AN ADMIRAL'S TRIBUTE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 38, 19 July 1939, Page 7

AN ADMIRAL'S TRIBUTE

O NEW ZEALAND AND THE EMPIRE SIR LIONEL HALSEY'S PRAISE An eloquent tribute to New Zea. land's services in the Empire was paid by Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey in a speech at the d'n'ner of the W aitaki Old Boys Association in London at which he was the guest of honour. Sir Lionel Halscy said that it was a great pleasure for him to attend, and when he had received the invitation he had not the slightest hesitation in writing back by r'eturn of post to say that he would come. '*! look upon the Dominion as one of the greatest assets the Empire possesses. Why? Because whatever her troubles she always conns throU"'h smiling. In time of crisis she could be relied upon. She had done a grtat thing in 1909. In that year the Admiralty realised that the Navy was getting into a very reduced pos'tion so far as our potential foes were concerned. The first Lord of the Admiralty Mr R• McKenna, shared the feelings of the naval officers on. the subject, but there was great political difficulty ini the Way of getting more ships. At this crisis the Dominions took hand, and New Zealand's response was more wonderful than that of any other 1 . 'You want another ship,' 1 she said. 'We will build that ship. We do not care where she is sent. She shall join the Fleet in England.' TO NEW ZEALAND. "I had the great honour to be placed in command of the New Zealand and made a wonderful Empire cruise of thirteen months four of which we spent in New Zealand waters, with no official programme from the Admiralty but merely the injunction to let as many people of New Zealand see the ship as could possibly be managed with safety.. New Zealand has many great harbours, but she also has some inhospitable coasts and we had some adventtfres in carryingoo f the plan. The population of New Zealand at the time was about one million and 730,000 people visited the ship. We did everything we could to show them the wonders of Iheir own battleship. What did they do in re. turn? The hospitality was amazing— so much so that there was scarcely one of my officers and men who left the Dominion completely heart-whole —and I must sav I svmpatMsed with them. The people who showed most what they felt wh°n they saw the ship of war were those g'eat warriors the Maoris. Not n s'niile tribe left the sh'p w'th'iut leaving something for the ship and something for the captain. The result is that to.day I have a collection of Mao-i articles which are among the most prized of my possessions."

MAORI CLOAK AT JUTLAND. Sir Lionel said that by now everybody knew the story of the Maori cloak given him by an old c' who averred that it would preserve him in battle as it had preserved his own ancestors. The New Zealand Govenv ment had asked him to lend the cloak for display at the Centennial Exhibition and he had sent it out for this purpose. When he first wore the cloak at the action of H ligoland Bight on August -S, 1911., the crew had thought the caota'n "dotty" but not a shell damaged the ship, and they were all very keen that heshould put it on for* the Dogger Bank engagement. When he left the ship and handed the cloak on to his sue-' cessor, the charm continued to work. New Zealand fired more ammunition than any other ship in the Jutland < battle and was up with B-atty from the very start. The Indefatigable ahead of her l and the Queen Mary behind her were both -sunk. She was unscathed and did not sustain a single casualty. The more he thought about it, the more remarkable did th ! s appear to him. Sir Lionel concluded with a warm tribute to Waitaki ''and that mar. vellous reelor of yours, Frank Milner" He felt that there were many things in Ihe N'*w Zealand educational world which provided examples not only for" other Dominions, but for the Motherland it^e'f.