JOTTINGS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6709, 30 May 1900, Page 4

JOTTINGS.

At a Druids' meeting at Wellington an interesting letter wafread'SSt^r?. W. Mclunney, of the Second New Zeaana Contingent, stating, inter aha, that/ he had been appointed staff.farrier aergeant to Lord Kitchener, and that Lord/ Jlitehener's personiU bodyguard is coirf posed entirely of NeVv Zealabdera. 3^: pat on of Oolesber were Sown I P'eadenfc Krug jT had sent iV£ c bureQers, whe/ both were Si>L y a tsfcray bullßlr The bullefc MM^hroogh one man^nto the other, both

fl^Rfae second ballet exactly in the Ufjle made by a'prp^ous one. •V'A few years agpjin the Orange Free pirate; near Wynb'ur^KWhere our troops are fighting, a nearly perpendicular shaft was discovered, about loQft deep, and workings from the bottom oi this abaft extend several hundred rest. Oldfashioned speara and battle axes! with primitive tools, curiously inscribed sttoes, aad skeletons of men of gigantijS si£9. have been found, but there is n&Tegendor tradition among the naiivejTconcerning the mine, or the giant/race who worked it. ./ One of the. AnstoaTian regiments (writes a war./ correspondent) brought over a black feacker, and was going to do great things with him. One day news came in that tne supply waggons had gone astray. " Very well," said the captain, " send on the black tracker !" "Please, sir, he's lost, too! was the _ discouraging answer.

There are interesting passages in Col. Willoughby Verner's article on " The Naval Brigade at Grasspan," in " Macmillan" for March. "As the victorious British force stormed over the hill a staff officer near me said to the commanding officer ot the Yorkshire L.1., ' How splendidly your men went up that hill!' ' Yes,' said the Colonel, modestly, ' bnt did you watch the Naval Brigade ? By heaven, I never saw anything so magnificent in my life V " '•..

We have been permitted to make this extract from a private letter received by this mail: —Several New Zealandcrs have gone to South Africa with the Scottish Hospital. Gribben (of the West Coast), and- M'Nab (a brother of the member for/ Mataura), Murray, Owen, and Elliot (arkfrom Napier) are among them. \. Tommy Atkins in South Africa has developed a string appreciation of Australian tinned meat, and (says the Age) according t.c\a ptter which the Minister of Agi-icaiiiTfl!tt(UJjs received from Veterinary Captain' Eudduck, of the Second Victorian Contingent, the troops prefer Australian to American tinned meat. It is not a matter of prejudice, asserts Captain Eudduck, for the preference is openly expressed by the British regular as well as by the Australian regiment. The objections taken to the American beef arc that it is very poor, very coarse, dry and salt, and deficient in fat. Tommy can enjoy a toothsome morsel, although he rarely obtains it, and ho is tlcliglned to iind that the Australian article is less salty. and more tender and jucy. The Australian tinned mutton is also pronounced to be excellent, and Captain Eudduck points out that as the troops have often to live for days on tinned meats and hard biscuits, they should be well qualified to form a correct estimate. He mentions that the Australians greatly miss the home butter, and expresses the opinion that any firm that could successfully tin that article ot food would not only confer a blessing on humanity, but wculd secure a wellpaying return for its enterprise.