THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2628, 25 November 1915, Page 6

THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE

WAR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

OUR READERS VIEWS

.(To tho Editor.)

Sir,—ln your interesting article of Saturday last, under ihe above heading, you wrote of the splendid service being rendered to'the Empire by men from the Universities of the Old Country, and it is inspiring reading indeed. On reading the article, I could not help feeling constrained to write just a fojv words on what has'and is being done by the old' boys of our Now Zealand colloges to assist the Empire in this time of stress, thus following the fine example of the British Universities:

y The main difference between th .. schools in the Old Land and ours on e hero i is that the British schools an t Universities—venerable in their ageg teem with traditions, whilst we in thi new land have ours to make. Tho firs [[" of' our- New Zealand traditions bega: ._■ at. the. time of tho Boer War, and i e the big room of my old school, Well J uigtou Collego, is a board recording th . names of those who went to that wa f and also .a tablet to the memory o g those of her old boys who then M r in the service of their country. Wit' . the present war wo are building uj t greater traditions, and I cannot hel] s feeling proud of my old school. Th 9 ; principal and masters are doing all the; B can to obtain a complete list of th' B names of old boys who have. enlisted . this,is almost impossible,.as a number x of whom we have no record, have gpn< 9 to the front from the Old Country- aim j other'' parts. But to date we knov definitely of 805 old boys of Welliugtoi j College who have enlisted; they are stil . enlisting, and we hope soon to toucl ' tho 1000: mark. It is indeed a fine thing to see Nev j Zealand's sons showing this spirit o service, and is in keeping with the bes , traditions ,of our race.—l am, etc., ' ~ " W. E, BETHUNE. November 23. A YEAR OF WAR. . WHAT SHARE HAS THE CHTJRCB L ARMY BORNE IN IT. s Sir,—One hundred years ago our NelI son ran up his famous signal: "Englanc ; expects every man this day will do hif ' duty." And they did! Patriotic Bri- . tishers are doing their duty to-day ir i ways too numerous to mention to up I hold our flag against the terrible men- , ace of German militarism, which wouK ■ trample our liberty under foot as- she ; did Belgium's, did we not fight for it; We are'fighting manfully for our heritage. All religious bodies are "doing their bit." Permit mo, as secretary of . the Church Army, to mention some oi our work for the King's Army, both in camp, .hi the field, and in the-hospital. I ask permission because I hope to get . support for this most patriotic organisation from all—but . principally from church'people, who will thus be helping their -national church to do its duty. Sums required to increase tho work of the Army in directions in working order:— £300 will erect one recreation hut. £150 .will erect one recreation tent. £130 will erect one hut of silence. £2 maintains oue recreation hut or hut,of silence for one week. £150 pays a week's expenses of tho Church Army War Hospital in France. £5 pays expenses of one bed for two or three weeks. £3 maintains staff of. one ambulance car for one week (if subsidised). £8 pays full maintenance of ambulance car for one week. ~ £3500 pays all expenses of our 50 ambulance car's (as far as chargeable to the Church Army) for 13 weeks. £100 pays for 500 parcels for soldiers at the front, or for prisoners in Germany. ' ; • . Contributions for any of these objects will be gratefully received by the secretary and forwarded to England by him, or'they can be.sent direct by donor to Prebendary Carlile, hon. secretary, Chueh Army, 55 Boyanstone Street London W. There are 60 recreation tents in British camps and hi Malta, France,'and Egypt. A hut of silence is for guiet talks and services,for soldiers, and is very largely used by them. In addition to those activities mentioned, there are recreation rooms for soldiers and sailors' wives, where they can pass their evenings or have their children looked after while they are at work, and where they can hear the latest news from their husbands at the front instead of going to the public houso. The Wobor Wopl Fund has helped in its small way by this patriotic body since 1910. Yoii will allow its work to increase, will you not?—l am, etc. F. W. WHIBLEY. Sec., Church Army, N.Z., Vicarage, Weber. CURE FOR DYSENTERY. Sir,—Fifty-seven years ago. the writer contracted dysentery—through the foul waters of the Yang-tse-Kiang River, in China—and. it kept constantly attacking me. No remedy seemed available. I was told of a remedy, but I simply laughed at the idea; but in Wellington several years later an old man mentioned the same remedy, and it convinced me. Only upon two occasions I took it as a meal for breakfast, and have never been troubled since; The remedy is as follows:—Take one quart, if it can be got, of the first milk of a cow that has just calved. If it cannot be got, take a quart of good milk, boil it down to one-half, then add on© teaspoonful of oatmeal, and boil five minutes longer. Potir this into a basin containing a piece of lard the size of a hen's egg. Sweeten to your liking, and add one teaspoonful of pepper. Take this fasting for breakfast. I oan confidently recommend it. How I took the papper: I dipped the teaspoon in the milk and got a coat on it, then when I filled the spoon I immersed it, and got it covered, and swallowed it, and enjoyed the basin of milk.—l am, ' ■ H. WALTON. Wmkanae, November 23, 1915. IS IT A PROPHECY? Sir,—The extract from "Lloyd's Weekly News" is interesting. It shows that leg-pulling apocalypsists are to bo found oven hi the twentieth century.

The Kaiser is too late by nearly 2000 years to pass for the Beast (666) of Revelation, xiii, 18. ' Some of the MSS. of Revelation read 616 instead of 666.' Both are perfectly intelligible. They stand, respectively, for the Greek and Latin forms of "Caesar Nero" (see Hebrew notation): Greek. "Caesar Neron." K 100 ■ • S . 60 11 200 N ,50 R 200 0 6 (Final) N 50 .666 . The Latin form '(leaving out the final "N") gives 616. Let us, therefore, call the Kaiser—"Beast No. 667."—1 am, etc., H.M.