ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1917, Page 4

ACCIDENTS & FATALITIES.

KILLED AT RAILWAY YARDS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Palmerston N., Last Night. Robert E. Smith, a railway porter, known as "Baby" Smith because of his great weight, was killed instantly at Palmerston railway yards to-day. While oiling the points, in a high wind, ho was struck by a truck, which had been kicked off by a shunting engine.

"One of the results of the war is certain to" be an extension of State power," said Mr. Poynton at Palmerston recently, and added: "The old shibboleths of 'private enterprise' and 'voluntary effort' have lost their charm. We have spent in this country £35,000,000 in railways, mainly to bring our produce to the sea coast, and another £2,000,000 would complete the bridge, and take our | ■wool, meat flax and other things to the . world's markets but our efforts seem to ( have failed at the water's edge, and we , allow 'private enterprisers' to take our j goods there, and charge Us what they i like. It is, said Mr. Poynton, as if a local body made a road 35 miles long, but left two miles to a private individual to control, with a right to put a tollgate across it and blackmail ajl users of the 35-mile road." "The prideful daughter of aristocracy's bluest blood" fe how Enid Bennett, as heroine in "Happiness," is billed by a newspaper anxious for a scoop. That her reputation is undeserved becomes startingly plain when she makes her runaway match with the wholesome student who is working his way through college by washing clothes. Little Thelma Salter is delightful as secretary of the "Soapsuds Trust" and Chas. Gunn makes a splendid impression as the hero. 'This delightful picture will be screened at Empire for the last time to-night. To-morrow daring Helen Holmes will be featured in the big Mutual sensation, "The Diamond Runners," a thrilling story of the South African illicit diamond buyers.' Advice was received in Christehureh on Wednesday of the death in France of Lieut.-Col. Arthur Blewitt, of the 00th Rifles, and late of Terako, Amuri. The ■ late Lieut.-Col. Blewitt, who was about i 55 years of age, was educated at Eton, i and had a distinguished career, being one i of "Kitchener's men." He was one of i the first Governors of Fashoda, and af- ' terwards of the Khartoum provinces. On . the termination of these appointments • he rejoined his regiment in Tndia He . spent his leave in 1904 in New Zealand, . and was so impressed with the .Dominion i (says the Sun) that he retire! from the , army and settled Txere, taking up the Te- . rako property. On, the outbreak of wa> '. he returned to England and ofl'ered his j. services to the Government, holding sevr eral appointments in charge o' training ~ camps,, one of them at Salisbury Plain '.' He was serit'by the British Government ' to China to arrange for the shipmtnt of coolies'to work in France,'and brought them hack with him in a chartered steamer.- At the latest advice received, he was in charge of a labor group in 'France, and it was while he was engaged in thiit work ; that he met his death, Colonel Blewitt was an enthusiastic and experienced big-game sportsman. M. Andre Tudesq, special correipondent on the British front, speaking of the reconnaissances of the Flanders front, says:—-We want to see. the' Avork of the counter batteries north-west of Lens, From this expedition I shall retain a .lesson of the tranquil, robust, beneficent activity of the armies at the front. See these relief ( troops, these storming troops in reserve, these linesmen and gunners, who simply do their task with a sort of grave pleasure, which ennobles their tanned faces! They do not care if the war finishes in weeks or years. They

go about their work as if the trade of Hell in which, they are engaged were to remain for long the law of man. Some steaming tea, a ground sheet, a tin of corned beef; some fresh bread, suffice these men, who may die to-morrow, and who, as a precaution, get as much pleasure as they can out of life. The sight of them is comforting. Their company effaces all anxieties; one feels better among them, sine of the future, more confident. What a contrast with those poople of the towns, who worry lest a bit of sugar may be wanting at their breakfast! Nothing can equal the school of confidence and good humor. These reflections were suggested to my by an officer of the' line, a philosophical fighter who was saddened by the rulings of tho present day, and who thus summarised his thoughts: One tires of doing nothing in:therearj one never tires of always doiite: more at the f roat