The project is one that is to be commended.
Any movement which has for its object the systematising of the collection of subscriptions is to be commended.
The scheme which has been devised by the Patriotic Association is sympathetically supported by a considerable number of shopkeepers and others, and we hope it will result in the production of a large weekly aggregate, made up, possibly, of small sums regularly contributed by subscribers.
The only criticism which the scheme invites is that it does not go far enough.
• A happy little home of vagrants has been heartlessly broken up by the Wellington police (says the Dominion).
Sergeant Wade and Constables Chapman and Edwards were informed that if they paid a visit to a vacant railway section near Thorndon quay early some morning they would find something very interesting.
They set out about 2.30 on Wednesday morning, and discovered the vagrants' boarding-house right in the centre of a field overgrown to a height of seven or eight feet with fennel, and to which access could be gained by a well-worn path.
They discovered four disreputably clad men sleeping soundly.
They were not huddled together, but each slept in a small compartment lined comfortably with rags, and sheltered as far as possible from the vulgar gaze of the public.
A corridor, as in an hotel, led past each ''room'', while a larger apartment gave evidence of it being a living room.
The ''boarders'' were rudely awakened by the visitors, and marched along to the police station.
A subsequent search by the police showed that the happy little home had been in existence for some time, and that there were indications that the quartet who were living the simple life had helped themselves to apparel from neighbours' clothes lines, while the fact that milk-jugs and their contents, and loaves of bread had disappeared from yard-safes was very suspicious.
At the police station the quartet, who had been joined by another vagrant, who had been arrested from a section nearby, made a strange collection.
Their net capital did not total one shilling.
• A terrific gale was experienced at Skippers last week (writes the correspondent of the Lake County Press).
The wind arose suddenly and blew with cyclonic force for about 10 minutes.
Trees were uprooted in all directions and several outbuildings were blown down.
Mr Richard Payne, of Arrowtown, had a narrow escape from death.
He left his hut when the gale came on, and a few minutes later a huge tree was blown down and crashed through the roof.
The tree fell on the bed which Mr Payne had just vacated, and he had a very fortunate escape.
Another tree fell on a residence some distance away and flattened out one of the rooms, while a stable was also seriously damaged.
The full force of the cyclone appears to have been limited to a very small area.
• Deer continue to swarm on to cultivated paddocks in the Lindis district (writes a correspondent of the Cromwell Argus).
As many as 35 were seen in one paddock on a recent evening, and appeared quite indifferent to the presence of numerous horsemen.
Some doubt prevails as to the conditions of the free licences to shoot in certain areas of the district. - ODT, 13.3.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
