Soldiers unhappy with memorial

Apparently some of the soldiers who went from the West Harbour district are not pleased because their  regimental and reinforcement 

numbers are not being inscribed along with their names on the district war memorial. At the council meeting last night Cr Robb stated that the three councillors who undertook to have the names inscribed in alphabetical order were now being “blackguarded” for the arrangement. The Mayor protested strongly against any attempt at discrimination. He reminded councillors that the matter had been thrashed out before and that a public meeting approved of the course now being taken. He pointed out that there were many young soldiers who went away as soon as they came of age, and it would not be fair to them if their numbers were put up without explanation. The council was not concerned with conscripts or volunteers, or whether a man went away with the first or the 31st reinforcements. Every man who had gone had placed his life in danger in the cause of his country.

 

An act of bravery is reported from Murray Creek coal mine near Reefton. It appears that a miner named Warren, one of two working in No 4 level, was left to ignite the fuses of three charges. Owing to some delay in attending to the second and third, the first charge exploded before he could gain a point of safety, injuring him in the back and both legs. The force of the explosion put out the candles, and the other miner, Ecklund, in the darkness above, heard Warren moan and apparently call for help. Without 

a light and without the slightest hesitation, Ecklund went down to the assistance of his injured mate, disregarding the fact that the other two shots were due to explode at any moment. He got to the bottom, and, seizing the injured man by the shoulders, lifted him bodily up 24 feet of ladders to the floor of the level above. He had scarcely accomplished this feat when the other two shots went off. Ecklund’s action is to be brought to the notice of the Royal 

Humane Society.

 

Six years ago today the peace of Europe was broken by the aggressive action of Germany and the people of the Dominion were called upon to play their part in the Great War which ensued. The experiences of the war period have proved so poignant and the consequences so grievous that it is well-known impossible to recall the sensations which the terrible tidings excited in the hearts of the people of New Zealand, the response so splendidly made and the sacrifice so ungrudgingly given. On the sixth anniversary of the breaking of the peace it may be profitable to allow the memory to travel back to August 4th, 1914 and to reflect what might have been had the Allies not proven victorious in the titanic struggle. A sense of benefits enjoyed and blessings received during the past six years. 

 

Mr Richard Joseph Cotter,  one of the pioneers of Wakatipu, died at the residence of his son Mr T.J. Cotter in Arrowtown on Monday, in his 89th 

year (wires our Queenstown correspondent). Deceased was born at Queenstown, County Cork, Ireland.  At the age of 17 he left his native land and made for the Californian diggings. Some years later he was attracted to Australia by the gold rush and subsequently across the Tasman to the Otago goldfields, through which a living stream was pouring on the same quest. Mr Cotter reached Arrowtown the day after it was discovered by Fox, and there he had remained ever since, prosecuting his calling in several local mining areas. Deceased leaves a family of three sons and four daughters: Messrs T.J. Cotter (Arrowtown), R.J. Cotter (Dunedin), Jack Cotter (Winchester), and Mesdames Owen (Dunedin), Shea (Devonport), Simon McKenzie (Timaru), J.J. McBride (Queenstown) and Alex. Hamilton (Arrowtown). His wife predeceased him by six years.