THEY WERE COUSINS.

Taihape Daily Times, 20 May 1918, Page 3

THEY WERE COUSINS.

One of the strange meetings which the war has brought about took place recently in Prance (says the New Zealand Herald). An Auckland boy, who is a gunner in a New Zealand battery, was struck in the thigh by a machinegun bullet, which remained embedded in the flesh. By chance he was sent to a Canadian field hospital. An Xray examination was necessary to locate the bullet, and when the gunner was on the table, the operator, having noticed the name on the list, astounded him by remarking in a slow drawl, "Ever been to 1" mentioning a Maori place name. "I was born there," said the gunner. "Well, I guess we're cousins," said the Canadian, and cousins they proved to be. The New Zealand branch of the family came here over fifty years ago, and the gunner knew as little about his Canadian relations as the Canadian knew about his. But it was left to the wheel of ' chance to bring the two together in the X-ray room of a field hospital in France.