GENERAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 46, 29 January 1916, Page 7

GENERAL.

I An unusual claim was made upon the Motueka Harbor Board the.other j day. On the morning of the 23rd nit. it was necessary to lead a wire rope around a sheave at the stern of the hoard’s dredge, and the sheave, being some sft below the water, rendered this a very difficult operation. As it was found impossible to accomplish this feat by means of boathooks, etc., the engineer dived into the water, and, after a considerable struggle, succeeded in his mission—otherwise it would have been necessary to beach the dredge. During the struggle the engineer was unfortunate enough to lose a set of false teeth, which cost | him £5 10s to replace, and he -asked that he should be paid the amount. It was explained that it would have cost the board £2O to beach the dredge. The board decided to pay the engineer’s claim. The ciscumstances surrounding the , death of Mrs Quinn, whose body was found in the hush about nine miles from Kalgoorlie (West Australia) on New Year’s Day, are the most pathetic that have been recorded on the goldfields for many years. Mrs Quinn, who was 60 years of age, left Scotland in November for the purpose of visiting her son, a schoolmaster at Bulong. The letter announcing her departure did not, reach her son -until December 27, andrwhen she arrived at Kalgoorlie dm Christinas .Day there was no one to meet her.- She said she had been looking forward to meeting her son on Christmas Day, and, inquiring the road to Bulong, commenced a 20-mile tramp under a burning sun. thotemperature being almost 100 deg in the shade. The unfortunate woman never reached Bulong. After travelling five miles along the road .she wandered into the hush. Her disappearance was not reported to the police until two days later, and difficulty was experienced in picking up her tracks. The body was found about four miles from the main road.

Writing to his father in Wellington, a New Zealander who left the Dominion as a non-commissioned officer and now holds an Imperial commission, describes a “Guy Fawkes” celebration at Gallipoli:—“We had good fun at Gallipoli on sth November with the Turks,” he says. “We secured a large

l biscuit tin and had cut in one side of it an immense crescent and star. Over 1 the spaces cut out we pasted some light paper and put a candle inside the tin. The light from the candle reft fleeted by the bright tin all round f showed well through the paper, and | at 300yds the cmscent and star looked immense. About 8.30 p.m. one of us r climbed out of our trench and got 1 about 30yds away, where three iron pegs were driven into the ground, to ' which a bomb was tied. The bomb is exploded by pulling out a. small pin. To this pin a long cord was attached, which led to our trench. A table was placed over the bomb and the tin placed on top. Lighting the candle was tluv tricky part, for a light shows up so far away, and old Turk would immediately spot it and fire, so a waterproof sheet was taken out, and, under shelter of it, the candle was lit. the door of the tin closed, and, as quick as lightning 1 placed the tin on the table with the crescent and star facing the enemy. I got back to the trench at once, but before reaching there five shots whizzed overhead. Fortunately, everyone fires high at night. As soon as old Turk saw the light he tired, but when he realised he was firing at his own blooming emblem he stopped. H e did not know what was I up. Never before had he seen a cres- ( cent and star so big and so near and so placed as that. We waited for ten minutes, all enjoying the fun, then pulled the cord, and in five seconds the Turkish ensign went kite high. The i l blowing up was the signal for a rous- , ing British cheer, and at the same ( , time we let off our bombs, catapults, ■ trench mortars and rockets, that lit up ( all the country round, rifle grenades, j that go 250yds and then burst, and an \ immense rifle fire. Boor old Turk ] thought his end had come, and madly , replied. When things ouietoned down s a bit, after half an ho'ur. we raised 1 the Turkish shout of ‘Allah, Allah, e Allah.’ ”

1 Russia’s Cross of St. Andrew has a remarkable peculiarity attaching to it. All who are decorated with it have the right once to demand a pardon for a Russian subject condemned to death. j “Every child ought to have an apple every day,” was a remark made at i the Nurserymen’s Conference at Wei- , lington on Thursday. “Yes,” wa s the I reply. “You get four apples for 6d or ( Bd. How can a man with a family j afford that?” I The Sydney “Stock Journal” reports that Mr Sydney Kidman, the great cattle owner, has lost 60,000 head of cattle during th c last 10 months through drought. The losses of cattle in districts 300 miles north of Adelaide have been very heavy. The railways in Queensland have served a lot of sheep by bringing them to New South Wales, but the cattle country is too far out. The Otago Daily Times states: A Mosgiel resident who has interested I himself in beekeeping for many years, | brings under notice a new enemy to the bees. He has observed sparrows sit near to the hives and watch for ! bees returning with honey. Immediately a bee alighted on the hive the bird picked it up and knocked it two or three times hard against a had surface, generally the hard path, and then flew away with it in j its beak a s food for its nestlings. The . bee-keeper states that the birds will not pick up dead bees. He has also 1 noticed the sparrows attack either flies or bees on the wing. Poisoned grain was laid for the sparrows, but without effect.