FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 184, 25 October 1927, Page 14

FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND

BOMBARDIER A. G. JENKINS, the man who fired the first shot from British artillery, in the Great War, is a New Zealand farmer these days. With his wife and small daughter he resides at Te Kauwhata, in the Waikato district, and follows a more peaceful vocation.

Like Cincinnatus of old, he felt that he had had enough glory for one man. Yet Bombardier Jenkins has responded to the call of “Mons.” the British pic-

torial epic of the war, and to New Zealand audiences he has been telling the story of how French’s Contemptible Little Army held back the mighty hordes of the Kaiser in those fateful days of 1914. Bombardier Jenkins was with E. Battery, 3rd Cavalry Brigade, under the command of General Gough, when the call came to leave Ireland for France. The war cloud which had loomed so ominously in the Emerald Isle was forgotten when Kaiser Wilhelm uttered his “Hoch!” It is curious, too. that the 13-pounder with which the bombardier had served from his enlistment in 1911—it was made in 1906—served right through the war and emerged unscathed. Nowadays his old gun reposes in the Imperial War Museum in South Kensington. One of the proudest moments in the bombardier’s life was when he was called upon, as the specially selected representative of E Battery, to place a wreath on the Royal Artillery’s memorial at Hyde Park Corner. He is enthusiastic regarding New Zealand. “I arrived here one weekend, early this year,” he said, “and on the following Monday I was at work. So I have nothing to complain about.” Bombardier and Mrs. Jenkins are determined that their small daughter shall be a New Zealander in spirit. “We like the country,” says her father, “and we want to make it our home.” Bombardier Jenkins will appear with “Mons” at the Strand Theatre on Thursday. The Auckland Artillery Brigade, 13th Coast Battery, Ist Field Brigade, and 21st Field Battery will be present next week to hear the bombadier repeat the ever-fresh story of British heroism and pluck in the face of overwhelming odds.