He described how the men were awakened by an awful din, the alarm being given by the ringing of bells. ''The men hastily donned their respirators,'' he continues, ''and stood by the horses.
Within about five minutes the gas reached the men, but had little effect on them, thanks to the precautions taken.
The next day the effects of the gas on the near crops of peas and onions were plainly seen, the vegetables being quite blackened and the peas also laid flat. The harness on the horses, too, which had previously been as bright as silver, was covered with black rust.
Yet, strange to say, the horses were not, apparently, affected in the least.''
This surprising immunity recalls the fact that when, in the early days of Canterbury, the province was in some parts overrun with wild pigs, farmers would put arsenic in a dead lamb and let ''piggy'' have a free feast, hoping the banquet would prove fatal.
But although the poisoned lamb was eaten readily, no pig was ever found dead through the poison.
•''A serviceable lot.''
Such, variously expressed, was the conclusion of discriminating citizens who lined the streets of Dunedin in their thousands to cheer the large body of troops from the Sixteenth Reinforcements prior to their departure to back up their comrades at the front.
Lithe, sound-limbed, tanned, and hard-visaged, they marched gaily, as men having counted the probable cost, and now going forth cheerfully to face the accepted task.
And upon the minds of the people they left the impression that, having put their hands to the plough, there would be no turning back. The public greeting was warm.
There was in it genuine appreciation of the spirit which had prompted these men voluntarily to abandon the safe and comfortable habits of the civilian for the strenuous and precarious calling of the soldier at the bidding of an impulse to do service in a righteous cause for the upholding of an ideal - the protection of the weak from oppression by the strong.
The variety of manhood composing this reinforcement must have struck the onlooker, reminding him that the call is heard by men of all classes.
There marched together young giants from the open spaces, clipperbuilt men from the city gymnasia, lads scarce yet familiarised with the razor habit, and blue-chinned men whose presence suggested thoughts of wives who had bravely sent them forth, and children who would eagerly watch for their return.
Pakeha and Maori stepped side by side, and included in the force was also an earnest looking, ebony-skinned soldier, who at various points along the route received special ovations.
The whole circumstances of the parade, in fact, epitomised the unity of purpose which is going to bring this war to the only satisfactory conclusion.
•The few fine days experienced recently have had the effect of bringing the whitebait up the river in very large quantities for this time of the year (says the Kaitangata correspondent of the Balclutha Free Press), and the ''baiters'' are having a good time with the nets.
Some very good catches have been made, the favourite spot being the mouth of the canal. The appearance of the whitebait this year is fully a month earlier than usual.
- ODT, 24.8.1916.
