A SPLENDID TRIBUTE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 38, 12 January 1943, Page 5

A SPLENDID TRIBUTE

MEN OF THE MAORI BATTALIOM

"FLOWER OF THE RACE"

A tribute to the Maori Battalion has been received by an Otaki resident, from a pakeha soldier in Egypt. "They are the flower of the Maori race," he writes, "and are cognised by German and Briton alike to be the finest fighting bat- • talion in the whole war." The correspondent speaks of daring and. courage in the face of inr superable odds that have not appeared in the official Avar records as; yet, and says he has known of young Maoris tackling 18-ton tanks * with their bare hands and tearing open the turrets.. On parade, he says, the Maoris are the best soldiers to be seen in the Middle. East. "If ever they march, the whole camp gets time off to see them swing by, and how they swagger by_! But. it isn't swagger really, nor brag. It's just; pride of race— - pride won in a hundred, places that have tested their manliness and their courage—pride in the knowledge that they have done tilings." The baj-onet attacks of the Maoris lie referred, to as "classic of the whole war." "They are talked of by people in Cairo who have never seen a Maori," he concludes. "People ask one: 'Cannot you bring a Maori next, time you come to see us?' And I have brought some of them with me —men whose gentle manners and perfect speech have amazed and dolighted everyone. "I have never been so proud as when we line up with these goodnatured, good-mannered, easy-going, generous chaps, men whose roar alone, in a bayonet attack, is enough to make a forest of hands go up in surrender. The Huns just can't stand them!"

Unintended Broadcast Speech that is not meant for the "air" sometimes goes through the microphones of broadcasting stations and reaches the listening public. One of the most recent is connected with tho announcement of the news in New Zealand of the assassination of Admiral Darlan. The announcer over the national network on Christmas Day gave the context of a news "flash" receive 1 from London shortly before and then stated that a recording of the last news bulletin received would be presented. During the brief interval, however, some private •comment came over the air from somebody in the background. "Deserved a putty medal," the listeners heard, together with another brief utterance.

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