BACK FROM THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2753, 24 April 1916, Page 6

BACK FROM THE WAR

THE ULIMAROA'S MEN

WELCOMED ON ARRIVAL

AN UNFORTUNATE MISTAKE

/There: was'an'unfortunate misunder- _ standing, respecting the arrival and re- ; ception' of. the jnou who returned from i Egypt"by the Ulimajoa. It had been i announced that the North Island men | would arrive from the Bouth by the | Mararoa,. whioh would berth, as usual, at the Queen's Wharf. Being desirous > of allowing the men to get away to 1 their friends and relatives as soon as ! possible, particularly as it was holiday • time; the/Muyor (Mr. J. P. Luke) arranged with the Harbour Board authorities for the use of the Customs shed at 1 the foot of the wharf in which to welcome and entertain the men, and the ladies lost 110 time in preparing and decorating the tables, whilst tho Harbour Board staff made the place,gay with bunting.- On Friday - evening it jvas"arranged . between; the Harbour Hoard ana the Defence-authorities that the steamer should berth at tho King's instead of the Queen's Wharf. The change of plan' ( waß not conveyed to the Mayor, who is the. acknowledged medium for the conveyance of the news or such arrangements between the authorities and the public, and who would nave intimated details of the fresh arrangement to the morning papers on inday night. ' As a matter of fket lie was not informed of tho change until, 8.30 - a.m., too late to make any change l in the place of assembly, as tho steamer was then inside tho Heads. So the Mayor and that section of the public whowere awaiting the arrival of the steamer, had to proceed to the King's n v? ar /+i, !l cro ilr - Luko enlisted the aid of the officers to inform tho men as to where they were expected to go, and the information was also conveyed to the iiest-of-km who were present. .At the Customs shed the majority of the . men, with their relatives and tnends, were accorded a hearty welcome back by His Worship, who thanked them ono and all for what they had done, , and regretted that some of their comrades , with , whom they had sailed thaAff not , b . ecll S°rmitted to return; , ntn f u akm ? the S reat ? st sacrifice a man. could make, were lying in honPeoD?e grOU F d far - { r °jS their homes and people. • He wished those who were if°nf?J W ° Un f.sPMdy recovery, and aeain rihf + tlle yfound themselves again able to. serve their country, that hnl-Tu do . s ?', and those at home . .doubly indebted to them. In C - E u' 116 ' they would' use other/L selP5 eI P in P^r^ading' tte fronV" (App£ e ) C ° mtades a * %"?, 6 M inis ter "(Hon. W. F. Mashad been f l'° WlnS t0 the ' holida ? s & had.heeniound necessary to depart from the usual custom of .welcoming the men hJt i Hall ' but althfugh they had not the., tones .of the great: Citv th!m 1 f ° T ' th - the Anthem, -and there was not the waitin'e the.streets,; the'welcome was' hearty and sincere. ' The people of Now Zealand appreciated the rOti' W j 'had been done by' the returnedmen, and would never forget them. There had been many changes bTiht "'I ha ! ] ? ft Zealand, hut this country today was just aa patriotic as,.ever it was. ' Though a small proportion, of the population had somewhat. adversely, criticised the work 1 ne; 'j l bou 4'there might be a f™'! 11 , Proportion of young men content IJ L-] - "? on , hav ® the nonour and the g)cry, instead of going to the front themselves, 'there were other facts to counfeiact such things. They could not 6ee_ when the war would end, but in spite of this fact, .the majority of the people of Na,- "Zealand would help the li/mpirs to the .utinost in bringing the * a . r : to. .a. successful conclusion. The Government had made up its mind that tor every maa who fell or was wounded or mvahdod .there would be more men to take: Jus ; place. Up to the p-.esent ! there hid nut been a man'short in the ! Reinforcements that had left these shores, : but men, more men, and still m°ro men wer'j wanted in camp. He hoped that aj the result of the returned' men mixing with the. men who had'net enlisted many; additional recruits would bo obtained. He congratulated the re- ! turned men bu,'coming back; sad "ex- '■ pressed the hopo that they would bo ! rully restored to health after-the period : °r-rest whi'-li they certainly (leserved and were entitled'to." (Applause.) ._ Sir Joseph Ward said that the country would never forget the sacrifices the soldiers_ hud, ,made. .This was a most extraordinary war, beset by extraordinary difficulties. In the Old Country . lately ineie had • been evidence of a diiference of views among the combination that had done so much to carry out the' war, an& it had mado them all prouder to belong to a nation whoso leaders bad now sunk their differences in order that ..one common ; end . might bo achieved. (Applause.) Although there had been some who had not recognised the necessity for doing their supreme duty, he believed-that there: was a great rwak-j eningr He wished to give' the returned men the assurance that they would always have the esteem and regard of every man and woman for the sacrifice they had made. (Applause.) A Pleasant-Voyage. Lieut.-Colonel E. R. Bowler, Otago Mounted- Rifles, officer commanding the troops on board the TJlimaroa, said that the voyage had been an extremely pleasant one, no rough weather having been experienced. A great improve-ment,-in the' health of the men had resulted, the' cot cases alone decreasing from about-49 to 7. The transport had ;left Suez on March 17, the first port of call being Colombo. Here no advice had been received by the residents of their intended arrival, consequently .no arrangements had been made for, their entertainment. A good deal, however, was done unofficially to make their stay a pleasant one, and tho men, who were allowed ashore for an afternoon, woro given a royal welcome. An organisation has been formed for

tlie entertainment of troops calling at Colombo, and. this society very kindly placed on board 10,000 cigarettes and -100 hunches of bananas, a gift, needless to say, that was much appreciated. ■ At Albany, too, the hospitality of the residents was very much in evidence, 45 cases of apples, besides cakes and cigarettes, being sent on ' board, 'file miners of Mount Morgan were responsible for the gift of 25 cases, of these apples. Concerts had contributed to

the entertainment of all during the voyage, and a (leal of "talent" -was unearthed. The wives of three naval officers were passengers from Suez to Colombo, and they had organised and contributed items ■at several of the concerts. Card competitions were also arranged, and were a great success. Two non-commissioned officers, Sergt. J. B. Austin (Dunedin) and Sergt. J. B. Pilling (Otago), returned in order to eit for their commissions. The ship's adjutant was Major J. H. Moir (Otago), and Major C. Macguire, N.Z.M.C. (Auckland) was principal medical officer. In addition, the following officers returned:— Major H. S. Orbell. Canterbury. Capt. W. M'Ara, Kaikoura. Capt-. D. l'\ Myers, Wellington. Lieut. T. Christopher, Christcluiich.