ORATORY TO ORPHANS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 289, 26 August 1918, Page 6

ORATORY TO ORPHANS

A HAPPY EVENING GOVERNOR ON PRISONERS OF WAR DEFENCE MINISTER AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS On Saturday evening the Orphaim' Uub held unu ol' lib most successful gatherings—ii gathering at wliich talented entertainers gavu of tlioir bent, and at which speeches of sonio intcrnst were delivered. I'-iocraliuuK worn <>] I(.|ied with an orchestral overturn, alter winch Surgeon-General Hondcrtion, who presided, welcomed to tlira gaih<-riii|< the Goveriiur-Goneral; pntron of Uio club. Private Blackiu iroalcd, tlm ;,,i-. dienco to a ,-ocnl solo which was heartily encored, and tho, UovornuMieni-riil then acldrcsscd his fnlloiv Orphan* whom, ho assured thorn, ho wan ;i |. ways Mail to forgather with, lie proceeded to touch on tin! war situation. Ascending the Tortuous Path to Victory. "Slowly, but surely," ho said, "wo are progressing to the goal which wo hope before long to reach." Tim path was very tortuous, and it had been a long ascent, but we were very near tho crest, if, indeed, we had not already reached it. The rever.so side of tho mountain would not ,be so hard to traverse. But don't let us deceive ourselves that victory would bring the end. Tho problems of reconstruction must be immense: evory industry had been dislocated. We must do all we could to make certain that a better understanding between Capital and Labour was achieved than had been tho case in the past. This would not be found in any hard and fast rule, but rather in a purely human way, The '.var had bright all classes into such close touch that it should now be imich easier to attain that end. As regards the voluntary efforts of the Dominion, His Excellency said that since 1914 we had b«en graduullv co-m-

ing to a state of centring our ins in efforts on main things, and that had added to the efficiency of our efforts.' There wers now four great funds working for the good of our soldiers, whether those soldiers •*?;•.> at the ircni, in New Zealand, or 'had left the Army. Tin-re were tho Y.AJ.C.A.., Lady Liverpool's, Salvation Araiy, and patriotic funds. Throughout tho Dominion we wero working principally for well men. Thcro was a fifth fund—-the Red Groan —which was caliros; for a special effort to be made during' 1918. He had been asked in Auckland hov." it was tfra'; the parent organisation at Home hail to appeal for a specir.l effort in 1918. One reason was that- »t one stage there had beon a considerable retirement (however much we disliked the word) along tho Western front, and a very large number of our men had fallen into tho hands of tho enemy. It was often asked, why does not the Government feed the prisoners. Tho answer was that by The Hague Convention a Government might not take npon itself the support of any of its prisoners of war who were in enemy hands. And qulio apart from that it was bettor that relief should be by voluntary efforts. Tho R«d Cross organisation would receive more consideration from a normal enemy than a military department would, and it would have moro time to devoto to the work. The Red Cross

; and tho Order of St. John had been ! called on this year for £1,500,000 for ! British prisoners of war, and that was j why they were asking for a special ef- ; fort. So far as Germany was conccrn- | od, only a certain amount was allowed to be sent—six parcels per month costing £3 10s. 6d. per man, and including food, tobacco, and bread. Songs the Soldiers Sing. The entertainment side of tho prograninfti was resumed. Sergeant-Major Jilandford, who was billed to "dispense harmony," rendered two clover musical monologues. Bandmaster Fox anil Bandsman Garry played a cornet duet, in which they were supported by tho Xrontliam Camp orchestra. Hall'-a-dozen good' voices, styling themselves tho Trontham Choir, undertook to sing some of tho songs the boys in the trenches sing. '"Some of them," explained the interpreter, "aro set to tho music of well-known .hymns, but they arc in no way sacriligious. There- is no real harm in them, though they are not quite tho words wo used to say at Sunday school. A parson tells a j story to the effect that ho was coming j down a gully on Gallipoli one night, I and ho was delighted, to hear rising in | tho distance the sweet strains of a well-known hymn. 1 might remark that it is just as well he didn't hear the words."

Tho Trentham* Cho'r soon liad the Orphanage ringing with laughter. "I might explain," said the interpreter again, "that on board ship our boys had no wet canteen. The Australians had their beer. This little song con- ■ veys tho thoughts of the men." Tho ■ choir sang to the air of a. world-famed ! hymn, the men's lament. Sung solemnly and with full orchestral accompaniment, the effect was very fine, but before the. end of tho item the humour of the parody became irresistible. Other songs descriptive of the soldier's disappointment at the losing of the right to his beer were sung, and finally a well-known trench song, set to lively music, was sung, but, as Mr. Interpreter admitted, it hnd been heavily censored. The Conscientious Obfeotors. After ■ supper, Orphan (Sir James) Allen, who is also Minister of, Defence, addressed tho club. Ht> spoke of the conscientious objectors, who, ho said, are really interesting. "Not long ago I met some conscientious objectors. Have you rend the:■ Bible? I asked. No. Have you any religious opinions? No. Then on what do you base your conscientious objections? On my own opinions." Somo timo ago fourteen objectors wont to tho front, and everyone of them are now fighting with their •units. The progress of tlioir conversion he did not know. Among the most interesting of the objectors was thu Maori whoso conscience stood in the way of his donning khaki. Howover, .he had seen a letter from one Maori objector, and it ran something liko this:— Narrow Neck Camp. Dear Father and Mother,—l am getting on very woll here. They treat me very well. Major Peacock is liko the father and iho mother. lum well, and lam well clothed, and they have recently made mo a lance-corporal. 1 !.ave got to live up to the lanco-oor-poral, and the other Maoris who come into camp are very pleased. 1 am writing to tell you that I niado a mistake, and that vpu made a mistake, so that the other

Maoris there may seo what it is to be converted." Orphan Allen expressed a hope that some day tlio story of the conscientious objectors would bo written.

Ho then turned to the question of the returning men and the difficulty of getting them back to civil life again. Thero was the work of training men 'for now vocations, and the assistance of everyone was needed. Pome would not go back to their old callings. The work of training them for new callings had been started in England by General Richardson, and it was hoped that we in New Zealand vould be able to co-ordinate our work with his. There was another problem, too.

Some of the mon who wore coming back did not sown inclined to get back to work again. Somo time ago he had, had a diisHlication made, and tlio "very had" wero thren to fivo per cent. Most of the "very liad" came back worse than tht\y went. He did not want to think that we. would .icglect the "very bads." Any means which could lid (Ifivisc.'d for helping them would bo welcomed. They wero very lu.rd to deal with, They wero not vciy fond of work, hnl, were very fond of somftUiinjr the:. "If wo can fiavo even iiiili-H-dowii of thmn, I think wo snail Imvo (hum si very great work." An exhibition of drnmining by Sergeant Sl."ii'iirl.; koii;;h by Corporal Genimell; a "pe.ijir-lrsilioii" entitled 'Mrs. Wizen" ; ;i. llul.ej-.010 hy Sapper TTny; run! ;i "lliri|/.t'iij)]| completed tliD piogininiiKi. With the singing of tin'. .Vntional Anthem the evening Willi clofii-d.