OFF PARADE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1439, 14 May 1912, Page 6

OFF PARADE

C-COMPANY, FIFTH REGIMENT. C {Company, of tho Fifth- 'Wellington ■Regiment, upon : whom has fallen . the mantjo and traditions of the "Id College Rifles' Company of the Wellington Volunteer'(Force. held its first annual reunion' at the Tiffinj Manners Street, last evening.'Major J. A. Cowles, officer commanding tho company, was in the chair, and .among tho visitors were LieutenantColonel C. Harcourt Turner (officer commanding the "Fifth"), Mr. P. B. .Mabiii • (Director of Accounts at General Headquarters), and officers from kindred units in the regiment. /i\hg.evening was a.yery pleasant one, toast speeches, songs, ■ and Testations. .filliug:in .the merry hours. . During the evening, 'Lieutenant-Colonel Turner mentioned .that. tho.officers of ,the., "Fifth"' had debated' the question as to' which of the two regimental designations open to them—the. Fifth Wellington Rifles," or the Filth-Wellington Regiment —should bo adopted. The choice of the former would involve tho loss of their colours, they had decided to adopt the designation of the; Fifth Wellington Regiment, iujid oh'itho, 6ccnsi6h.*/of.;lhe .King's Birthday: Review,; :at" 'A'ewtmyn ;Park-on Juno 3,--they would -tlie. colours.:,.((Applause.)L . . Speaking- 'later in' the - evening, Major Cowles .referred with ..pleasure 'to. the .ex-', col lent response made by 0 Company to tho request that they should put in 'two half-day parados in one day—that day being o. sports Saturday. - 'It. had . been suggest&l'.to him Ly a prominent private —(laughter)—tluit if the company turned out at 8 a.m. and put in six hours, they would not miss their afternoon's sport. The result was.that 47 paraded on tho morning in question, and put in a very useful day's field work. Speeches wero also made by Mr. F. B. Mabin, ■ Captain Hutchen, Lieutenant Evatt, and others. One of the most popular toasts of the evening was the compliment accorded to Sergeant-Major Finn (retired), who has been prominently identified with the training of tho defence forces in New Zealand over a period extending from ISSO till 190 li. He joined tho-.-Imperial Army in 1859 -as - a private in tho King's Own Scottish Borderers, and has had a long and interesting career.. Another popular item was an account, ■by Lance-Corporal Levi, of certain "strictly: unofficial" incidents which iccurral at the Easter ..training camp atTrentham, End which have since passed into tho iumals of tho orderly room.