A MOTHER’S KEEPSAKE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1568, 24 June 1916, Page 4

A MOTHER’S KEEPSAKE.

ROMANCE OF A £1 NOTE. The High Commissioner is sending out by this mail to the New Zealand Government an Australian £1 note which has come into his possession in very unusual circumstances, says the London correspondent of the Wellington Post. The note in question belonged to Pte. W. IV. Mansfield, 10/427, Wellington Infantry Regiment. He was with the New Zealanders in Gallipoli, and was posted as “missing” during the September lighting. Quite recently there was found in the possession of a Turkish soldier at Adrianople a £1 note, upon the back of which was written : “In the case of my death, please send this to my mother as a keepsake." Then followed Mansfield's number and name. The note was obtained by the American Ambassador in Constantinople, who forwarded it to his colleague in London, who in turn gave it to the High Commissioner.

Although Mansfield was posted as “missing,” his death is now officially presumed ; and one is glad to know that his last request is about to he fulfilled. Sir Thomas Maskenzie related the incident of the bank note at the annual meeting of the National Committee for Relief in Belgium, when the Mansion House was packed with a large and influential gathering. The High Commissioner used the incident to illustrate the excellent businesslike way in which the Americans had tackled the question of rebel’ in Belgium. He said he felt quite sure (hat if the note had fallen into the hands of the Germans, no power on earth would have induced them to give it up.