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Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17113, 7 April 1921, Page 6

One of the historic property sales in Australian history took plnce a weeV or two ago, when a house known as "Experiment Cottage," together with 8J acres of land, at Parramatta, passed out of the hands of the family which had owned it for 128 years. The land was a portion of an area of 30 acre 3 which constituted the first Government grant and the first farm in Australia. In the year 1788 or 1789 Governor Phillips, as narrated by a correspondent of a Sydney paper, decided to have ifli© inland district of Parramalta tested, to ascertain whether it would produce the grain, etc., necessary for the support of the infant colony, and also to test the possibility of individuals being able to support themselves by farming. Having chosen a man whom he believed to be industrious, not afraid of hard! work, and anxious to better ihimself, the Governor caused a hut to be built, and an acre of land cleared for him, and a supply of provisions from the Government store granted to him. The man. James Ruse by name, we learn from a letter from the Governor to the Secretary of State, was told that "if he behaved himself well, ho Should have 30 acres." Ruse fulfilled the Governor's expectations, and in February, 1791, about fourteen months after beginning work on this first Australian farm, h-3 "declined any further assistance from the Government," on the ground that he was able to support himself and his wife and child. Tho grant of 30 acres was made to him a year later, tho Governor directing that the holding should be known as Experiment Farm. The land sepms to have passed* in the following year into the possession of a family which has justdisposed»of tho last of the property. It seems a pity that no suitable memorial has been erected on the farm to commemorate the work of the first Australian farmer, and, incidentally, to perpetuate the memory of a man who declined to lean on t'he Government' as soon as he could stand alone.

With the transfer on March 31st of the ex-soldiers in hospital from the Defence Department to the Repatriation Department., the Australian Imperial Force ceased to exist. Australian papers naturally made the event' the occasion for a summary of the chief facts relating to the force. It came into existence rather more than <3J years ago, and during the war 416,809 persons became members of it, of whom 329,632 went abroad, the enlistments accounting for 33.7 per cent, of the males of fighting age in Australia. The first contingent sailed on November Ist, 1914, 'for Egypt, but before this a detachment of Australian troops had left for German New Guinea in the previous August, and had captured llabaul on September 12th. On Gallipoli, in France, and in Palestine and Syria Australians took part in all the important engagements, earning therein, as one of their leaders, Sir John Monash, has said, "a place in history which none can. challenge." The war cost the Commonwealth the lives of 59,258 of its men, while 166,815 -were wounded. Forty-four won the Victoria Cross. The total cost of the A.I.F. abroad, exclusive of expenditure iu Australia and the cost of sea transport, is said to have been about .fifty millions sterling annually, the repatriation expenditure last year amounted to over 'seventeen millions, and the annual liability- for war pensions stands at about seven millions. It is a heavy load for Australia to carry, but it should be lightened in some measure by the thought of the splendid valour displayed throughout the war by the members of the Force on whose behalf it was. incurred.

There are many of the older generation of playgoers in Christchurch who will rejmember the appearance heire 'nearly forty years ago of Miss Genevieve Ward, and who will be interested to learn that last week, on the occasion of her 84th birthday, the King created tho famous actress a" Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. It is nearly fifty years since she played Lady Macbeth in Manchester, her first important part, and for over forty years after that she was never long absent from the stage. When people remember Genevieve Ward they always think of her as Stephanie de Mohrivart in "Forget-me-not," just as those whose memories carry them, back forty years or so always think of George Rignold in "Henry V." But she was • also a Shakesperean actress of much ability, and one of tho great triumphs of her long and distinguished career was won by her acting last year as Volumnia, in "Cbriolanus," at the "Old Vic," no-v the London home of Shakespeare Though then 83, and of frail physique, she shone out among the company by sheer force of .genius. Here was the most beautiful voice on the stage, said one critic. "Not a word was slurred, not a line was missed. Compared with her the younger members of the company were lacking in skill." Her voico was a-s clear as a bell/ and as soulful as an organ, "while her delicate white hands emphasised the wonder of tho spoken, word." The magic of her art, the art of a bygone day, moved hardened playgoers to tears, and at the end the whole house rose to her, and accorded her an ovation as great and heartfelt as any that she can have received at the height of her career.