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Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 5

Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. Dutliio, Commanding otli (Wellington) Regiment, states that the following officers have been attached to tlie regiment for duty Captain ■ J. Keir, from unattached list (b); Lieutenant J. Duffy, from unattached list" (b); Lieutenant J. Lewis, from retired list; 2nd Lieutenant D. 'T. R. N. Lewis, from retired list;- Officers. haVe been reposted for duty as follows':—Senior-major, Major AV.-Simm; "A" Company,' Captain H. Hawthorn, Lieutenant C. L. Andrews, Lieutenant .D. T./R. N. Lewis; "B" Company, Captain D. S. Columb, Lieutenant G. C. Felton, Lieutenant A. A. Mee, Lieutenant H. P.- Cotter; "C" . Company, Captain J. Keir, Lieutenant J. Duffy, Lieutenant J.. Lewis ; "D" Company, Captain T. W. Slinn, Captain H'. V. Baker, Lieutenant A. B. Ginger. _ The Mayor (Mr. J. B. Luke) has published a balance-sheet of the fund raised by public subscriptions for the i purpose of providing the soldiers ' with Christmas dinner at Trentham and May Morn, Camps, and also, for meals and entertainment provided at the Town Hall on Christmas Day and tlie Christ'mas season generally. The cash-book and vouchers, whioh have been audited by Mr. H. F. Allen, public accountant, -show that the'receipts totalled £857 3s. ■ Bd., and the payments £832 7s. 9d., leaving a balance at the bank of £24 ISs. lid. _ Tlie payments include £580 4s. for dinners supplied, £47 os.-sd. . for tables, trestles, crockery, etc., £30 for railway fares, £15 for the £jitertainraent of wounded soldiers at Rotorua, and £19 for motor-lorry for collection and distribution of goods. • Mr. Robert H. Ellis (of Messrs. Ellis •and.Manton) has received a letter from ■Private H. D. Skinner, i4th Otago ' Rifles, giving'him an account of the death of his son, Lance-Corporal Si.R. Ellis, who was killed in action at An- . zac. "On the night of August 5," he writes, "your son and I talked over our chances in the forthcoming attack. If:either of us fell'the other was to secure his papers and send them home. ' In the charge on the night of the 6th he fell, with a bullet wound through his shoulder, on the edge'of the firs't trench. Kirkwood and Levitt, who picked him up a few minutes later, told me that ho was unconsc*jus, and that he died almost immediately. The doctor came up almost at once, and . pronounced life extinct. . . . He was a gal'lant lad, and his progress would liavo -:been rapid and brilliant. He lies there . where he fell, and nowhere in the world /«iuld he have lain in better company." It is interesting to note that Mr. James Ellis, the dead soldier's grandfather,, resided in Constantinople for many years, and was decorated for" services rendered in "running the blockade" in tlie Black Sea during the Crimean War. The secretary of the Citizens' Defence C<>rps, of Christolmrch, has written to ■?' on If aas t, chairman of-the war League here, requesting that gentleman to publicly notify the fact that they (the Citizens' Defence Corps) have been compelled to stop making monetary advances to soldiers on leave in Christcmirch, as the men very seldom send the back themselves, and the camp paymasters find it hard to collect such advances. The letter continues to say that the .Corns .would like to continue, to help the men, and would do so if the Defence authorities w<buld lend effective assistance in the matter of collecting moneys advanced, but as things stand some of the men have not played the game, so all must suffer. . \ >.