Diplomat impressed by memorial
London, June 2: Sir James Allen has returned from his Mediterranean cruise, which included the visit to Gallipoli and the unveiling ceremony. Sir Andrew H. Russell, who also took part in the ceremony, left theOrmonde at Athens, but General Sir Alexander J. Godley and Lady Godley and the High Commissioner completed the passage on the Orient liner. On the night before the arrival of the liner at Southampton, Sir James took the opportunity of thanking the passengers, numbering about 400, for their attendance at the ceremony on Chunuk Bair. The High Commissioner has given me a few of the general impressions left on his mind after his day on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
"I was naturally very much pleased," said the High Commissioner, "that so many people took the trouble to cross the Peninsula and take such a deep interest in our ceremony. More than a score of the visitors had themselves served on Gallipoli, and numbers of others had relatives who had gone through the campaign. Others, again, had come to visit the graves of relatives and friends who were buried in the cemeteries there. In the circumstances
it was not unnatural that this large party of British people should have participated so fully and sympathetically. It was my intention to leave a good impression on the Turks, and I am quite convinced that we have done so. At the entertainment on board the Ormonde after the ceremony there were about 20 Turkish officials present, including the Valis of Chanak and of Gallipoli, the head men of the various villages, heads of the police, and
others. It was quite a unique occasion. They seemed to enjoy themselves, and I am sure we left a good impression. I also came away with a great appreciation of the capabilities of the members of the Imperial War Graves Commission. Sir John Burnet, as architect for the cemeteries, has certainly produced just the thing that suits the place. The designs throughout are very simple, delicate, and peaceful. Naturally, I am very pleased with our own memorial." — by ODT London correspondent
Billets found for expo visitors
From the kiosk set under the trees in the Octagon, which houses the Exhibition Accommodation Bureau, invisible lines of communication lead to the far corners of the world. Intending visitors from Paris, and other foreign cities, the United Kingdom, and Melbourne, have booked through the bureau for the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, and the applications from the North Island would seem to herald an invasion in the summer.
The bureau has now secured accommodation for 2500 visitors at one time, exclusive of the number which the hotels and boardinghouses can accommodate.
A feature of the bureau's work has been the readiness which it has found on the part of householders offering accommodation to throw open their best front rooms. All the accommodation which the bureau offers has been inspected and approved by it, and the charges are most reasonable. Bed and breakfast are obtainable from 6 shillings 6 pence, and full board from 10s. It would be difficult in ordinary times to find accommodation of the quality which will be available in Dunedin at these prices in most large cities.
Anzac Ave width deal
The General Committee will present the following report to the City Council on Wednesday night: ''In accordance with instructions your committee conferred further with the Harbour Board in regard to the matter of the land required for widening the Logan Park Highway between St Andrew street and Anzac square beyond 66 feet. The Harbour Board has now agreed to provide the additional land on the following terms: (1) That the City Council be offered the 9ft strip of land at sections 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 19 and 21 free on condition that the roadway is widened within the period of the last expiring lease (April, 1936). The first lease to expire is that of Thompson's, which expires on April 1 of next year, when the matter of compensation for the buildings will call for attention. (2) That the board arrange for the inclusion of the necessary provisions in the deed between the board and the council for the cancellation of the leases of the sections enumerated, as they fall due. (3) That the council pay compensation to the board's tenants for buildings etc. Your committee recommends that the offer of the Harbour Board be accepted." — ODT, 11.7.1925
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Otago Daily Times
a day ago
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Nuclear test participants' stories spotlighted
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NZ Herald
4 days ago
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Croatian Joseph Mikulec got the autographs of kings, presidents and others as he walked more than 320,870km
He became a global sensation, followed by news reporters, featured in newsreels and welcomed by dignitaries. He visited at least 33 countries, travelling more than 200,000 miles (320,870km) - all on foot, with the book in tow: in a bag, on his shoulder, and eventually in its own custom-made stroller. 'Clad in a costume which looked like a combination of Alpine climber, football and bicycle garment, bearing on his back a stout knapsack, and in his sun-browned hand a heavy cudgel, he attracted attention wherever he went,' the Washington Post reported during one of his trips to DC in 1908. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George in the autograph book assembled by Mikulec. Photo / Kaitlyn Dolan, the Washington Post Mikulec died in 1933, his story and his book largely forgotten over the past 100 years, until two things happened: Šimunić, the 34-year-old Mayor of Oroslavje who travelled the world before returning to his hometown, heard about Mikulec from a local teacher two years ago. He was riveted by the story, the élan and hubris of someone from his sleepy, 14th-century village. Unbeknownst to Šimunić, across the Atlantic, a rare manuscript dealer named Nathan Raab was puzzling over the remarkable leather book held together with a thick leather horse strap, which a man had lugged into his Philadelphia office in 2021. The man was a descendant of the ACME grocery magnate who bought it from Mikulec in 1925. Raab was unsure what exactly it was, but guessed it had a tremendous backstory. Cracking open the well-worn spine revealed a time capsule. 'I take pleasure in giving this letter to Joseph F. Mikulec as evidence he called at the White House on this day,' says the February 1, 1915, entry by President Woodrow Wilson, one of six United States presidents who signed Mikulec's book. Six US presidents signed the book assembled by Joseph Mikulec of Oroslavje, Croatia. Photo / Kaitlyn Dolan, the Washington Post Mussolini, Ford, Tesla, Edison, King Edward VIII and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George were among 60,000 others who stopped whatever important business they were doing to sign the autograph book. It became Mikulec's life mission. As he became increasingly famous, world leaders, artists and luminaries from Egypt to New Zealand (in 1911) were thrilled to sign what was becoming a global 'Who's Who'. Some wrote full letters and included stamps, seals and photos. It was a time when metal detectors, gates and scanners didn't separate the public from the prominent. Usually, all it took was Mikulec's charisma to get past one grumpy guard. 'I walked up to 10 Downing Street, London, the other day,' Mikulec told the Evening Star in December 1919. He wanted to see Prime Minister David Lloyd George, but he was out and Mikulec left his book for him to sign. 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'I would say he was like an archetype of today's influencer or travel blogger,' said Roberto Kuleš, president of Oroslavje's city council and a member of the five-man delegation that travelled to the US East Coast last week to buy the book from Raab as part of a grand plan. Mikulec travelled for so many years that his provenance changed with political history. He was identified as an Austrian, a Croat and a 'Jugoslavian' as he circled the globe three times. He became a US citizen after living in Philadelphia for a few years when World War I disrupted his global travels. Mikulec was born in 1878 to a poor farmer who lived near Oroslavje, a small town on the outskirts of Zagreb. He was expected to work in the fields. But he declared his wanderlust in his youth. 'In 1901, when he said, 'I want to travel the world,' he was like a lunatic,' said Šimunić, who saw some of himself in Mikulec. The townsfolk told the dreamer: 'You must get married. You must have children. You must stay home. You must work and be ordinary,' Šimunić said. Mikulec managed to leave his family farm in 1901 to work in Italy and Malta. When his father died in 1905, the 27-year-old hopped on a steamboat to South Africa to begin a trip that would last nearly three decades. From there, he went to South America, where he camped in rainforests and survived on wild fruit, roots and nuts. He was an outspoken vegetarian. After his first visit to Washington, Mikulec crossed the US, lecturing at fire departments and town halls to anyone who wanted to hear about his adventures. His lectures included 'the tale of the snake that stabbed him near Matildas, of the Indian woman who pummelled him in Argentine, of Roosevelt and Wilson as they talked to him, of the bones of the whale on the Brazilian coast so enormous he could barely lift one rib, of Moros whose chests were so roughened by climbing shaggy trees that they looked like crocodiles,' the Detroit Free Press wrote in June 1919. He was the Edwardian era's Travel Channel, National Geographic, and travel TikTok. 'Mikulec appeared there in his tramping clothes, a red bandana around his neck and a big black thing under one arm,' a Washington journalist in Paris for the Evening Star reported when he spotted Mikulec in December 1921. The city was on edge after a bomb exploded in the US Embassy there months earlier. Another glimpse of the book. Photo / Kaitlyn Dolan, the Washington Post Officials at the embassy bolted at the sight of the man with a massive object wrapped in a black, waterproof covering under one arm, and 'two French gendarmes appeared and led Mikulec away', the Star reported. The massive object was the book. There were actually three books in total - the other two much smaller. One that had been with Mikulec's distant family is on display in the Croatian History Museum in Zagreb, which acquired it in 2023. 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'It's touching for us to know that it's going back home,' he said in his company's podcast episode about the book. 'Where it belongs.' Šimunić laid out his vision: 'So, first step is the statue. Second step, we must buy the book. And after we buy the book, we can build the museum. That's the real goal,' he said. The museum would become a pilgrimage for travellers like Mikulec and an Instagram magnet for travellers like the young mayor, who set out to see as much of the world as he could before returning to his small town to run it. 'More than 200 mayors signed the book all around the world,' he said. 'And my idea is, why not to contact today's mayors? And ask them to visit?' The Mikulec museum will have a replica of the book, but with the pages all blank, to be filled by the people who travel to Oroslavje. 'Mikulec went to see the world,' Šimunić said. 'And now the world can come to Oroslavje to see his story.'
NZ Herald
5 days ago
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Families received wrong remains of Air India crash victims
Relatives carry the coffin of a victim of the Air India flight crash during a funeral ceremony in Ahmedabad. Photo / Basit Zargar, AFP Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Relatives carry the coffin of a victim of the Air India flight crash during a funeral ceremony in Ahmedabad. Photo / Basit Zargar, AFP Relatives of a British victim killed in last month's Air India crash received a casket that contained mixed remains, a lawyer representing several families and UK media has said. The family of a separate victim received the remains of another person, according to James Healy-Pratt, who is representing 20 British families who lost loved ones in the disaster. A total of 241 people on board the London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner died when the plane crashed shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad in western India on June 12. Some 169 Indian passengers and 52 British nationals were killed, making it one of the deadliest plane crashes in terms of the number of British fatalities. Several people on the ground also died while only one passenger, British citizen Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, survived the crash.
