New Zealand V.Cs

Levin Daily Chronicle, 21 March 1918, Page 4

New Zealand V.Cs

THE LATEST AWARD. WELLINGTON, Last Night. Details hnvo now come to hand of the bravery of Henry' James Nicholas, of. the Maehine Gun Corps, New Zealand ' Expeditionary . Force, for which she was awarded the Victoria Cross In : January last. Private Nicholas is a Christchurch reeruit who joined in February, 1916. , His parents, live at St. 1 Albans. The' official account of his exploits, for which he secured the coveted decoration, shows that he was one of a Lewis gun section which had orders to form a defensive flank to the right of the advance, which was subsequently checked by machine gun and rifle fire from an enemy strong point. Lewis, followed by the' remainder of his sec* tion, at an interval of about 25 yards, Tushed forward alone,, shot the officer in. charge of the strong point, and overcame the remainder of' the garrison of 16 by means of bombs and bayonet, eapturing four wounded prisoners and a machine gun. He" captured this strong point praetieally •ingle-handed, and thereby saved many casualties. Subsequently, when the advance had reached its limit. Private Nicholas collected , ammunition under heavy maehine gun and enemy rifle Are.

UCFBBOAT AND LIFEBUOY WASHES ASHORE.

The Secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department has been advised by the Chief Postmaster at Napier that a lifeboat and a lifebuoy have been washed up on the beach about three miles north of . the mouth of the Wairoa Hirer. The American flag and the namo of an overseas sailing vessel, which -was laden with benzine for ifessrfl Bannatyne and Co., of Wellington, are painted on the buoy. From the fact that wreckage had been.previously found at another part of the East Coast, there is every reason to believe that disaster has overtaken the vessel to which the lifeboat and lifebuoy belonged. A Press Association message from Wairoa stated: The poliee received a report last evening that a boat, apparently a captain's gig, had been found on the beach at Tuhara, seven miles from Wairoa. It was partly damaged, and had painted on it the name of a ship,,surmounted by a star. An American flag was found lying in the bottom of the boat. There was a lifebelt on board. The watertight compartments were intact! The poliee ate out inves-

iW shdw that in some instances the Government valuations of properties are too high the settlers correspondent of tho Hawera ''Star" is told on good Authority that a section of the Opunake district was offeredcto the Government ] at its own valuation for- wounded sol- j Idiers The valuation was' at the rate Of £50 per acre. The Land Purchase | Board for Returned > Soldiers however, j assessed the value at £40 per acre and refused to recommend purchase at any higher figure. 1 On could hardly credit this, but it is ['true, says the "Western Star" (Riverton). A local boy on active service Ui 1 France,' While watching Gorman prison' in passing by, was greeted with the salution: "What-ho, how's Tuataperet" Glancing in the direction of the voice, he was astonished to, recognise a German with ' whom he had worked in the bush out west. , It is understood that the Government intends to fix a maximum price for bretiid shortly. The price for the 41b loaf at present varies from about 8d to'lid in different towns of the Dominion. It is considered that those differences are'not always, justified by local conditions, hence the' reason for the Government. control. It is expected that the maximum prices will vary to meet the varying conditions. In a London letter in the Sydney "Morning Herald" it. is : stated that "the butter and margerine queues are longer than ever, and as unsatisfied ai ever. Butter may be said, to-have vanished. Rumours of it tire heard now arid ag&in, and occasionally an individual is known to say that his household has had ,a quarter of a pound. But he is not taken' seriously. Butter Has ceased to be, and the trouble is that the margerine at which wo once, scored, is similarly engaged in ;.a disappearing trick, , with the whole vast population of London desperately on its track. In every quarter, of the metropolis queued stretch in front of shops which used to sell margerine. There are scores of shops which specialise in it. There closed doors sire besieged all day long".'' Arising out of the Six o'clock closing of hotels, Mr H. Jv Stevens, licensee of Larsen's Hotel, Westport, is suing the Westport Borough Council for a refund of £7 4s, proportion if licensc from December Ist, 1917, to June 30th, 1918. It is understood that this is the first case of the kind to be brought before the Court in New Zealand. "Ye gods! Not even one shilling for the boys who are fighting for him! " This is a quotation from a letter published in the "Wanganui Herald" over the signature of the Bev. A. O. Williams the well-known Anglican clergyman. On Friday a resident in that town was asked by the T.M.C.A. collectors for a contribution, when he held out a handful of silver, and then, with a smile, put it back into his pocket! As a contrast, he quotes from a letter from his son (Corpl. Garth G. Williams), who is in France, asking that £4 4s from his allotment be given to the fund. The following resolution was passed on Thursday evening, at a well-attend-ed meeting of the Wanganui Soldiers' Dependents League:—"That this-meet-ing of the Wanganui Soldiers' Dependents League enters its emphatic protest against the action of the National Government, through the Financial Assistance Board, in cutting off the rent and board allowances previously paid to the wives of our soldiers. The League submits, that, particularly with the present high cost of living and considering that the League's male relatives «re ~ undergoing so many hardships on the/battlefields of Europe and elsewhere it is the duty of our Parliament when assembled next month to see to it that the allowances cut off shall be fully reinstated to all dependents who have ,been deprived of such allowances." A well-informed New Zealand firm of hardware merchants, in answer to inquiries made by a Taranaki firm, writes as follows, under date March 2: "The monthly cable from our London office (whieh, through being delayed in transit, only reached us this morning) caririej "the following brief but significant message: 'Impossible to quote monthly prices any reliability.' From this you will gather the prospects of getting supplies have not improved sinco we last addressed you. During the week we have also cabled advice that there-is at present no prospect of sailings (either sailer or steamer) from New York to New Zealand ports, so that importers are faced with » very grave position in regard to their American supplies."