Going up the Gulf of Smyrna there was ample evidence of the terrorized flight of the Greeks.
The entire population (civilian and military) tried to flee.
The gulf was traversed by a succession of Greek transports, shabby steamers of all sizes, which had been hastily requisitioned.
The Greek soldiers crowded around them like swarms of bees. Small sailboats sailed heavily laden with refugees.
Coastal steamers were full of civilians, and they towed more civilians in lighters.
Along the road on the south side of the gulf, the Greek army (infantry, cavalry and motor transports) poured west towards Chesme, from where it was transported to Chios.
A confused khaki column stretched for miles.
Smyrna herself was in great confusion.
The docks were densely packed with Greeks, alternately weeping and screaming in panic, and offering high prices for seats in the boats.
The vanguard of the Turks entered unopposed.
Cars become indispensable
In a relatively short period of time, the automotive industry has risen to a leading position.
In America, it ranks third in the list of major manufactures.
It has already proven itself a strong competitor to established railway and tram systems, and it is generally accepted that this phase of its development is in its infancy.
At the present time, two questions occupy the minds of those engaged in the industry, and their satisfactory solution will have an important influence on future progress.
Good roads and reasonable taxation are necessary to reap the full benefits that the invention of the modern engine has made possible.
Sensible observers no longer see automobile ownership as another proof of extravagance.
For businessmen and rural people, the car is an indispensable necessity, and in the field of transport it performs a very valuable function.
While the automobile industry provides employment for a large number of people and ministers at the convenience of a much larger number, it is an important source of public revenue.
It has been estimated that government taxes on an ordinary passenger car which is sold by manufacturers in America for £300 amounts to £100.
The annual tax is estimated at around £15 per car per year.
There are serious concerns about the prospect of increased car taxation, which would necessarily fall on users of the most modern means of transport.
In other countries excessive taxation has discouraged enterprise, and would doubtless have the same effect in this dominion.
The pig yields 358 pounds of pork
What must surely be regarded as a record in the keeping of pigs in the Strath-Taieri district was (a correspondent writes) achieved by Mr. Angus McIvor, of the Railway Hotel, Middlemarch, when a seven-month-old pig , owned for him, was recently shot, and the dressed weight was found to be about 358 lbs.
—ODT, 15.9.1922
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