AT CHRIST'S COLLEGE.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16856, 9 June 1920, Page 6

AT CHRIST'S COLLEGE.

-j HEARTY WELCOME FROM THE BOYS. An enthusiastic welcome, such as b only school-boys can give, awaited Gen- < 5 cral Birdwood when he visited Christ's ' College iu the afternoon. Amongst ; thoso present, besides the headmaster . j (Mr G. E. Blanch) and members of the sinS, were Colonel Young, Liout.- ' j Colonel Barton, Captain Tnhu Rhodes, " I>cau Harpor, and various old boys and t ! others interested in Christ's Collgee, I j The boys assembled in the big scliooll room, where tho General addressed thorn. Mr Blanch said that there were several reasons why it gave him pleasure to introduce and welcome the General to tho school. Ono was that ho was a very distinguished soldier, who had made a deputation, not only in tho Great War, but before that on the Indian frontiers and in South Africa. Again, he was an old boy of a sister college, Clifton, and, last of all, ho had won the admiration and respect of all Now Zealanders. (Applause.) 1 Sir William was received with rousing cheers from the boys, whom ho complimented upon the "soundness of their lungs. He was, lie said, very proud of and very devoted to his old College, Clifton, which had much in association with Christ's College. Before ho had left the Old Country, he had been asked nt Clifton to be sure • to visit Christ's College, if the oppor- ■ tunity arose. Ho regretted. that ho ' could not find time to visit other col- • leges, and ho knew that to visit ono ' only might give offence, but he thought ' he had given the citizens that morning iV ■ adequate reasons why ho could not go Y to others than Christ's College. -At } 1 Clifton, his study mato had been tho Ilev. Mr Moreland, formerly headmaster of Christ's College. Mr Carter, an •old Christ's College master, was now ,an assistant-master at Clifton, and 1 master- of the sneaker's old house r nnd he was doing propaganda work there for New Zealand. (Applause.) Mr Monteath, now a master at Christ's College, had been at Clifton with the General's brothers, while Mr Richards, a recent head-boy at Christ's College, , was now a master at Clifton. General j Birdwood expressed the hone that tho '' interchange cf masters between Clifton and Christ's College would continue for I many years to como. I Continuing, tho General said that he 1 had almost a personal connexion with Christ's College. His object in coming to New Zealand was to meet his old comrades who had fought with him :ts members of tho New Zealand Expeditionary Force, nnd their relatives, and ho thought that few of the boys before him had not had fathers, uncle?, brothers, or cousins in that force. It was these younger relations' that he always particularly en j eyed seeing. Speaking to thos>? who had lost relatives at tho front. Sir William urged them to bear in mind that the names of the fallen would live for evermore, not only in the hearts of their relatives, but in the hearts of tho whole British people. Those whose relations had come baok would have learned how much the men in the trenches depended on real comradeship, and real comradeship Vas a very great thing. Sir William "went on to speak of the great individuality and initiative of the Australian and Now ' Zealand troops. He had asked himself how it was that the men from under the Southern Cross possessed those qualities in such a degree, and he had como to the conclusion that such qualities wore characteristics of the people in this eountrv, who had, in their turp, got them from tho sturdy old British pioneers who had como out hero in the early days. (Applause.) He urged the boys to stick to thoso ideals, and to cling all through life to the traditions established by their fathers and their uncles in the great war. (Applause.) Ono of *tho great things to obtain at school, he proceeded, was character, the ability to exercise influence on one's fellows. He asked all his hearers to remember and realise that they had got character, and .if they had not got it, to get which j could be done by exercising their wills. ! The higher their ideals, the higher. | would be their character, and if, * n | striving to live up to those ideals, they disappointed themselves, they must j stick to it, and they would get charac- ; ter. All should try to be leaders and I to be an example, and without character they ecu Id not be so. They should he prepared to bo an example whenever , the opportunity offered. General Bird- 1 ; wood proceeded that he did not want , them to run away with the idea that ha ■ ! wished thom to think onlv of how thev ■ could get on. He thought they cou.a tnko no better motto than that of tlifl Boy Scoi'ts, to endeavour to do at least one good deed every day, and to ' their best to help a' lame dog over a ) ••tile wherever they trot a chance. The great old school of Winchester had. a - motto "Manners maketh man." and i' l ! later life the boys would find out the , truth of that motto. By manners ho meant not only politeness, but chivalry : of mind, respect of women, and living ; no to what one thought to be really j "(rood 'manners.'' There was another j rhinir, "Honour thy father and thy • mother.'" He often thought that 'lid not sufficiently realise how mnon. I tliey owed their fathers and their [ ' "'■others. The time must come when they must pass away, and if a boy lived up to the motto, he would never regret ; i .it to the last day of his life. ( Applause.) ; Having spoken of the value of moral, (is proved in the recent war, Sir William i emphasised tlie need for religion. A j nation that abjured religion, he said, ! was done for. Ho did not anticipate | such a thing happening hero, but one j never kn<nr what the future would I brinf, and he remarked as examples on k the French revolution, and the sudden- , ncss of the Bolshevik era i n * Russia, where men had desecrated . God's churches, murdered lu s priests, and done nil they could t'» stamp out religion altogether. He hoped all would do their best to that su?'n a thine never happened here. In conclusion, Sir William urged the

bovs to go on playing the came on the tielti "'l'l in !iio. Mr it was on them that tli* 3 future of the nation depended. Sir William 1 s a r dod hearty cheers when he liis address, which were doubly renewed when he secured t'rom the headmaster the promise of an immediate half-holiday and another "."hole holiday later on. l^nc;i';in< T to ?iv William Birdwcod ve«tVrdav~M.- C. E. Bevnn-Brn\rn, headmaster (if the Brys' High S.onool, askou whether it would he possible for him to visir t!:e school. Sir William said that his present arrangements •would not pe r mit of his doing so, hut he was fo struck by the school s magnificent rcc-ord 111 the war that ho promised to endeavour to address the toys on his way back from the South. r.s.a/s welcome.

SUCCESSFUL SMOKE CONCERT. The permanent gallery of tno Art Gallery was completely filled "with returned soldiers last night, when a. smoke concert was tendered to General Birdwood by tho local Returned Soldier.-' Association. . Several hundred members, and a number of ex-members (f the A.1.F.. were present. Colonel R. Young, O.C. the Canterbury -Military District, president, and with him at tho main table were, besides the guest of the evening, the Rev. W. AValker (president of the R.S.A.), ill W. E. Lead ley (secretary of tho 11 > A.), Colonel G. J. Smith, Captain Tahu Rhodes, Mr H. St. A. Murray (president; of the local branch of.thb A.I.F. Association), Mr JrJ. J. Knignl (U.S.A. committee), and Mr H. Last (secretary of the local A.I.F. Association). Mir William was given a rousing reception as he entered the gallery, threetimes three hearty cheers being given him, and "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow'' being sung with enthusiasm. After a number of musical items had been given, Colonel Young, as spokesman of the returned "diggers" of the district, extended a hearty welcome to the General. One of the strongest

traits in the colonial soldier's character, be said, was his ability to size up the man in authority. He' took no man at his face value. General Birdwood had commanded not a squadron, not a battery, not a company, but' an army corps,"one might say practically an army, of oversea troops, and the fret that ho had gained the love and esteem of all, from the highest officer to the humblest private in the rear-rank, spoke for itself. (Applause.) After telling an amusing anecdote or two, Colonel Young presented to the guest, on behalf of the Christchurch "diggers," a greenstone tiki, as a of his visit, and expressed the best wishes of the returned men for his future health and prosperity. The tiki was inscribed, '■AV.il.B. Kin ora. From the Diggers of Christchurch." Loud applause greeted the General ■when lie rose to speak. Sir William thanked the returned men very heartily for their welcome, which was, he said, just the kind of welcome he had received from returned, soldiers everywhere he had been in Australia and ; New Zealand. Colonel Young had been kind enough to say, the General proceeded, that he had special qualities which enabled him to have a closc insight into the men from oversea. He •really thought that the boot was on the other foot, ar.d lie thanked the men most heartily for the way they had 'put up with him, and received him as one of themselves. The chief points in an officer, lie thought, should bo a knowledge of his profession and a knowledge of how to look after his men. The men would follow such an officer to hell. (Applause.) Having told a couple of annising Gallipoli anecdotes, and two or three more concerning Australians, in France, General Birrhvood spoke of the necessity of returned men taking up their part again in civ':\ life. In particular, lie urged that every encouragement, should be given to married men to follow some occupation, and to do their best to work. There were, he knew, very few men who desired to live on the reputation of the N.Z.E.F.. 1 but there were a few, and ho hoped that no returned men would permit any such men to blacken the line reputation the N.Z.E.F. had established for itself. (Applause.) The General briefly referred to the need for population in this country, and expressed the hope that the returned men in New Zealand would welcome to their country as manv of their old comrades of the English forces as possible. (Applause.) Regarding the employers of returned men, lie urged that they all should be; patient. Many men came back from' the war suffering from shell-shock, andi wifVi iViAm in I* .1 I

-with them in particular ho hoped the employers would be patient to the end. Now that the war was over, he hoped that the returned men would keep two words always before them, "comradeship" and "battle-fitness." He hopud the comradeship that existed on tho battlefield would continue in civil life, amongst the returned men and between employer and employee. As regard;? • battle-fitness," he hoped all would keep {themselves, as fit as tl'ey did alf the front, not only physically, but in mmd. _ (Applause.) _ During the evening musical and other items were contributed by Maior B-own and Messrs H. G. Frank Morrison, Owen, Soarle, and T. M. Charters, conclusion of the function the General shook hands cordiallv with every man present. " i