WHAT WAR MEANS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 2, 27 September 1917, Page 2

WHAT WAR MEANS

W.X.U. REUNION OF MOTHERS. Another of the'monthly reunions of mothers of soldiers and Million;, organised by the Honorary Division of the W.N.K., was held in the Town Hall yesterday afternoon, am] in spite of somewhat adverse circumstances in the way of bad weather, was wonderfully well attended. Her Excellency the Countess of Liverpool was present, and quite a good many mothers took advantage of the opportunity of securing (heir badges '. of honour, and had them pinned upon them by Lady Liverpool, who was also greatly interested in the photographs which several of them showed her of their soldier sons and their surroundings. In the absence of the prtsident, Mrs. W. G. Russell, Mrs. Porter (organising .secretary for the W.N.It.), and Mrs. Corliss received, and Miss Shepherd (lion, secretary for the Honorary Division) also assisted in welcoming the guests. A brief musical programme had been arranged for the occasion and contributing to it were Mrs. Henderson, Miss Dormer, and Mr. O'Connor, with 6ongs, Mrs. Le Marchand playing, and the Misses Jean JolleV and Elsie Burns dancing -a couple of Scotch dances. The tea arrangements were in the hands of the Lyall Bay branch of the W.N.K., who carried out their duties very expeditiously. Of very much interest to the mothers was the speech made by Mr. Parr, M.P., who spoke of some of his experiences in France, when, as a member of the Parliamentary party which left New Zealand for England, he was taken to visit the soldiers at the. front. Of the magnificent part that France had played in this war ] Mr. Parr could not possibly sav enough. No one could. For two years she had borne the brunt of the war, because of the unreadiness of Great Britain, and she had been bled white in doing it. At the Battle of the Mame,< with the towers of Paris in sight, the Germans had been thrown back,. and Paris, France, Great Britain, and incidentally every man and woman in this 1 country of New Zealand, had been saved from the infamv and horror of a German invasion. Paris, once so gay and light-hearted, was no longer the gay city. Her streets were filled with soldiers, manv of them bearing the marks for lite of the sacrifices they had made, and with black-robed women, the mothers, the sisters, and the fiancees of the men who had died. If any country knew' what war was, it was that most gallant country—France. . . • Mr. Pan- spoke of his visit to the little Belgian town where tho New _ Zealand hoops were quartered, at that time, and spoke of. the splendid spirit of our men. People in New Zealand might well be proud of their soldiers, for they did indeed deserve the,fine reputation they had won for courage, endurance, and good behaviour. Curiously enough, the first soldier he • encountered when lie got to the Now Zealand lines was a man from his own office in Auckland, showing how small a place the world was. He also described the bathing operations of the men,' tho way in which their clothes ■ were looked after, the precautions taken to keep them in good health, and their food, of which there was nothing but praise to be said. He also gave a de--1 scription of tho way in which tho

wounded. were cared for, of what had come under his own personal observation, and ended with an earnest appeal to the people of this country to remember when dealing with these soldiers •who came back to us what these men had been through, the indescribable nervestrain thai would he felt for so- long a time after thev had left the scenes ot battle. No one who had not been through it-could realise what they had suffered and endured, and he urged people to be very patient and very generous in their dealings with returned soldiers. In conclusion, ho told his heavers that if the men of this country not vet at the war could see what war meant to people, to the women and children, and" all who were helpless, they would not stay aw«y, could not remain inactive while 'such horrors were being perpetrated.