NELSON DAY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 25, 24 October 1918, Page 11

NELSON DAY

ADDRESSES TO SCHOOL CHILDREN THE CLEAR CALL OF DUTY "; In addressing.' the children at the Xing's Theatre in connection with the Nelson Day celebration of the Navy League, Mr. Bokowell, Chief • Inspector, of Schools, said that he wished to make them' understand , what Nelson and Trafalgar really meant to them as anation. Though this terrible war had to some extent brought it. home to us, it was difficult oven for grown-ups to. .realise what sacrifice, stress, pain, and : strife our forofathers went through to ■win for them tho liberties and privileges which they enjoyed to-day.. .The older children , had already learned in their echooje. how in the great French ■war Europe .was battling for its very, existence-against the strongest militnry power in the world, led by the greatest soldier in, tho world—he meant. Franco and Napoleon—how during a period of. twenty years theso'.nations, at one time or other, saw their.armies conquered and their cities , and' countries occupied and in the. power, 0f;..-the , " foe.' ' l'ractically only one country was spared. There ■was only one country in,-which the invading .' armies'' of .the great Napoleon could gain bo'footing. That was Great Britain; saved, not on account a? her Army, such as it .was, but eavod by the "wooden walls;of ships, of the Briiish;Navj—by the Kelsons and Collingwoods and .their bravo, sea'men, .... to ...whoso,, uni-omitting . -.watch-. 11 fulness and cars was committed the 'duty, of guarding the British shores from invasion. . With an ordinary glass the. people on the cliffs of Dover could : seo ftt Boulogne (the distance was not so far ; as from Wellington to the Upper Hutt) the great army that Napoleon was assembling with which)to conquer Great Britain.- Day. by, day. they could see the troops manoeuvring and practising for the great adventure. . ■■ .

'"Let us be masters of that Channel for Bis hours, and we' shall be masters of England and masters of the world," said. Napoleon. Some of thorn knew'what his plan was—to lure away the main British fleet to other waters, and then,-with'tlio combined fleets of France: and' : Spain to iiold the Channel, to: Inhd- his -army for the conquest of Britain. You know how Nelson followed the French fleet to the West Indies;' how it escaped him there, and returned to Europe, and how, it did join with the Spanish ships, it sailed out of Cadiz Harbour, for these. clays a huge combined'fleet of 33 ships' of the line. It'was. mot and utterly, defeated, that day,/ Monday it, as, too, just 113 years ago. ■■•'.'• ' , Mr. , Bakeivelleaid ,he did.not.intend to go over the details of the battle, nor to dilate upon the immortal-signal which would be to the nation: a watchword for all time, but he wanted tliem to remeni-' ier others, for, just as Kelson and Collingwood and their brave seamen saved the 'Empire and Europe from Napoleon, Jellicoe and Beatty and their gallant' men had saved the world from the KalBer to-day. (Loud applause.) Let up mistake be made. Had they lost command of the sea, there, was at the: time: the war began no armed force in Britain capable of resisting the overwhelming hordes of soldiers that" Germany, could have poured into England. The worst horrors that had happened in Belgium and Northern Franco would have happened to the British people and even to them here in New-Zealand. At the beginning of the war; when they were all calmly sleeping in' their beds/ a powerful German fleet-was not so far-ott these shores. They might assume that only one thing saved this city frjjm being in one blaze from Island Bay to Thorndon, and that was the knowledge the ■ German admiral had that close at his heels'were the ships-of-the-White Ensign, and. that he would meet the eame fate that afterwards overtook • him at the Falkland Islands from Admiral Sturdce'e guns. .■■ .-.., . , The' speaker, referred to , ' Americas creat effort, and said that her army of nearly 2 000,000 mon-could .'lever, have, crossed the Atlantic had not ofthe Navy to-day .done just what England had expected them to do «t Trafalgartheir duty. (Applause.) \ The lesson of Trafalgar was summed up in that word —duty. And their duty was to be done' not only in the-battleline,. but in the workshop, ;or the' farm, in the/schools, end in the , homes. (Applause.) ,' ~; .

The Spirit Behind'the Gun's, At the Empress Theatre, where some. 800 school children assembled, Mr.. Barry Keesing represented'the Navy League.; on the platform, and thanked tho theatre proprietors for their consideration nud courtesy to the Navy League in lending ■. them the theatre. He thought that tho ■present time was particularly appropriate to do honour to the memory of Lord Nelson, when they. saw. what the British Navy was doing. -It'had been found that tho spirit which permeated the old sha-

des'of Nelson's day existed in. the sent war. Mr. Keesinjjaleo referred to the groat work which had 'been done by. the men of'the British mercantile marine and the trawling fleet, all of whomhad proved 'themselves to be dauntless ■ ■heroes under ■'■ every' condition. (Applause.) He called upon Lieutenant-, Colonel (Dr.) W.'K. Ityffe to speak to the gathering.:' , :' ■.. : ; •- . Dr.- Fyffe said. that;he intended only to refer , to the'.work # the Navy , at- Gallipoli. There" the'. Navy had been tho •father and mother of every ono of the Allies oil".the Peninsula. -In- the 'first plnce it was through their (.flices that the 87,000 men ashoie wore fed. They even -provided them with that'without which they coulcV.nof exist—water. At .iimes.it was pretty salt.water oiving to the action of enemy shells, but it was. always welcome, v. Had , it not .been, for! tho Navy they would never havo been on' tho Peninsula at - all. -Dr. i related-as; one of the eights -of- that memorable '• '. campaign the Queen Elisiabeth- firing:.one of her 15-inch guns.'Y-Hβ,liad. his' glasses on the place at:the tlm:>, and .-ayj--esatily what happened, Whether "it-was a chance shot oi not '• he.could. ;'.ot---;say, : ''.'biit it ploughed; through;th'e Tiirkisli batteries that -were 'coming 'along' a'. load, with horses hitched to their guns. After the smoke had cleared,away, not .a vestige of the batteries jvas-'to be .seeii—they. ha(l tlisappciired Absolutely and entirely. Hβ had also witnessed. H.M.S. Triiiaiiph go down. She wns sailing slowly past Anzao Cove, when he taw her. heel over. . The bugles rang, and such was (he discipline on board that overy man stood to attention until the. order whs.given to jump in and swim for the destroyers. At Gallipoli he had-attended to a wounded man of thd Navy—really only a boy of 17. He had been badly, liit, and an operalion had 1 to bo performed if hie life was to be saved, lie told -the'boy he had no chloroform, only gave him n. nip of brandy, and then, performed the opera- ■ lion. Ho did iiot-fiiiic.h nm'.cryout, but suffered .the liau unmoved,; and; tho speaker said that be was "pleased .'to! siiy it saved the .lad's life.- lie wished. the boys iiml' girls to. reiiiember that when they were asked' who won the war they jnu'sfc say that the British Nnyy did it, It was not tlie gnus so much, but it was the spirit behind tho giins. (Applause. , ) After-the speeches a fine programme' of naval, pictiiires was showii, toj/the great deliglit of tho children present. • ;'" "Nelson—And Others."

The children (if the Island Bay and Mnninui districts . were addressed by Captnin G'htidleigli, who' fiftid: "Today wo celebrate tho memory of Nelson and the 'great: naval' victory of Trafalgar—one of the most decisive battles of the- world. • A famous historian has divided the f.dniirals of. the world into two classes. Jle, puts Nelson in one class and all the others iu another

class. Nelson taught.the- world; the., real

moaning of sea • power. . Nelson's etornitossed ships, on.which tho Grand-Aa'my never looked, stood between it. and tho Umpire of the world; and it is but his-

Tory repeating , , itself that the Uavy. of. to-day has. Nt this time, bronght to jiaught the domination of the yorld by a ruthless, murdering foe, who stands at nothing to gain his ideals. ■ Duty, e'ffi-, ciency, and foreeisht were the essone'e of Nelson's teaching, and it can Ibo tirmthfully said that that spirit runs throughout tho British Navy to this day; On more than one occasion in action during this: present war our.men have proved their self-sacrifice, for' vessels have steamed at full speed through ships'

crews in the wntor, and. have liepn cheered to' tho echo by 'these-' men,-who knew they had very little chance of Deiuß rescued, but realised- tho importance of tho ships in action-carrying on. "At noon on the day of tho Bn.Hle of Trafalgar Nelson ordered the famous signal, 'Englnnd expects that every man this day will do liis duty' to bo made to his battle fleet,, and it was received with olieers by the men as i. passed from ship to ship.' It'lias ever since been the .watchword of the.senior sen-ice. Nelson; hated war and loved peace, but ho never ' confused humanity with sentimentality, and lie was firmly convinced .that the British Navy should' bo the greatest fighting force in/ tho world. Great Britain won .the supremacy of the seas' in many a gallant light, and if slio is to-remain •■« free country she must always keep.it:. . -. •• . "The story of our eea power should -be known to all our children. When you children becorno' men and women, a share in tho duty of guarding the safety and honour of our far. ilutigr Empire will fall upon , your shoulders/ just ■as ■ to-day tho men.nnd women of our Empirq are, Sailed upon-to bear tho burden o'f.'th'is greai; war. Our Navy .was not an aggressive force, but. was, and is, a eafe-gunfd-to those who travel the sens on their lawful .occasions. It has proved our safe.shield and buckler once again. When,-Nelson hoisted his signal ilia captains and sailors knew exactly what their duty was, and how to .do it—for. hojmd fftiiifht them';' and that Kelson' spirit' governs the Navy to this day. We have book and schools, and-the thousands lof heroes in this great war to help us to tench and train. British children. ....

"Our merchant-service men havo' also proved, in this great war that, as British. i es(iin.en.('v , .thpy:'are. second., to. 'none',..and that, they do not fear the treacherous lurking submarine, or mine, or lonely raider... ...JV-lien. the sea. history of thin wnr'comes to lie written many a gallant fight will prove, that Kelson's spirit was' ill these men. also. There is one simple i')ile of duty'which we should all lwirn. Always do.the. work in front of us—that is. our. daily work—with all our power. ; That 'work is dono for our Empire i.s well as for ourselves. Our Empire should, always havo o.ur best efforts, and has a right, to expect only the best from ife. Only so can we become worthy members of a free'nation, and worthy of' those who -have died that we might live a free nation. Remember Nelson; remember his famous signal; 'always back np the big Navy; and always, be a member of the Navy, League." . ' Applause loud and long followed this vigorous, speech..