A GALLANT PARADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2885, 25 September 1916, Page 8

A GALLANT PARADE

0 THE SEVENTEENTHS MARCH OUT FLOWERS AND FLAGS BEDECK THE WAY The weather was lino on Saturday afternoon, when a section of the Seventeenth Reinforcements paraded through the streets of Wellington, and were given a fine greeting by tho crowds of people who thronged tho parade route. Promptly at 3 p.m. tho column rounded from Bunny Street into Lambton Quay, and swung' past the saluting base at Government Buildings in splendid style. The reviewing officer was Brigadier-General Sir Alfred Robin, who was accompanied by Colonel 0. M. Gibbon, Chief of Staff, Colonel R. W. Tate .(Adjutant-General), and other officers of tho Headquarters Staff. There were also present the Hons. "W. H. Herries, W. D. S. MacDonald, Dr. Pomare, Pr. M'Nab, and G. W. Russell, and the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke. The parade was headed by tho Featherston Camp Band, which, after passing the base, wheeled out of line, and took up its position in the ropedVoff space allocated foi; it on the footpath next to the official reserve. TJe same procedure was adopted in tho caso of the Trentham Camp Band, which continued to play until tho wholo of the column" had passed. This innovation, though it obeys the rules of ceremonial parades, is not, perhaps, a wise one, as it robbed tho parade, right at its initiation, of two very popular hands, who delight in marching tho full route, and "whose members did not like being "out of it" on Saturday. The excision of these two bands, for form's sako, deprived tho parade for tho first time, of fighting khaki-clad bandsmen, and the martial musid they would have played was lost to the public. The musio was supplied by the Drum and Trumpet Band from Featherston, the Salvation Army Band, the band of the New Zealand Natives' Association, and tho Highland Pipe Band. Tho troops were led by "the littlo cobbler of Featherston" (Mr. Rutherford), who, in his old Wellington City Rifles uniform; and black leather leggings, looked as proud as another Alexander, as he, -with severo visago and a- swinging straight-backed stride, waved the column on with his' .tiny red ensign. 'The parado was tho most decorative Wellington has seen. Tho girls, with tiny Union Jacks- and masses of spring flowers, were early at work along tho Imes, and before the column had reached the salutiug base, nearly every man was sporting either a flag or a spray of flowers, which seemed the' air gloriously. Even the bandsmen had flags attached to their instruments; soma flow tho colours' from their hats, and others woro them as neckerchiefs. One soldier had a miniature "Charlie Chaplin" as a hat decoration; others were smothered with primroses, and they looked, the .brightest, happiest lot of men that every stepped in tho King's uniform. Tho Seventeenths are as fine a lot of inen as we hove soon in Wellington. The, Maori details wern a narticularlv bright and athletic-looking lot, TO-DAY'S MARCH. The second portion of tho Seventeenth Reinforcements, comprising H, 15, l'\ and J Companies, part of H Company, and the Divisional Medical Corps, will march through the city to-day, by the usual route. The head of the procession will pas 3 the Government Buildings at 3 p.m.