GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 44, 27 January 1916, Page 7

GENERAL.

| There are at present -no : pick .men among the garrison at Samoa and the health of the troops is good, states the latest report received by the Defence Department from Colonel Patterson, Acting-Administrator. In speaking to an Otago Daily Times reporter, Major Colvin, of the Salvation Army, said: “A strange feature of life in this Dominion is the great number of people who want to get rid of the responsibility of training their families. We are simply besieged with parents,” he said, and in all my experience of social work in different countries I have never seen J anything like it.” At an early date a fine block of about 15,000 acres in the Tabora district, near Matawai will be opened for selection (says tbe Gisborne Times). Tbe land, which is virgin forest, is described as first-class sheep country, and its opening for selection will be •eagerly awaited. It is understood that after the initial 15,000 acres have been disposed of a further area will be cut up. The farmer is often credited with being the most complaining of mortals, but underneath this cloak lie is at heart an optimist. Proof of this is , shown-by the fact that one seed merchant in Oanvaru recently (says the Mail) received 20 immediate orders for turnip seed, these farmers, despite the appalling paddocks 'in thorough preparation for the sowing of the crops, when rain was apparently the most remote possibility. i At tlie recent niepting of the Awatere County Council reference was made to the fact that the new Lights on Vehicles Act passed last session would come into operation on March . 1 (says the Marlborough Express), j The Act provides that every person I who permits any vehicle to be on any public highway half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise shall provide that vehicle with a lamp or lamps in proper working order, and the penalty provided for non-com-pliance is a liability to a line of £1 and for subsequent offence £3. The only vehicle exempt is that which is propelled by. hand. A report lias been circulated that the Waipuku-Mount Egmont railway, after costing the country some £70,000, is not ,now in use (says the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki i Herald). This is a mistake, for every ' day a long train of ballasting material from the mountain passes through here. The officials state that it is being obtained at a very much lower cost than it would he possible to obtain supplies elsewhere. Where the lino has disappointed expectations is in the matter of supplies of good road material for local bodies. A good |quarry of hard stone has yet to he found when 'the demand' becomes more urgent with the depletion of the present resources of supply in the river beds. The railway is in readiness for that day and in the meantime is not so much of a white elephant as has been asserted. The multitude of the unfit stands startingly revealed hy the searchlight of conscription (says the Paris correspondent of the London Observer). They are thousands upon thousands. Some of this unfortunate army, deprived of the privilege of directly serving the country, are conducting its commerce; others fill non-combatant posts in tlie departments ol the War Office. The distinction which marks | them, from their fellows is a sorry one, and generally they look sorry for themselves. A question of consequence is how to diminish their numbers. Medical boards may be as steel, hut they cannot give a man lungs if he has none, or strong eyesight if it is hopelessly had. But Swedish drill, taken in time, can give him general health, and this happy gospel is now being urged by enthusiastic advocates of physical culture. There is evidently scope for a Muler and Sandow in France. .M. Barthou, promoter of the Three Years Law, is an admirable example of youthful vigour conserved by systematic exercises before the open window.

Mr F. Bonsfiold, delivered to tho Taruheru freezing work's the other day (says the Gisborne Times) a Hue of 100 head of prime fat bullocks, re- | presenting an instalment of Mr A. B. Williams’s New Year gift to the Wounded Soldiers’ Fund. | ' A boy aged 12 years appeared before Mr W. A. Barton, S.M., at Gisborne last week (says the Times), on 'a. charge of having been in possession of a firearm, namely an air-gun. The boy received admonishment at the hands of tho magistrate. I he air gnu was forfeited. When it was mentioned at the Westport Harbour Board meeting that a railway to Karamea would not pay, Mr Bowater said tho same had been predicted of almost all the lines conI meted on the West Coast (reports the News), and had been falsified when tho linos were in operation. j i Mr Jack N'icol, of Waimate, in a, letter from Edinburgh, dated late in November, complains of tho cold- —a 1 damp cold, which, compared with the dry cold of North Russia, was unen- 1 durable. At Archangel th e tempera- j tru e stood at from 25 to 30 degrees below feeezing point, yet it was profitable to the Scottish weather. ! The hospital ship Marama left Alex-' andria on January 22 for England, 1 with 470 invalids from various corps, j The Minister for Internal Affairs stated yesterday that the sick and wound-1 ed aboard were not all New Zealanders ; the ship is being used in the Im-' penial service, and the invalids represented all branches of the British forces. A Press Association telegram from Dunedin states that Sue Ham, alia Ab Lung, was yesterday fined £25 and costs for having opium suitable for smoking in his possession. The defendant wont by motor to Port Chalmers. The police investigated the car when it was returning and found six half-pound tins of opium. Mr Massey, speaking at the Herowhenua show yesterday (states the Press Association), said that the people of this country had risen to the occasion in providing supplies for the Empire’s need and in providing men, but more men were wanted to-day. No man fit for the front and able to get away is doing bis duty in staying here. To put it stronger, be is not only not doing his duty, but lie is assisting the, enemy. He who assisted the enemy was a traitor to his country, and people had no cause to be proud of him. Referring to the country’s production, Mr Massey predicted that this year would he bettor than the last. I A Rotorua telegram says that the Salvation Army Institute for returned soldiers was opened this afternoon by Sir Joseph Ward, in the presence of a large gathering. Addresses were given by Sir Joseph Ward, Colonel Powley (Army Chief Secretary), Mr Hill (resident officer), Colonel Newell, Drs. Herbert and Thacker. Captain Shearer is in charge of the Institute. Colonel Powley stated that the land and buildings bad cost £396, the improvements £l5O, and the fittings £7O. His appeal for financial support resulted in £SO being contributed by the audience. The speeches were generally complimentary to the Salvation Army’s work in tho warj The building contains sitting and recreation rooms, a tea room, kitchen, and cool drink buffet, it is comfortably furnished. The following story has been published by the Oamaru Mail: —Mrs Davey, of Cbelmor street, and another lady of Oamaru, bad prepared a cake costing them 4s Bd, which they sent to Private Davey for hi s birthday, while in Egypt. Each lady wrote him a letter, which, with £2 in cash, they enclosed in a small tin,, which was built into the cake. They also notified Private Davey of the advent of the cuke. He got the notice, but not the cake. On’the evening of his birthday several friends bought refreshments at the 'canteen, intending to give him a good time. Among these was a cake which cost the philanthropist 12s 6d (at the canteen). The little celebration indue course came off. The host, in cutting , the cake, came across a tin, to bis great disgust. “What a fraud!” be exclaimed. “This thing is full of empty tins. The tin, however, proved to be not empty by a. long way. After 3reading the address on the letters, the host turned in blank surprise to Private Davey and said ; “M by, this cake was sent to you!” I | The endurance and perseverance shown by ui s workmen, under conditions that would have tried the optimism of a Mark Tapley, is attested by Mr Irwin Crookes, Engineer in charge of the hydro-electric scheme in connection with the Wairua hulls. The Auckland Herald states that, in extending the power transmission lino from Wairua to Portland during the depth of last winter, the workmen had to penetrate for many miles a desolate tract of gumfield. So per,-.is-( tent was the rainfall that the men j found themselves wet to tho skin day after day. Eventually they came to tho conclusion that, in such circumstances, ordinary clothing was both an encumbrance and a prolific cause of colds. Consequently one after another discarded bis shop-bought raiment, and very soon the orthodox attire of the whole party consisted of a sack each, with holes cut in the corners and bottom for arms and head In this primitive garment the men would be seen daily, skimming up iron poles and doing whatever else fell to | their lot in working hours. In mem- | ory of the wretched conditions en- j dured in the gumland region they ) dubbed it the Valley of Death, a name which has also been adopted for it by many of the settlors along its hord-

The following letter has been received from Pte G. F. Muggleton, a former member of the Patea- branch of the National Reserve who was one of the first members of the branch to volunteer and who left for the front | some time ago: “November 23rd, j 1915. Many thanks for letter, the first i had received since the end of July. I am at the New Zealand Hospital here and have a good job too. AVo had an unpleasant experience coming here; got torpedoed on the 23rd of October and the boat went down in about fifteen minutes. I had eight hours hanging on a piece of board before being picked up and being unable to swim at all 1 reckon 1 was lucky to get out of it. This climate is more like New Zealand; it seemed very cold after Egypt, but is much healthier.” A well-known aboriginal of Kawhia —himself of ponderous dimensions—tells the local paper rather a good story concerning Lord Kitchener during his motor tour through AVaikato. The great Field-Marshall has the reputation of “stopping at nothing,” and a debate arose among a number of Maoris attending a sitting of the Native Lands Court in an inland township as to whether his credentials in this respect were justified, ' and a wager was made by several exceptionally “large” natives, that they could “do the impossible.” As the car approached the township the Court was hastily cleared and the giants (including a dusky dame of great rank fiiu( .rotundity) spread themselves across the street, supported by a rearguard of lesser lights. The chaffeur was perplexed, hesitated and ' finally pulled up. Lord Kitchener looked uneasy, but smiled as the lady of the. party advanced and shook hands, and as the “barrier was lifted” the motor shot forward amid the mihis of the crowd—and the successful wagerers collected their dividend.