WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 140, 6 November 1914, Page 7

WAR NOTES.

| AMONG THE MISSING. S A striking feature of the casualty list j is the enormous disproportion between i the numbers of those known to have ! been killed or wounded and those report|ed "missing." The nature of the operations has made it inevitable that an army conducing even the most orderly retirement must necessarily have large numbers of its wounded on the field of batte. The vast majority ol these will' have been cared for. by the lied Cross, and as wounded prisoners their lot will not, it is trusted, he unduly hard.' The .allies have quite sullicient-German prisoners on their hands to make it extremely unlikely that the German au-' thorities will treat otherwise than with proper consideration those of our wounded whom they hold. Moreover,! there is comfort in reflecting that mis-! sing only means unaccounted for, and i that many of these who are set down' in this category will certainly prove -to j. be stragglers who have lost their way |, ia a strange country. A good proportion of these may certainly be expected I to turn! U P again, as some have already done, and will he found to have never been in the hands of the enemy at all. j

ALLENBY'S CAVAUIY. General Sir John French has reported that Allenby's cavalry division gave the Uhlans "the- surprise of their lives."'if Allenby surprised th.j GcrfaiH us successfully as he surprise! ilvMiocrs lie has given tlicm something to think about. In South Africa" this dashing cavalry commander was noted for the speed of his mobile columns, which Kitchener gave inni to command ever men of longer experience and higher rank. Ho was French's most daring cavalry commander, and shared with his pre. seat chief the honors of the relief of Kimbcrley and the great sweeping movement to Paardeburg. He remained in South Africa' till long after the Boers' resistance was hopeless, and as a colonel in charge of the "flying columns,' he earned numerous mentions in depatches. Allenby is one of the lucky men of the army jn that a successful Staff College course has been sandwiched between numerous experiences in lighting, and the Uhlans discomfiture at his hands may be expected when the cavalry gets busy again.

IflK CHOREA'S "KUKRI."

The kukri, the Ghoorka's instrufent, even to look tit; is a simple horror. It is curved;, it is shorter and heavier, curved; it is shorter and header. Taken in the hand, the weight, and especially the balance of tho weight, is the first thing that strikes. After; this first admiration has passed, the J feeling that succeeds is to lay the thing down, or throw it in the sea, or other- ' wise try t.o forget about it. One won-1 dors sometimes where we stand. The' Sermon on the Mount is 1900 years old,] but to-day, Novi-mDcr (i, we 'liuve the ' kukri. The late tap-tain 'Mutton, fn his' thoughtful little book 'on evolution gave the opinion .that mankind had reached the. ultimate physical and intellectually, and that our next march will be ethical and moral. He might have added religious. Stark, staring coiitradie- 1 tion to all that is the kukri—embodiment of hate, ferocitv, and cunnng. With tho kukri goes "a little leather poison bag, and implements to smear the poison on the. blade. That, no doubt, is the knife and the adjuncts to tin- knife, which Hie races of Indfe, might use ;f left to their own will. We may be -sure that poisoning the hla'le will not be permitted m any war wage 1 under British direction. ' The impulse a soldier, seeing the kukri bared, won't at oneo he to shoot, shoot very coollv, and shoot very straight. If his shot failed, his last refuge would be the lmv cnet. He would have to see to it that the cat-I'kc man with the kukri did not parry his blade. On this ugly subject perhaps enough has been said.—ihiMlin Star.

of which were turned off fat) is almost incredible.

During the past eight months each acre over the whole field has carried an average of 13 sheep, and although the "Xo-manure" plot has carried almost as heavy a stock as the top-dressed, the beneficial effect of the manuring is now very apparent. Jn Xovember and December each plot of 2% acres carried 40 wethers, anil made an average live-weight gain of KKlilib. The h/ghest live-weight gains for one month were recorded for September, namely, 7401b. per plot, and flic lowest in June 181b.

Tile results of the first year showed in each case a loss by manuring, but for the year just ended each top.dresscd plot has yielded a profit after allowing for the cost of fertilisers.

Although basic superphosphate lias, so far, given the smallest financial gain, no definite conclusion can be drawn until the experiment has been carried out for several years. The following shows the results: —

Plot I.—Fertiliser, applied l!)12i Basic Superphosphate, se\vt; cost per acre, £1 An fid; total financial gain per acre on the basis of two-thirds of flic liveweight gain at 3'/ 3 d per 11.., £9 8s Id; gain by manuring per acre, r )s lid; number of sheep carried per acre, 11. Plot 2.--Fertiliser, applied 1!)12; Basic slag, sc\vt; cost per acre, £1 3s (id; total financial gain per acre on the basis of two-thirds of the live-weight gain at 3>/ a d per lb., .£lO lis id'; gain by manuring per aero, fl 10s '2d; number of sheep carried per acre. 11. Plot 3.—Fertiliser, applied 1912: Xo manure; total financial gain pel" acre on tin* basis of two-thirds of live-weight gain at 3'/ 3 per lb., £7 17s lid; number of sheep carried per acre, 10.-3. Piot 4.—Fertiliser, applied 14)12: Superphosphate, tort; cost per acre, *£l| 4s; total financial gain on each acreon tie basis of two-thirds of the liveweiglit gain at 3%<1 per lb, £lO 10s 7(1; gain by manuring per acre, £1 8s Sd; number of sheep carried per acre, 11.