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Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 15 January 1917, Page 4

Til spite of till precautions, 400 Russian prisoners of war have escaped from Germany to Maasricht, in Holland, during the last seven months. The arrest was made by Constable Gourley on Friday of a railway guard named George Evans (43), on a charge that on New Year's Day he stole a parcel of soft goods consigned from Auckland to Mercer. Accused was remanded till Tuesday, bail being allowed in one surety of £IOO. The new attacking aeroplanes invented by Hie French have been doing wonderful work. They have extraordinary speed, ami carry one pilot and two machine-gunners. Some of them have- lost a gimncii killed, but not one of these marvellous machines has been brought down by the enemy. Up to the present it Is reported that the British Government have received claims from no fewer than 3313 people that they are the originators of the new armoured motor-cans known as "tanks" Recently members of Fraiiamenf have received a letter from a fresh claimant, Mr K. F. Macfie, mechanical and aeronautical engineer, formerly lieutenant, Armoured Car Brigade, attached R.N. A.S. (now disbande'd;, wiiicfe states that he has been advocating the use of what ar 0 now called "Tanks" since August -20, 1914.

Identification of the victim of the Aramoho railway fatality has been established. The man's name was William Urry, a resident of Inglcwood. At the inquest ilr T. D. Cummins, act-ing-coroner, gave a verdict of "accidentally killed," uo blame attaching to anyone. In the published list of the ballot for the 26th Reinforcements appears the name of John Joseph Stack, farm hand, Hihitahi, but whose headquarters are at Wangaiiui. We learn that he enlisted and went away with the 11th Reinfroccmeuts some twelve months ago, and has since been serving in Egypt. A Welsh vicar, who has recently been advertising for an organist, was much bewildered on receiving the following amongst his replies: "Dear Sir, —I notice you have a vacancy for an organist and music teacher, either lady or gentleman. Having been both for several years, I beg to offer you my services."

An English paper says: The s'ulrKers who have taken refuge in Monte Carlo and Paris arc all nerves after the plain hint by Mr Lloyd George that every effort will be made to fetch them. The French Government will only be too anxious to assist any steps to this end, for they are tired of the remarks of their own people about the white-liv-ened English battalion entrenched in their midst.

In another column a belt containing £lO, lost in the Utiku station yard, is advertised for. As the loser is a poor man, who has had a great amount of sickness in his family, the loss is indeed a severe one. An earnest appeal is made to the finder of the money to return it at the earliest possible moment, as the need of it is causing very considerable hardship and deprivation.

A nurse writing from California sends a timely warning. The nursing sisterhood in America, she says, swarms with German and Austrian spies, and one woman pretending to be of English nationality asked her if she had any influence to get her accepted as a Bed Gross nurse in England. Her accent was suspicious, and the nurse, in a significant tone, suggested that she should apply for work in her own country, a reply which closed the talk.

In the list of men drawn in the third ballot, published by us on Saturday, there are three who should have had a stan preceding their names —William James Munro, Taihape, Anthony Swimburne, Ohakune, and Eric Chas. Campbell Sinclair, Waiouru. The star, of course, indicates that these men have already volunteered. In the case of W. J. Munro, he has volunteered four times, and on each occasion was rejected as medically unfit.

A boy of fourteen, named Victor Collier, joined the Koyal Marines in July, 1914, and before attaining the age of sixteen had been in 50 bombardments and actions in the Dardanelles, Aegean Sea and off the Belgian coast. He has now been discharged with his papers marked for the highest good conduct, after serving one year, 315 days, the reason, given for discharge being "a mistake in age at the time of enlistment."

Another of the exigencies of war lays its hand upon New Zealand. Until further notice there will be no notification of the time of the despatch of any overseas mails excepting those to 'Australia. The post office mail notices hereanent will be conspicuous by their absence. If Taihape folks want to write to their boys at the front or to anyone further away than Australia, the best plan is to write at once.., and the Postal Department undertakes to forward by the first available steamer The best plan is to reply to correspondence as soon as received, drop it. in the box, and let the Department do the rest.

A suggestion was made by a member of the Mackenzie County Council last week that as it seemed necessary to have some kind of controlling authorities to look after the farms of the soldiers who were at the war, the local bodies should undertake the work; they would be better able to do it than any board sitting in Wellington, as members of local bodies had a knowledge of local conditions, and none of them were too busy to find time to do a little more. The chairman said that they could do the supervision all right, but he was at a loss to know where they would get the labour. Lieutenant. Andrews, of Masterton, writing of the weather conditions in France, says: We have had a fair amount of rain, and we had a snowstorm on Saturday. There is about 3hi of ice on the ponds already, and they tell us it keeps getting colder till March. Our dug-outs were all Hooded last wectt. and some of them can now be seen with several inches of water thickly coated with ho in them. Of course, we put "duckboards" down. All tfco men in the front line are supphed thigh boots and leather waistcoats. 1 believe that the leather waistcoats are the gift of New Zcalanders, as arc also the woollen gloves just arriving, lncy are the two greatest boons we have, and T desire to thank whoever is responsible fon the ones I have. These French north winds are bitter when they choose to be.

After a soldier, who was arrested for

drunkenness, had been discharged with a caution at the Kingston-on-Thames Police Count, he saluted the justices on leaving the dock. At the direction of the chairman (Lieut.-Col. J. S. Hepworth) the soldier was called back and told by the chairman: A soldier does not salute with his hand when he has no covering on his head. Poultry-keeping, even in war time, has its responsibilities. At Birmingham, England, a man was fined £2 and two guineas costs for keeping fowls which were a nuisance to the residents. Neighbours state that they were unable to sleep owing to the noise of the crowing cockerels, and several had to charge their sleeping apartments. One ( Avitness told the Bench he had to put cotton wool in his ears. The up-to-date artificial arm is quite a miracle of mechanism. With it a man can carry a stick or umbrella, hold a book,, etc. He can use knife and fork •quite dexterously,, write a legible hand, hold a cricked bat or a billiard cue. a hammer or an axe, and pick up a pin. The Government has acquired about 1000 acres of Mr Hammond 's farm at Rata for settlement by returned soldiers. This is one of the best pieces of land for dairying purposes in Rangitikei. "If I could have made anything like a decent arrangement for selling my farm I would have gone to the war long ago, and I would fight like the very devil, too!" said an appellant at the Military Court the other day. After hearing evidence the Board decided to grant appellant exemption till April 80, Mr Cooper \chairman) remarking that after that date appellant could go into camp and later on fight like the devil.''