CULT OF OVERSEAS CLUB.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1656, 24 January 1913, Page 3

CULT OF OVERSEAS CLUB.

. _» GOOD MEETING. LADY LIVERPOOL PRESENT. Mr. E. Wrench, tho hon. organiser of the Overseas : Club, addressed ati .enthusiastic meeting at Sydney Street Schoolroom last evening. Tho Countess, of Liverpool, accompanied by Mrs. Godley, and Captain Shawc, was present. Tho Mayor (Mr. D. M'Larcn) opened tho meeting, but as his Worship had presently, to leave to r attend another engagement. Sir E. 0. Gibbes afterwards took the chair. Mr. Wrench, after returning thanks to tho Mayor for presiding for the third time/at these gatherings, expressed satisfaction at being able to address a meeting in Wellington—tho oapital of the Dominion. Ho was also pleased to see representatives of the Navy League and of tho Victoria League present. It had been said that he had come here to teach patriotism. , This was not so. He had come- to New Zealand to learn, and he had learned a. great deal. Ho intended to go on to Queensland, Western Australia, and then to South Africa. At present the Overseas Club was the strongest non-political organisation in Greater Britain. The total membership, outside the British Isles, amounted to 103.000. Ho considered that-tho,-niain cause of the clubs success lay in the fact that it was strictly non-sectarian and non-political. There were four fundamental principles for which tho club stood, viz.: (1) To help one another; (2) individual 'service and jf need bo to bear arms for tho Empire; (3) to endeavour to impress the vital importance of British supremacy at sea; (i) to draw closer the bonds of friendship between tho oversea Dominions. Another object of the club was to provide a channel to' distribute, information of an Imperial kind to the various parts of the Empire. Speaking of the rise of. the Overseas. Club Mr-. Wrench drew attention to the great support given to the club by Lord Northcliffe, the proprietor of the London' "Times," and of "The Daily Mail."' Mr. Wrench went on to remark that comparatively little was known of New Zealarid in England. He attributed this to the manner in which New Zealand's affairs had been conduct-* ed in London. He instanced the fine offices in London of Canada and other British possessions, and compared them to the dingy offices of the New Zealand Government on > second floor in a building in Victoria Street. He hoped that the ■ New Zealand Government would speedily remedy, this. He considered that the best advertisement jvhich New' Zealand had ever. had was . the sending of the cadets: to Canada, where they won so, many o£ the competitions for which they entered. A branch of the. club in South Africa. had: established the custom of lighting bonfires on Empire Day,, and tho club generally intended to take up the idea. In conclusion Mr. Wrench, touched at some length, upon the present l state of Imperial affairs..;, •'. >' > After Mr. Wrench had concluded, his' sister (Miss Wrench) made a short, but dolightful speech. Captain Barclay, secretary of the Wellington Branch of the Overseas Club, thanked Miss Wrench and Mr. Wrench for ■;■•-. .;■.";. V: : Lady Liverpool, in -responding to an expression' of thanks from Mr. Wrench, for her patronage that evening, remarked' that she had not come to the meeting to speak, but to listen. She had known Mr. Wrench and Miss Wrench. for many years. They icame from the same part of England ns she did and they.lived close together. She had been. very interested in the meeting and'had learned quite a number of things aboutv tho Overseas Club, which she did not know before. The delegates: to attend the branch conference ; df (the..:Orerseas.' Clubs of- New ZeaKind'vtoVdaV- will include:—Dumidin, .■JKssrs.\ - Eraser; ; /and.\J. -;K.'. i-Mdcfie;'.. /Auckland, Itessrs:'.Benriett'. v :atid; Robert Laidlaw; Christchurch, Mr/H.-G. Ell: M.P., Knbbi Bernstein, and v Mr. G. W.Hiilmo; Westport.' Mr. Boswell; Nelson, Messrs. T..H. Field arid C. Chamberlain; Oamaru, Mr. ■P. Milnor'(rector of the Waitaki Boys' High School); Ihvercargill, Mr. W. H. Brooks; Piilmorston North, Hon. Robert M'Nab and Mr. Gardner; Marton, .Dr. Warren; Gisborne. Mr. C. J. Allen; Huntcrville, Messrs. William Moldrum and M'Manareay; Feilding, Mr. L. Gorton; Hamilton, Mr! A. E. Manning; Masterton. Mr. John Cross; Wanganui. Mr, L. D. Paterson; Wellington.' Sir T3..0. Gibbes (local president)' and Captain Barclay, (local, secretary). On behalf of the citizens of Wellington his Worship the Mayor (Mr. D. M'Lnren) will welcome the delegates in the 'Town Hall at 10 a,m. The object of the conference is to elect a Dominion council representing ' the-. Overseas 'Clubs ,of New Zealand, and'to discuss the work to be, carried out during, tho next twelve months. The present membership of the Overseas Club' in ' New Zealand is 15,000. His Excellency the Earl of Liverpool has kindly accepted the position of president of the organisation as a whole, in-succession to Lord Islington./'