HAND-GRENADES FOR THE DARDANELLES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2589, 11 October 1915, Page 6

HAND-GRENADES FOR THE DARDANELLES

WHAT THE SAVAGE CLUB IS DOING. At. the. filial korero of.the Wellington Savage Club on Saturday evening reference was made to themoney .which had been raised and promised as contributions towards a Machine Gun Fund, in which matter tho general public lverd also interested. It had >. sinco been ■pointed out ,by the Minister of Defence that, the ' workshops of Britain were turning, out ma'chine-guns .as . fast as they could,- and the sending Home of money for tile, purpose , /would not, could not, as a matter of fact,'accelerate "the output: The club was faced with the question of the proper utilisation of the' money, Mr. Marcus Marks (chairman of committee) explained on Saturday, as tho money was 'devoted to a special object. It'had been suggested by the Minister that as the money was subscribed to increase the efficiency iof our fighting force it- might, be expended in rifles, but ho thought the Minister's isccond suggestion oven hotter—tf> purchaso hand-grenades for our men. Theso engines of. destruction were now being turned_out .in New 'Zealand, and! he thought it would be a very good way of expending the money'. Bo asked tho sanction of tho club to allow the executive to expend the money in the very best manner they thought, fit. This was unanimously agreed to. The Minister of Defence (Hon. James Alien), who was present,'. was> asked to j. say. a few words. ; He .referred to the machine-gun permission, 1 and said that the factories, could do no more than they, were doing, and tliey were'doing very well from all accounts. As to the band grenades, thes'o ivere being made by the Whitney Company, of Auckland, which had. presented the Government with five hundred grenades: Thev cost 4s. each. Strangely'enough lie had that day heard from the War Council 'in England, who stated that they could supply the Dardanelles forces with all the . hand grenades that were needed. This was very cheerful; news, indeed, as it showed that the munitions trouble was well in hand. (Applause.) " Mr. Allen paid a warm tribute to the loyalty of the Maoris,-.and the fine body of men from Rarotonga, who had arrived tho other day to go into the Maori Reinforcement- Camp at Auckland. Ho also mentioned that some' two hundred Natives were coining down from Niue (their own Savage Island), gathering the peoples of these' parts of the British Empire in a bond sucli as lisld never existed before in history. (Applause.) Ajrain the Minister emphasised the main point—that New' Zealand' had' done splendidly in the past, but it was going to do better in the future,■ and. .tlumgli lie was not going to talk comparisons, he felt that when tho history of'this great war came to bo written'"it would bo found that the Dominion had played her part. (Prolonged applauso.)