"LET THEM COME!"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 229, 26 September 1940, Page 20

"LET THEM COME!"

MAORIS TO GERMANS. SIX FEET OF ENGLAND! The London publication "John Bull" paid tribute in a recent issue to the New Zealanders in the. lighting forces in England. The Maoris in particular attracted attention. The following extract from an article in " John Bull " gives some idea of the impression they have made: Bronzed, lean and wiry, the. Maoris among the New Zealanders who have come to join Britain's defenders are as tough as steel. Their outlook is the outlook of the warrior. And they are. warriors—every man of them. All can claim such ancestors as Hone Heke, Te Ratiparaha and other chieftains who never hesitated to attack trained soldiers outnumbering them 50 and more to one. That is the sort of fight these Maori Battalions look forward to —a fight against odds. Quartermaster Warihi spoke for them all when lie said: " If the Germans want to occupy England, let them come! Each German that lands can occupy a little strip all to himself.

" It'll be Gft long and 2ft wide. And he'll be Oft- under it!"

Warihi, a burly and middle-aged man, wears ribbons of the 1914-1918 scrap. So do many of his comrades. He savs the New Zealanders are trained to the minute and aching for action. Bill Dixon and Reg. Brown were others among them. Like hundreds of others. Bill and Reg. are Maoris despite their English names. They both hail from Rotorua, where Bill was a clerk and Reg. a truck-driver. Lean youngsters, they are of the type that will hang on to the bitter end. You don't have to ask them. You just know, as you do whenever you speak to any one of the Maori contingent, whose standard of education is extraordinarily high. When a group of Aussies and Enzeders visited Westminster Abbey, on their first day in London, it took one of the Maoris to translate all the Latin inscriptions.

Sons Of Pioneers. Apart from the Maoris, the New Zealand unit includes thousands and thousands of bank clerks, lawyers, firemen, bricklayers, engineers, farmers, boatbuilders, carpenters and chicken raise.rs. Some are the sons of the pioneer families who settled in New Zealand in the early days. Others are. Englishmen who migrated since the Oreat War. All are glad to be in the Old Country —none more so than Bill Gibson, who has a small holding in the South Island of New Zealand. " Last time I fought over the most-of France," he says, " and I didn't have the. same sort of feeling I've got now. Sonfehow, I sort of feel I'm fighting in New Zealand. There seems to be more to it."

That goes for them all. They are all pleased to be in England, not only because of the chance to renew old acquaintances or because it is their first visit, but because it " sort of makes the war seem more personal." Yes, it does you good to'meet the New Zealanders. Their quiet determination and their desire to " get on with it," arc as strong as the feelings of the Cockney Tommy. To all New Zealanders who read this, " John Bull " gives the traditional greeting: " We're glad to have you " I " Haremai ! "