THE BATTLESHIP,

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 7

THE BATTLESHIP,

THE'NEWTOWN OUTING.

ENTERTAINMENT OF THE MEN,

THE COUNCIL AND THE NAVY

LEAGUE.

A public meeting was held in tin Mayor's room at (ho Town Hall last oven "iff to mako preliminary arrangement; tor the entertainment, of, the crew of till battle cruiser Nov Zealand at: tin open-air fete which it is proposed t< hold at.Newtown Park. The Mayor (Mr D. M'Laren) presided, and there wcri some fifteen citizens present. The Mayor said that it was proposoi that the arrangements for the ball to bi given in honour of the officers of tin battleship would be.leit in the hands o: on © committee, , and those for the citi zons fete, at which the! wen weW to, bi S™ 5 ! 1 , 1 1V0 " 1 ' 1 be left to another com nuttee lor the oi>en-air feto the Citi Council had voted tile sum of ,£250. Hi nSfff thnt , be sideshows exhibitions ot dancing, and sports, am l', I ,®, s ««»'cn imght gladly take part n MW®,, 0 ' It woulc bu possible, li e thought, to make un ; very. interesting programme. 1 ft was resolved that'.Mr. A. A. l'aa'ne ST" g SM !' otlU ' y , l,f th « I'm"™ (inn nf' k' up ' i to take the posi Hon of secretary to the committee. Un the motion of Xlr. ,J. ]>. j A ,i £f : was decided that all present iorm a Gen eiaj Committee, with, power to add (< snort l lt ii W! '? "S l- e«I aiso tha ■ ljoits bodies should be communicate with, and that sub-committees be set ui to control the Various sections of th amusement programme. It was -dated and it was generally undurstood,' tha many members of Carnival committee ?i r , *>»>«* in working u the tote. h A general discussion followed a< t what entertainment should be offered I the men. ]t was agreed that some kin. oi a spread should lie provided for tli men, and that the sports, should be main i.v for the sailor-men.-. It..was suggests also, and the suggestion found'tavoui that w;ouid be well to delav prepara tjon ot the sports programm'e until th ?mp arrived., when the sports men ii tho crew could tell the conimitteo wlm events the men would like. Mr. C. M'. I'almer, secretary of th Navy League, said ho thought Capta'i: Helsey, of the New Zealand, would. af fist towards thoVsuccess oK the fete b having n mnrch out.on tlmt day. Pos Bibly also the officers might organise sham fight at the park, which , both th men ami tho citizens would 'thorough! enjoy. ' • ' ' ■ Another meeting of the committee, i to lie held on Friday evening at So'docli the navy league. Ml!. PALMER AND TITE MAYOR. ■' Atiho meeting of the City Council'oi Monday tho Mayor made certain stat<' mi'iits to the effect that Mr. C. W. Pal meiy secretary of 1 the Navy League, jiai ii'om excess of zeal, or t'rniu ot her causes mode some mistakes in doinjj= eerlaii things to provide for giving, tlie ollicer and men on the battleship a proper re ception. • There, was a public meeting ii tie Mayors room yesterday, 'and Mr I aimer took advantage of the 'oecasioi to make some denials and , oxidnnation on behalf of the Navy League." i ■ ''I came, here to-day',", he said, "to r «v that the Navy League had been slightl : misrepresented' i.f; the meeting of tlii council yesterday. .Wo never intended t< usurp the authority of the council- Tin fact was that simply nothing, was.beiiij done, and we called this meeting. . - I am very sorry that the Navy Leagui has forced itself forward to do work otlie people are supposed to do. ..With regan to the visits ot children tlio waiship tho statement made that"' only 'chil'drei who were members of,league vep being arranged for is'-not correct. ' Fo; tho last fortnight I have worked ( ver; hard to- securo that every child in. Ihi province shall liave an 'opiioitunity o going on board the ship." Mr. E. Fletcher, h ere raised a- noint o order, saving that itliis matter had no thing: to do with tho business before thi meeting. - The Mayor: The wholp'matler 0 f tin school children arose! out WM ItlV state ment, audmy statement was that "in souk quarters there was a dis»o?ition (o <>x cluda all except members" of tho leagui from going out to the ship, unless tliei paid a shilling. If you say that is . uo; so everything , s all right, and w« hai better get on with the business befon the meeting, «• >< ' , • • Mr. Palmer: tl is absolutely not true the Navy League has been doing! a 1 0 1 of things on the _ quiet-about, Jlio! time of arrival of the battleshin on''Saturday and so on—and other peonlo are takim the credit for it. I don't think it ii fair to blame the league for what il has done. The I hone w f ; won't get ur against one another bii minor points oi ffiT « he w- busi. ness before the Afterwards. j\fi\ Palmer, completed hi; ■ tatement to a Dominion- reporter. The Ar^'p 1 '?' ,(1 lSo)l; Hhing about his v. '~ Pnlmcr s) zeal outrunning his directions, he said, especially in the matPart a ? ply,n ? f ?'' th ? " s <> Newtown fnv tiin °j • "® V application TS?, U « d Mnt in ' (hl ' po wata ago. Then the idea was thai:,' tho ship Mr 11 Roll'™ T i Al ' n i l - St The : HonMi. Bell asked him ■ what the league would do and he (Mr. Palmer) suggested a ball for tho officers on April L a ?m, an for'the men on to 16th at. Nowtown Park, subject to the council giving tho, use of the ground. It was thought then that the citizens' reception would be .hold More'this time: nr .!™ J s ~Y e , o l ' el ' c iV thb " sl »P to anno a week later, the citizens' reception was fixed for 'Wednesday, mid the leagues arrangements were superseded. ! n P f c erauud without authority. 110 had the authority of the chairman and somo members 'of ■ the Navy League Conimitteo for doing it. J. ho Mayor was president of tho league b) virtue of his ofß«s but he never attended meetings. The league never had ("ion • " orfe ' (mi? W 11 ,P"blic recepIt was suggested also tl/at tho. leasub would neglect; the lower-deck men.. This was not a fair suggestion, for the It-ague had always provided entertainment -for tho men, as well as the officers of visiting warships. And on former occasions no objection had ever been taken to their organising sucli welcomes, and the citizens had often co-operated by nttomling. ' Tlio names of Councillor Fletcher and Councillor Fitzgerald were transposed in tho report of the special meeting 1 of tho City Council published yesterday mornnig. In actual fact, the resolution carried by the council was Councillor Fitzgerald's amendment, and not Councillor Fletcher's, as the report stated. Tho dissentients to the amendment were Councillors Fletcher and Frost, mover and seconder respectively of the prinoipal motion, which was that the council hire steamers to convey children and poor people to the battleship on certain • days. Councillor. Fitzgerald's amendment was that the Farbour Board be requested to yiake pftvision for tho berthing of the. ship at a wharf. " THR MELBORUNE VISIT. , By Association-Copyright Melbourne, April 1. The newspapers refer to tho Now-Zea-land as tho greatest, fightiflg vessel that has ever crossed the line. The battle-cruiser welcomed the destroyfrs with tho signal: "Thank you for coming to meet us." Tho 'destroveis replied: "Glad to do so." Immediately on anchoring calls were exchanged between the. captains of the New Zealand and the. Melbourne: Captain Halse.v also visited Rear-Ad-miral Croswdl, of- tho Australian Navy, and Mr. Tudor, Federal Minister for Customs. . . ' , ,