NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1892, 19 October 1918, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

Evidences of excessive mortality amongst dairy stock from the hard winter accumulates (writes the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki Heral#. Some farmers have lost a (planer of their herds, and the survivors are incapable of tilling' the milk buckets. The effect on the out pal is, and will be, very marked. It is to be hoped it is the lust season under war conditions, for it is certainly going, to be the hardest for Taranaki.

A 'Winnipeg cable to the Canadian Daily Record says: As the result of showing kindness to a stranger who knocked at their door 17 years ago, when he was "down and out, the i.amiiv of the late Mr John Mclvegg, of this city, has been notified that 1 lie person befriended, John Henderson, lias died and left them £I,OOO. The family recall that the man knocked at their door when they were at breaklast, and tney imited him to take a meal with them. Lale'l' Henderson went into business in New Jersey and prospered. An oliiccr who has returned from Egypt expressed himself as greatly impressed by the fertility of tne laud over which the New Zealand mounted troop- are now lighting. As soon as they left the desert, he said, they got into a rich chocolatecoloured sail, the fertility of which was manifested by the magnllicent crops of maize which it produced. The British military authorities were so impressed with it that they decided to put down (.10,000 acres of the comptcrcd country near Gaza in wheat. A competent, stall was appointed for the project, ploughs in large numbers were secured, and (lie work was well in hand when the officer, referred to left for New Zealand.

‘''Native Tradition of the Death of Marina uu Fresno aI- May of. Islands in 1772," was the subject of a. lecture bv Mr 81-don Best at the Historical Society s meeliny at Wellhiylon on Tuesday. He slated that aeeordiny to tradition da I"’resne, who commanded a French cxocdilionarv ship, arrived in the Bay of .islands aboiil three years niter Cook’s first visit. Du Fresno and ids men were massacred owiny In their unwitting lireach of the law of lapu in ealiny fish they hao cauyht in a place where certain Maoris had been drowned. Mr Best also related other authentic tradition.-- reyardmy ( ook s visit fo tae Bay of islands in l7(i0, and De Surville's visit to Doubtiess liny in J.Tti'i. A paper on place-names in New Zealand was read hy Air Johannes C. Andersen.

* Field-Marshal Sir Douylas Iluiy lias been awarded the Cross of Honour beisowed annually by (lie American Society of Honour foi conspicuous and notable service lo humanity. The medal last year was yiveu to General .lollre. I.his year the British Government was requested to name an admiral or a ycnera! for the honour, and it replied: —“In the opinion of the British Governmenl, the services which Field-Marshal Sir Douylas Italy harendered and is renderiny lo the common cause of tiie two countries would seem lo indicate that lie is a suitable recipient for the society s decoration.’’

The history <»t' New Zealand shows that tiie Maori race, as a people, had idea.s and principles which even to-day are being’ put to practical advantage. ‘‘That anticipates the i‘s war bonus,” commented Mr Justice llosking in the Supreme Court at Auckland, when Mr A. K. Skelton, acting for plain 1 iIT in the case in progress, said that the area of land in question, somewhere admit Okaihau. was deseribed in the lease as ‘‘children’s land." Counsel added that years ago there was an arrangement hy the Maori (diiel's and people m those ])aids that for every child horn of (lie missionary there an area of ICO' acres was set apart for the child.'’ That explains why the land was known as "children's laud." concluded counsel. Ills Honour said In.' understood, that the "gift” amounted to a reward to the missionarv i'or his children.

One thing about the American soldier and sailor must strike English people when they see these gallant lighters, and that is the soundness and genera! whiteness of their teeth (remarks an English newspaper). it-is all the more striking in that it is such a contrast to the teeth of the Jlri'ish people. The "Yank" was at one lime laughed at ftr ills hygienic theories, hut most people mflv realise that there is a great deal in them. From childhood the "Yank" is taught to take earn of his teeth. lie has "tooth drill” thrice daily, and visits his dentist at Jixed period.-, say every three or Tour mouths. If by chance a tooth does decay the rot is at once arrested by goid or platinum Idling. Xu matter how badly decayed it may be, they save the molar by crowning it with gold. The result of all this is that our United States cousins, besides adding to their appearance, gain in health by having good, clean teeth; and when war came very few men were turned down by Ihe American military authorities for having decayed teeth. So daily we see them, their faces tanned, smilingly exhibiting perfect ■sets of teeth. It is a distinctive mark of the American —as distinctive as his uniform or his slang.

Ail American writer gives the pain) ;;s to soldierly appearance among the brilliant groups of oi!iccr.s now to be seen in the -treats of Paris to two' widely different raves. As to sartorial get-up, the British officer is supreme. With

him “soldiering is a line art, so thoroughly mastered that he can spare time for every detail of dress. He is a fashion plate of neatness, glossy leather, and shining metal. However carefully one has groomed himself one feels fairly out at heel when a British colonel passes. . . But the past masters were not of the Continent of Europe. Down the Bois de Boulogne would come a quartet of great Sikhsf handsome as etchings, proud as only Sikhs can be, unconscious as camels, with (urban ends swinging, patrician descendants of forbears who were warriors when Britons and Gauls roamed as nomad tribes."