Two aspects of this matter came before the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals at its meeting yesterday.
In the first place Miss M. Hartley, local secretary of the Order of the Star in the East, wrote drawing attention to an article in the Herald of the Star of the East in reference to the sufferings of horses on the battlefield.
Her committee wished to know the opinion of the society and whether any steps could be taken to alleviate the sufferings of the animals.
The matter was referred to a special committee to deal with.
The secretary of the society (Mr T. S. Graham) also read an extract from the same magazine telling of the work being done by the Besant Lodge in Melbourne to provide bandages for the horses on the troopships.
It was explained that these horses had to stand for two months, and unless this provision was made for them their legs became swollen.
The lodge had provided 16,000 bandages, and were preparing 10,000 more.
Mr Snowball stated that this was quite a sound proposition, but so far as the New Zealand troop horses were concerned the Government was providing the necessary bandages.
The condition in which the horses landed in Egypt showed that the bandages had been well used.
The chairman (Mr G. Fenwick) remarked that it was strange that in Australia such a provision should have been left to an outside organisation.
It was decided to communicate with the New Zealand Government on the subject.
• In connection with the physical training of school teachers, it is interesting to note the experience of those in Canterbury who have just gone through the course. One Canterbury teacher writes as follows: -
''Our town and suburban teachers have just completed a fortnight's course of physical training, to which one week of the holidays and one week of the usual school time was devoted. Before the classes assembled there was much grumbling and protesting, but the croaking ceased entirely when the instructors got to work. The teachers are now singing quite another tune and there is a general chorus of praise of the skill and tact of the instructors, of the value of the exercises, and of the pleasure with which the course was followed."
• A party of some 30 prisoners serving indeterminate sentences is camped on the Waimarino Plain, some five miles from the Waimarino Railway Station. They are forming the road to Tokaanu.
The work is laid out by engineers of the Public Works Department, and supervised by warders.
There being scarcely any settlement on this road, it is supposed (says the Taumarunui correspondent of the New Zealand Herald) that the object of the Government is to provide a motor road for tourists, or, what is more probable, make a military road for a future military encampment.
The country is an ideal one for manoeuvres.
• In Mr J. Grant's vinery at Kakanui there is a splendid crop (says the Oamaru Mail).
The culling work is almost completed, and the large bunches of grapes, many of which are almost ripe, formed a pretty picture.
The grapes are of splendid quality, a feature being the total absence of mildew.
The vinery, which is one of the largest in New Zealand, is a standing testimony to the excellence of the climatic conditions prevailing in North Otago. - ODT 10.2.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
