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Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 20 March 1917, Page 4

Some twelve years ago King Edward VII —we have reason to know,” says the Saturday Review —“returning from a successful diplomatic round on the Continent, said to a member of his family; “Thank God, I have put the war off ten years.” Mr. R. W. Smith, M.P., has intimated that he, with Mrs. Smith, will attend the annual gathering of the Waimarino Caledonian Society at Oha- | kune, on April 7th, and has given a gold medal for points in dancing for jcmpetitors between 12 and 18 years. A little Cockney Irishman, released from imprisonment in Germany, was describing his experiences, and said he had three days in the cells once because “a German officer, he comes along, and ’e says to me, jocular like, ‘Well, Tommy, it’s a long way to Tipperary.’ ‘Yus,’ I says, ‘and it’s a damn sight further to Paris.’ ” Good Goods. That’s the Lotus Brand.

The net proceeds of yesterday’s Red Cross Raid, including sports and picture hall, will total upwards of £2OO. The weaner pig brought at auction £75. A Dunedin pressman telegraphed it throughout the Dominion the other day that £6OO, or £7OO had been raised in that city in one day for Red Cross work. When Taihape raises quiteas much or more, nobody wants to xnow anything about it. It is a fact that Taihape leads New Zealand in its giving for Patriotic Purposes.

Leading American bankers are very much exercised concerning financial conditions in the United States. Unprecedented prosperity, coupled with the flow of gold from Great Britain, has led to boundless speculation, and at present the market is in a topheavy condition which may lead to a tremendous slump, if not a general panic at any moment. For some time the big firms and heavy speculators have been selling out, and practically only the small fry remain who are likely to be hit badly in the event of a crisis.

The ballot presses heavily in some patriotic families. George Brown, of Dunedin, whose name appears in the latest ballot, only came of military Jage a few weeks ago. His father and eldest brother have been on active service since last May, his younger brother is “doing his bit” in a transport, and another brother enlisted but was medically rejected. His brother-in-law was killed at Gallipoli. The young man now called up hoped to have been a volunteer, but the ballot was right on the heels of his twentieth birthday.

To be married and drawn in the ballot for military service on the same day was the experience which fell to an Oamaru reservist on Tuesday (says the North Otago Times). Doubtless the telegram was received amongst others arriving on the occasion with messages of a very different character; but it is stated that the military notice arrived just two hours before the time fixed for the tying of the nuptial knot, and yet in the face of such a grave order the reservist and his fiancee proudly pledged themselves “for better, for ivorse.”

They were convalescent Tommies, who had been allowed four- days’ leave in the Old Country from Prance. One day they had set apart for a visit to the ijolf links. A small crowd of admirers was gathered at the first tee to watch the game, and the first man teed up with a prodigious swipe. But the ball remained where it was. He tried again, without result. Yet again, and still nothing happened. Then his pal could not stand it any longer, and in a voice that could be heard over three counties, he cried; “For goodness sake, ’it the bloomin’ thing. Y’ know we’ve only got four days’ leave.”

Captain Simms, of the United States Navy, is informing the House Naval Committee of the needs of the Navy. Asked why Great Britain does not attack the German coast, he answered: “I do not believe that Great Britain will ever consent to attack undefended coasts of no military importance.” He was further asked why it was that Germany can attack the English coast. He replied: “For the same reason that Villa can attack the border, blow up villages, and ravish the inhabitants. If the British Navy wer e even four times larger it could not defend the entire British coast against sporadic attacks.”

A cable message published recently reported that the Belgian Belief Commission’s ship Storstad (0028 tons) had been sunk by the Germans whilst on the way from Buenos Ayres. In the minds o£ most people the name Storstad will be unfamiliar, but she played a big part in one of the greatest mercantile marine tragedies since the Titanic disaster. It was the Storstad that collided with the Canadian-Pacific liner Empress of Ireland (14,191 tons) in the St. Laurence Eiver in May, 1914. The liner had nearly 800 pasengers on board at the time, including Mr W. E. Bloomfield, of Auckland, and Mr Laurence Irving, the actor, both of whom were drowned. The Empress of Ireland was practically cut in two, and sunk shortly after the disaster. In his lecture at Feilding, Mr. Parr, M.P., gave a striking instance of the wonderful organisation at Home in one particular direction. In describing H.M.S. Lion, Admiral Beatty’s flagship, Mr. Parr remarked that the party had seen the turret before, when inspecting one of the great shipbuilding yards. Two days' after the Jutland fight the Lion was brought alongside the pier at this particular port, the most powerful electric crane in use took up the 200-ton turret, which had been unbolted on the ship swung it across the intervening land over the huge works, and deposited P inside, the roof being lifted by electricity to allow the turret to enter Day and night the hands worked on it. Two days later the Lion returned to the port, the turret was replaced bolted down, and two hours later the great battleship was headed for the high seas. That’s how they repair damage in Britain.