it is terror bordering on panic, but it is not always noticed, because it is quiet and voiceless. However, it is one of the chief causes of the outbreak of hysteria, such as was conspicuous in England of late over the submarine and aerial bombardments. The fear in this case was a mental phenomenon, caused by a purely imaginary U boat which carried bombing aeroplanes. Such submarines have so far not been made, and if they had it is doubtful whether they could be equipped with bombing machines. Apart from these questions, mental experts look upon the whole sensation, as well as similar sensations, as symptoms of the fear which belongs so intimately to war shock. Sir Robert Jones has novel views on shell shock. After a most extensive experience he has failed to find the element of fear in most cases. He points out the surprising fact that shell shock is more common in the rear and at home than at the front. It seldom happens or shows itself immediately after the explosion of a shell; time is necessary to develop its strange features. In this respect it is different from war shock, which is fear. In shell shock, on the other hand, is a slow process of thinking or dwelling on the explosion and sights of the trenches, and after an Interval the shock appears. In explaining this apparent contradiction Sir Robert Jones says that in shell shock the nervous system is dissociated from its usual bearings, the mind simply “cuts loose,” and indulges in a riot of horrible fancies. He saw cases in the bravest men, in V.C. men, and in those who were, noted for rashness and high spirits. Lastly, the explosion of a shell is not always necessary; the condition of dissociation may arise in soldiers who have not been under fire. This fact has puzzled many inexperienced surgeons who have actually passed shellshocked cases in the army. These men supposed that the nervous chaos was only caused by artillery fire and exploding shells. In the way people think, the greatest changes are noted by the expert. He says:—“The changes that have already taken place in the habits and social tendencies of the people are enormous. Everyone now talks of rations, and of all interests housekeeping is the most absorbing; the eternal topic is household management; cooking recipes, house cleaning, and dressmaking command more interest now than ever before. The housekeeper says that a pennyworth of rice has to go further to-day than a sirloin of beef went before the war, and who will say that these are not distinct benefits to the country, for in consequence there is less waste of food and more variety, and it is more carefully prepared.” Economy is a virtue which for a generation has been going out of fashion in England. The movement before the war was all toward generous living and free spending. There was never a tim e in the history of England when economy was so little practised. Some of the spending was pure folly, arising out of a shabby desire “to keep up appearances” and be as good as one’s neighbour. Much bitter toil and anxiety has been suffered from the wish to appear well with the world, from the wish to have a motor car and a chauffeur. The war has killed much of that as well as other household extravagances. That sort of spending is no more, and everyone is the happier for the change. It has the greatest effect on

the mind of the people that is directly due to the present war. One of the mental effects of the war is the broad difference between the farming of war and peace times. Now 25,000,000 people are cultivating the soil — people who in other circumstances would not think of small

gardens on a half acre or even less; but these little farms are important in many ways. They increase the supply of food, and go far toward the cure of war strain. Gardening and farming are elevating pursuits, and have greatly improved the lives of a large class of people.

Mr. Lachlan C. McLachlan, another victim to pneumonia, was one of the best-known professional runners in New Zealand. He was a high-class performer, especially over middle distances, and won innumerable contests in all parts of the Dominion. Latterly he had been engaged in business in Christchurch. He> was married to a. daughter of Piper McKecherie, of Dunedin. Mr. Fred Bluett, the wellnown comedian, at present in Dunedin, is a brother-in-law of the deceased. * * * • A martyr to duty is how the untimely death of Miss Zita Johnson is referred to (says the “Otago Daily Times”). Miss Johnson was known to many of the travelling public as head waitress at the Grand Hotel — a position she had occupied for the past 12 months, having previously had charge of the Waverley Dining Rooms in Auckland. When the prevailing malady made its appearance among the guests and staff of the Grand Hotel, Miss Johnson was untiring in her attentions to them, and although urged to take a rest she continued to devote her attention to others and neglecting herself. She contracted the disease and succumbed in a couple of days. She was a pronounced favourite with the travelling public. Information has been received by Mrs. D. Williams, of Weymouth, Auckland, that her son, Sergeant W. E. Williams,’ has been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field.