It is a tribute to their qualities as a race and the reputation of our soldiers that hardly a soul in Jerusalem but was elated over this fresh great success of British arms.
Jews, Arabs, Greeks, and Copts were banded together in enthusiasm for our advent, the nightmare of Turkish oppression having been dispelled by the thunder of our guns outside the town and the hasty flight of the last remnants of Turkish soldiery.
Jerusalem woke to a welcome dawn when the British general entered the town to take its surrender. His progress was moving and pathetic.
Latin unnecessary
At the break-up ceremony, Mr T. D. Pearce, rector of the Southland Boys' High School, while congratulating the Minister on recent reforms, mentioned one or two others that were desirable.
In 1918, said Mr Pearce, there would come into operation, in connection with the Junior University Scholarship examination, a new scale of marks, whereby for the first time Latin was placed on an equality with - instead of a superiority to - English. That was a splendid reform, and he welcomed it.
But the reform should not end there. Already Latin was not compulsory for Matriculation or B.A. Next year it would not be compulsory for the University Scholarship. Still, a boy could not at present become a doctor, a dentist, or a lawyer without Latin.
The speaker had asked old boys of his school who had taken up those professions whether Latin had been absolutely essential to them after they had matriculated. They had answered, ''No''.
The Kiwi type
A contributor to the London Daily News of September 14, in describing his impressions of the crowds in the streets of London, writes:
''But there was one type that began to emerge more distinct, more definite, than any other. It was the New Zealander. I was struck alike by the constancy of that type and by its attractiveness. It seemed to me the pick of the basket. The neat, trim figure, rather on the short side, the aquiline nose, firm mouth, small chin, wide-set eyes, full of intelligence, were such unvarying characteristics of the New Zealander that I began to get excited. Here, I thought, is the most thoroughly and unvarying English type I have ever seen, and it comes from the remotest habitable spot on the glove. If ever the war ends, and I have 200 to spare (which is extremely unlikely), I'll spend it on a visit to the land that is raising these clean-limbed, civilised, gallant-featured, young Englishmen on the other side of the world.''
Superman
Ashhurst claims to have the strongest man in New Zealand. He weight only 11st and does not look particularly robust, though his activity in following his business as a carrier is unbounded.
Recently, for a wager, he shouldered a full sack of wheat, jumped on a bicycle and effected delivery at his client's house; and what was even more wonderful, owing to the shed entrance being difficult, he carried in succession four bales of wool single-handed about 100 yards, each weighing nearly 400lb.
- ODT, 17.12.1917.
COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
