THEIR JOURNEY TO PARIS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 152, 22 March 1919, Page 2

THEIR JOURNEY TO PARIS

VOYAGE OF THE NEW ZEALAND

MINISTERS

SCENES BY THE WAY

(By R. ltiiey, Official Journalist,)

Tlio ltight Hon, W. I°. Maesey, Prime Minister, liiul the ltight. Hon. fjir. Joseph Ward, Minister. pi' finance, New Kenland's delegates'tp'tlie Peace Conference, left Wellington ..on ijecembor 12 and reached Paris on January !!I—three. <Jnys jitter the. fii'si;. plenary "k'ssioii of tho. Al- - in tho famous Hail .of the Clock.;. T|io.. long trip, had unique and ;iVmoriblo .features. .It was near -pcr r fcction-froni '.Wellington to Panama 1 , the If cm no i;a's .iuth or easy-going run across (he empty Pacific being a succession of pleasant days, . with', the' "lnucklo .sea" changing., only. .in- its beauty.- It was rarely ever ruffled, ,a's if to offer compensation.; for the lack pj' living.things in .si>-and .sky. .Several passengcis, it is true, saw at least u whale, a shark, a few. flying fishes,..and at. old.Panama that ''wonde.rful Ijircl: the pelican;", but. most only, saw .euch.'utheiv' Tho Ministers had opportunity to keep'fit, arid maintained successfully, in .competitive. . sports, the strength-of. their, political coalition.. But these pleasui-es and successes were .merely incidental:exercises so essential.on,-a long and inevitably tedious voyage' of ■over-twelve-thousand miles.... The' second : stuge, as one savs, of, tho journey was made., ill', very..different': circumstances. I'lio' .Ministerial .'-.party, including Mrs. Massey, Lady AVai'd, ifiss Massey, Mr. A. IP.. Ward,''.Mr! P. D..' Thomson' (private 'secretary. to ,the Prime Minister),. Miss A. .Saunders (acting-pri'vato secretary to the...Miiiister of Finance), and Mr. E. Uiley', official journalist, left the., liemuera and its jolly company at Panama, and orossed the isthmus by special train which, by the.way, is striding '■rapidly..'.forward:.toAmerican develop' '•ir.ent; ".Tho team.'journey -had', been' ui\ hiiiged by '.tho Imperial authorities and • the Quml Zone! Commission in order to gliin 'abput a 'day off the already-b'olatc.d •departure of the auxiliary cruiser Ophir, . Which ''for" fionie time had 'been awaiting at Colon'-the 1 unavoidably'-delayed • arrival of. the New Zealand Ministers who" had hiiU" 'iil:--Welliiifi.toii' only- a few hours after, tlie close.' of--the Parliamentary session Ito 'prepia'e for the .trip. • "•

'■'•It was-rather disappointing-to-surren-der -the instructive pleasure of making a. 'leisurely' trip 'through the famous Canal, •but, (here Wore compensations. The Ne« Zealand soldiers who have p'lissed through the Canal-Zone have : mado good in picturestirie Panama and ' Colon the iiame 'aiid fame of their' own fair land. ' To bo a New Zealander is-an open sesame totho' cordial 'hospitality of the American 'population.' -.May-one say that in the steaming Canal Zone one can appreciate: hospitality with .ice in it—tlio Ameri-. can way. • "Ophir arid Maramal The Ophir with- her graceful lines looked very attractive as she lay-in.tho wido.-roadstead against a green but fortified -'background. But it is sometimes with ships as it is with, men—appearances may be deceptive; Everything promisod' a delightful experience; the wide/ sky was hazy'with'heat, through 'which- seaplanes sped gracefully like great "whito birds; the harbour was'busy witty camouflaged[ and 'standardised- shipping now emancipated from tho menace of the U-boat—a wolcome fact that was emphasised by the passing at a brisk speed-of-a United States submarine; over against the picturesque town, where green ■treo,s top tho_ tnJl roofs, wo saw the New Zealand hospital ship Marania coaling for the last stage of a glad' journey lor- the 'merry- lads in her siok-bays,- The -Ministers gained- a'measured' opportunity to visit the Manama'and'talk with the men. Though many :of them were gravely stricken lione were dispirited. ' The Ophir left Colon a little after midday, January 5.. '

It was a pleasure to learn that tho commander (Captaiti ■ Stanley) iras an old Dunedin boy, and. that several of his of. fleers and ■engineers were far-travelled New Zealandcrs with war service in the Royal. Navy in 'the North' Sen, the treme Orient, tho Pprsian (jSiilf, and the South Seas. Then there was the additional pleasure of hearing at.last first-! hand information concorning tho'work of the so-called "Silent Navy" and the merchant service under war conditions. A 'iiyn'iber.'of the'.'fine. men on, the. Ophir. had been thrown from torpedoed vessels early iit tlje war, and at least one man had at one time threatened to make a hobby of. that-sort of excitement. It is siirely wortli mentioning that one grim Scot,; when' asked to recall his, outstanding memory of the wreck of.his eiyrines and ship by a torpedo,. replied that he remembered "ower weel" that he and a mate "did a kind of daft thing",iu such circumstances and went down to his! cabin and had "u tot of whisky." The heat of- it warmed > them later as they in the wintry North Sea till an American destroyer camp out of darkness ■ and rescued both. One hopes that this .maynot be.used in the prohibition cam.paign. Another officer's most vivid mem-' 'ory was'that when"ho was swimming in a dark 6oa he could not forget the bitter fact that he had left twenty "beatifill golden sovereigns" in his safe on his stricken ship; Such was the type of men; wo sailed with on the; Ophir. So. though there was a lack of homelv comforts on;board,-' there • was no. stint of good-fellowship and surprisingly resourceful hospitality. In the hands of such meii tllo libcrty 'of freo rintions'iis safe. At one stage of the Atlantic trin the sea a-ppeared eager to touch tho low heavens, apd; the' Ophir seemed to do, everything wicked exceat to disappear from the confusion of water." As a matter of fact, she is a staunch boat for a .wikl .s.ea, butapparentliy not manv men aro vfery willing to give her full marks for anything else. A temporary mishap in' the "enginernom caused a little delay on the run to Plymouth. Tho officers and meii made up for many defects. ' "We readied Devonport in the forenoon of Sunday, January 19. and found merry old Euglund in . the..tight grip of winter, and its light-hearted peonle still uncomplainingly living under the stress Of war as regards ■ economic conditions. . The party had a charniin" farewell from the good ..men on the. Ophir, although it •must be-confessed that wo were rather ,cautions in our response to .their "Will ye--no. come back again?"

In London, London .was.at last "reached late, on Sunday night, sad the Ministers had an encouraging welcome at Paddiiigton. A military guard of honour, a stalwart mounted' escort, and. an excellent band from Sling Camp were on the well-lit platform and gave the delegates a stirring reception. Sir Thomas Mackenzie (High Commissioner), General Richardson, Sir Jameg. Mills, and many more well-known New Zealanilers in London were • present.- Though the Royal Household had that day lost a prince. 'the King sent to the station a soeeial' renreSMitativb to wolcomo the Isow Zealand 'Ministers/ .' ' " "Oii the crowded way to the Savoy Hotel it was.good To see hoiv popular/are tho New Zealand soldiers with Londoners. London can lxr'.'one" of tho, 'greatest, sights m all the world, bat "during 1 the brief time wo were in it the city gloomed mnjpr foggy rain aiul a meagre artificial light'still necessitated by iho national shortage (if 'fuel!. " liii't: it was. jit least •unnecessary to look : with a lighted match for the Strand., 'Let'it be said in true alfootion that London is as delightful and as" dirty as ever: A relaxed system of rationing' is still.in fo'roe', but' tho.menace of starvation has gone, and the true Londoner is awaiting eagerly'tho great peace celebrations. Then London intends to show ■' America that "Old Blighty" is fiomo city. ■It was not easy to get into Paris. Jt was much easier to realiso'how hopeless, really, was the Prussian dream Of entering iliis great and gay city. 1 The only precaution ono can think of that has not been adopted against visitors to Paris, even though tliey are on official business, is tho finger-print tost. Prance must have suffered from a plague of spies during the war, and is determined' never to suffer again. But even red tape breaks in the end, and the Ministers and secretaries got to Paris late on the night of .January '21.' Our delegates were cordially welcomed by Hie British authorities, and given social headquarters at 1 tho palatial ITotol Majestic, which is one

of several of the great hotels in Paris (uken over by the British Government for the housing of delegates and a mislit.y staff. More than luilf a (lionBand experts and officials from London alone have invaded Paris, and have already drawn caustic comment from the courteous French l'ress.

The New Zealand delegation with its numerically small staff early realised tlio penalties of a belated arrival, and had to overcome much initial difficulty in respect of securing suitable office accom. modation in the Hotel Perousse, which had been set apart for the use of the Dominions' delegates and their staffs for business .purposes. The initial lack of office accommodation rather seriously inconvenienced our delegates, who' immediately upon their arrival'were called on to lake part rih several conferences dealing with the work of tlio Pence Congress. These difficulties luiye now l)ecn. overcome. But the organisation'of'the'vast activities of the Peace Congress is still a far pilch from yerfoction.