EVENTS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2224, 10 August 1914, Page 6

EVENTS IN NEW ZEALAND.

OUR EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

THE CITIZENS' GENEROUS OFFERS OF HELP <

GOVERNMENT TO CONTROL FOOD PRICES.

A MORATORIUM LAW FOR SECURED LIABILITIES.

All .'day Saturday and yesterday the precincts of the Mount Cook Barracks seethed with excitement, born of tho call to arms, which -went forth on Friday evening, lu the Mount Cook drill-yard .on Saturday afternoon the Fifth Regiment mustered, 585 men of. all ranks, out of a total strength of 1000 men, and'in. view of the fact that the parade order was only issued on Friday the .attendance, was. considered highly satisfactory.' The' regiment was drawn up in .platoons," and . inspected by Lieutenant-Colonel C. Harcourt Turner, Officer Commanding the Regiment,-during which the .Regimental Band, (under Bandmaster • M'Comish) and the Regimental Drummers played inspirit- . ingly.. Amongst '.-. the ■ spectators ' present within the gates were: The Primo Minister (the Hon'. W. F. Massey), the Hon. Jas. Allen (Minister of Defence), the Hons. H. D. Bell/und F. M. B. Fisher, several members of Parliament, 'Colonel Gf„ F. C- Campbell (officer' commanding the Wellington : Coast Defence Forces); Colonel R. J. Collins (Auditor-General), Mr. Harold Beauchamp (Chairman of the Bank of New Zealand), His Worship the Mayor,. (Mr. J. P. Luke), and several ladies.: ?"'.. .;;...' '■..-■■■ Buckle Street was one dense lano ofpeople, and the drill-yard fence made an' airy point of vantage for a hundred or so of the more daring. A notable feature of'the parade was the air of gravity which infected everyone—the troops as well, as the public. The frantic boast and foolish--word of jingoism' were entirely.- absent. '..,-■ Call For Volunteers. At 3.p.m.,''the.inspection over, Lieuten-ant-Colonel' .Turner mounted on a, box and addressed:, the regiment. : In. grave tones ho. said that he had an important, an-, nounoement to';make. A force .was needled and he asked the officers.commanding companies to take the names .of volunteers ; over.; the ago of 20. years.. A large number ,had already' volunteered, : but they, wanted; to know' whether.or. not there 'were others in. the regiment who wished'to serve!.' Twenty-seven officers had already volunteered and he hoped the men would, back tliern up.' Lieutenant-' Colonel Turner, then, called the company commanders "to 1 call out the volunteers, and march them into the, Drill Hall. " Then quietly the 1 .'work of .calling -out those willing, to leave the .country, on active service was .proceeded withj and draft after'draft were formed in detachments into the Drill Hall,.where the rolls were prepared, nnd< : the: men'were examined.. By' 4 p.m. the work of inspecting, each volunteer was under wviy. In considering-'the number of volunteers who enlisted for active service on Satur-day-afternoon it must be borne in mind that a: considerable proportion of the Fifth. Regiment- is' comprised of youths under the.ago, of; 20 years, and ineligible for.duty, abroad. Yesterday . the : , full strength was. made up by the steady stream of volunteers, most of whom were rosorvists of the Territorials, ex-volun-teers, and ex-Imperial Army men. On Saturday; evening it was decided to increase the strength of the force materially, and the. First,. Contingent: will contain a seotion.'.of the Auckland Third Regiment of Territorials. . The Ambulance Corps will be in charge of Major-Surgeon.Holmes (of Wellington), who will have on his staff Captain-Sur-geons Stout (son of Sir Robert Stout), Tapper, and M'Killop (of the staff of the Porirua Mental i Hospital). The corps will also be accompanied by six nurses. Oh Saturday evening General Godley gave permission for the Fifth Regiment Band to - accompany the' force. Already over twenty'. of; the; bandsmen. have : volunteered.' The band will "probably be under the direction of Bandmaster M'Comish.' "Extremely Serviceable" Men. The Commandant of the New Zealand Forces stated last night: "I saw the men being enrolled, and' I should like'to say that they are an extremely - serviceable and.useful-looking lot—just the sort that we want—anil* lam quite sure they will giro a good account of themselves." General. Sir Alexander Godley. stresses the-point that it would be l 'of great value to the force if 23 motor lorries capable of carrying SO tons were donated. ... The Men in the Forts. Some inquiries were made yesterday as to'how.the teen'in tho Wellington forts .were faring.'; The men are experiencing active l service conditions, but are well, and keen' in their- attention to duty. Yesterday a party of between 40 and 50 residents of Seatoun, organised by Mr. Wyott, lent valuable-assistance to a fatigne party ■ from . Fort , Dorset which had been. detailed to carry out a very onerous and important task, .and thanks to the help, from the civilians were en-abled-to complete it with great expedition. .