The men belonging to the Dunedin paraded at the Kensington Drill Hall shortly after 9 a.m., the parade being in charge of Major Moller. Colonel Smith said he had been anticipating the day when a falling-off in the physique of our reinforcements would be noticeable, but there was not the slightest sigh of that up the present, and the men before him looked very fit and able fully to main the reputation established by their predecessors. Doubtless many of them had gone through much domestic trial during the past few months , together with business worries, but their faces indicated that these had all been packed away in their ``old kit bags'', and they were setting out in good heart and with cheerful smiles.
Chaos at the station
The arrangements in connection with the despatch of reinforcements at the Dunedin railway station have hitherto been carried out without a hitch, but yesterday a strong assault was made on the railway gates by the general public, who for obvious reasons are excluded from the railway platform whilst the men are entraining. At the entrance to the platform women and others were carried off their feet, and the police force were powerless to cope with the rush. After some hundreds had gained admission to the platform the police eventually succeeded in closing the gates. The military police then busied themselves in clearing the platform, and passes were demanded. At least two City Councillors were among those escorted behind the barrier. A pressman, while in the execution of his duty, was asked to produce his pass, but replied that he was unaware that any such authority was necessary. He appealed to the Mayor and a City Councillor, who were standing by, and they instantly vouched for his bona fides. This, however, did not satisfy the military.
Tuberculosis cure claim
A message of hope for hundreds of thousands of people is conveyed in the cabled statement that an Italian professor has discovered a cure for tuberculosis. It has too often happened in the past that announcements have been prematurely, and, as it eventually turned out, erroneously made that scientists have, as the result of laborious research, discovered the means whereby specified diseases may be either prevented or cured. For this reason, the report of the latest discovery is one upon which it would be unwise to build very great expectations. We know nothing as yet of the tests upon which the claim to the discovery is based, nor do we know to what extent, if any, the claim is accepted by competent authorities as valid. If a cure for tuberculosis has actually been discovered, the announcement of it is the most gratifying which it has been the privilege of the press to circulate for many a day, and it will bring anew and intensely cheering light into the lives of vast numbers of human sufferers. The death-rate from tuberculosis is heavy throughout the whole world, although the mortality rate is distinctly more favourable in New Zealand than it is in the United Kingdom.
- ODT, 22.5.1918.
