A NIGHT WITH THE VETERANS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2878, 16 September 1916, Page 2

A NIGHT WITH THE VETERANS

CAPTAIN SIMSON < FAREWELLED. ■■ Captain Donald Simson bad an evenwith members of the' Wellington, branch .of the New Zealand Associa-, tion of' His Majesty's Veterans last', night. The veterans had arranged a little feast in Captain Simson s honour, in order to take leave or Jiim in a fitting manner, and to wish liim Rood luck in the war and after, it wa3 Captain' Simson's idea that afterwards his hosts should accompany 111111 • to the vaudeville at His _ Majesty s . Theatre, and he made this arrange- . ment- Mr. Walter Fuller, however, invited Captain Simson to bring the veterans along; as guests of the management, and so the company repaired to the theatre quite early in the evening. , . . . Lieutenant T. Humphries, vice-presi-dent of the association, proposing the health of Caotain Simson, thanked, him on behalf of the veterans for having secured .1 meeting placc- for them the Soldiers' . Club, but assured him that'not for that alone had thoy brought liim there that evening. Ihey wished, lie said, to acknowledge the very valuable work that Captain Simeon had done in this country ing recruiting, and in safeguarding tho interests of returned soldiers.. Mr. Humphries made sniiie very interesting comparisons or contrasts of the method? and conditions of warfare to-day and these 'under, which the early wars in New Zealand were fought. His opinion was that although much more was done for the soldier iu those days to temper the horrors and hardships | of war than was done for the. soldiers | of', his day, warfare io-day was' such [ a diabolical business that the lot of the soldiers was.one compared with which, that of tho men who fought m tho Maori wars was oasy._ It was .1 source of pride and satisfaction that so many thousands of our voung men bad come forward voluntarily, ready to faco it _ all in dpfenco of the Empire. Bo expressed, a hope that Captain Simson would return to New Zealand again. Captain Simson. responding, acknowledged the comolimeiit the veterans had'paid liim. He disagreed with tho chairman's expressed opinion that warfaro to-day ivas atvorso trial for tho soldiers than it was in the sixties of Inst century. -In some resnects, 110 admitted, it was moro terrible, but the added dangers were more than cminter-bnlaiiccd bv the development' of: those branches of the army whoso duty it was to carc for the soldiers' health in the field, and to tend lum when he'was wounded. These .services scarcely existed in tho days of the Maori wars. ITe spoke of the self-im-■wvl tasks'he. had undertaken in New' Zealand,/and he claimed that, although,"like other men, lie had orobabl.v made mistakes, his work had not been altogether without good result. The veterans cheered Captain Simson, and Caotain Simson gathered round him the half-dozen or .so of young men in the company, and tho niing men cheered the old soldiers.

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