"THIS ENGLAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 234, 6 November 1940, Page 2

"THIS ENGLAND

V- * . O THRILLS OF LONDON . MAORI SOLDIE.IV S LETTER "England is a marvellous country —-more beautiful, in fact, than one imagined. One often wondered wha! it was that Inspired poets to write such beautiful verse about 'this TJngland,' hut now thai one has •seen it, one no longer wonders. We "had read about the meadows and pastures and lanes and villages of the Homeland, but never realised •liow truly lovely they could be." Thus a member of the Maori Battalion, writing lrorn "Somewhere in Britain." sets down soriV l . of his impressions in a letter to his parents bn the East Coast. He writes with true native gift ot expression, and tells something of what .service in tlie heart 6f the British Empire has meant to the young men of his and .neighbour tribes of the New Zealand's Maori people. Of a visit to London on leave, he says that it was a great thrill to see places read, about for years before the war—the Albert Hall, Covenl Garden Market, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the House of Parliament on the T'hames-sid6, London Bridge, and the Tower. "I have seen them all. T spent a 'whole morning ir. Westminster Abbey, -and in my mind reconstructed the scenes of the coronation of our King and Queen. I gazed at the tomb oL the UnknoAvn'Warrior, over which a flame perpetually burns: and I paused in veneration at the graves of great Englishmen. Ben Jonson, and old Ghaucer—they are all here, among others of the nation's great.'* New Zealand-Born Londoners. The same writer pays a tribute to the hospitality of the English people, and incidentally refers to the ' lengths to which New Zealand-born Londoners have gone to ensure that their Maori brethren enjoy their leave periods. "It is they., I think, more than anyone else, who actually do all these things for us. They are really wonderful, and give our boys a marvellous time. "The battalion as a whole has been meeting with good fortune ever since w r e left New Zealand," he continues. "We have had very little illness among the men, and so fai we hav.e not had a single casualty. You will be surprised to know that we 'have had puha here, only ; the other day. We do not know yet whether, the sea here will yield the same kind of food as it ddes along the coast of our own land, though."

Another member of the Maori Battalion, * also hailing from the - East Coast, expresses a state of mind that probably is common among the native soldiers. ' \ . A Long Way From Home. "Well, what-a long, long way from, home fpr me to be isn't it?" he writes. "I suppose you will find it" hard to reajise that I am right on the other side of the world, 13,000 miles away from you. When we " r are getting up in England, you in ■ New Zealand are thinking about go- > ing to bed. It all seems very funny, ..doesn't it? But that is what hap* . pens." - Referring to the natives he met at Capetown, he comments: "We 'were always given to understand that the Capetown negro or Kaffir was a very low member of the human race, but we were impressed _ much more favourably and found them awfully well-behaved, wellmannered and nicely spoken Some qf the older girls we noticed were very lovely, and were fairer than the average Maori. We liked Capetown very much indeed, and we made a very good impression on the people there and helped quite a lot in putting New Zealand on the map." l 0 England in her Autumn Garb. Extolling the beauty of England, the same writer goes on to say: "This is a very lovely country and .1 hope, some day many of you will be able to travel and see all these wonderful places for yourselves. Travel is the greatest education in the world, and I think you can learn more in six months' travelling than you ever could at school. England is a beautiful place and at present is in its autumn clothes and at its best. "The wide, shady trees are lovely, and everywhere you care to go you •find,sleepy old villages, quaint old houses, perfectly-kept gardens, country lanes, and, of course, trees, village greens, parks and woods. Then, when you get nearer the towns, you : -vyill see wide open roads, with traffic# streaming in both directions, and in London itself I' could stand . at a corner in Piccadilly and watch

the traffic for hours. "It is difficult to realise that Ave are actually in the England we heard so much about. But here we are, and it is really wonderful. The spirit of the people is tremendous ■and one cannot help but admire their courage and determination in the face of such potential danger. "Indescribable Grandeur." "How are you all at home? We think of you so often and so lovingly. One doe,s not comprehend the meaning el 'family' until one is irrevocably parted from them, and then they appear as they truly are the most precious people in the woild. We hope you are not worrying ovei us, because it is a great privilege to be able to be in England at this time. "The indescribable grandeur and atmosphere of ancient England is something one could find nowhere else. Our battalion is creating quite a good impression. Of course, one needs to take a grain of salt with all these reports about the Maoris. They are a wonderfully contented lot, though, and it is gratifying to see them so comradely amongst themselves. There is no tribal feeling, fortunately, and the men mix with one another quite well." The writer also mentions an incident which is treated as a joke. A Maori officer who was an announcer on the New Zealand Broadcasting Service "was asked by the B B.C. to speak to Canada on the reasons why the Maoris have entered the Avar. As a result of this talk, the German official broadcasting station in Berlin made a personal attack on the MaolM announcer, who Avas described as "a descendant of cannibals and of head-hunters, and Avell paid by the British Government to make patriotic statements/' •