GENERAL BIRDWOOD

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 213, 3 June 1920, Page 6

GENERAL BIRDWOOD

ARRIVAL IN WELLINGTON

CIVIC RECEPTION TO-NIGHT

General Sir -William Birdwood, known to all New..Zealand soldiers as cne of the great figures ipf the •Qallipoli campaign, and as an intensely popular army commander, arrived in Wellington by the Manuka" last'evening.. He lias just concluded a triumphal tour of Australia, where he was reecivcd with immenso enthusiasm by the Australian soldiers, and is to spend''six weeks in New Zealand. Ho is accompanied by Lady Birdwood ond Miss Joan Birdwooil.

An official party, including the Minister of Internal AJfairs (Hon. G. J. AnderEcn), Major-General Sir Edward Chaytor and Brigadier-General G. S. Richardson, boarded the Manuka in tho stream from a motor-launch and extended a welcoino to General Birdwood oil behalf of the Government and tho Defenco forces of the Dominion. Tho president of the lieturned Soldiers' Association (Dr. Boxer) also welcomed the general on behalf .of the returned men, and extended to [him an invitation to attend the confer.enco now being held in Wellington. Tho steamer came alongside the Queen's Wharf shortly after 6 p.m. Gen>ral. Birdwood landed a 1 few minutes •ater. There was no formal welcomo on the wharf, and after he had shaken hands .with a few returned meiiy he boarded a motor-car that was waiting for him. General Birdwood is fifty-one years of ago, but he looks younger. Ho has an alert military carnagc, and appears to bo in as liard condition as in the days ■ when he was dcinjj* tho work of a dozen men on "the peninsula." General Birdwopd makes it clear that he is paying merely a holiday visit to New Zealand. He hopes to meet as many as possible of tho Anzac men, buj: ho is not making in any sense a formal tour. It was, only in tho early stages of the war that he was intimately connected with the New Zealand troops. 'When the original Australian ajid New Zealand Army Corps (the Anzacs) was formed in Egypt, ho became its commander; and the manner in which he ■won not merely the confidence, but also the affection, of tho colonial soldiers is a mutter of history. After the evacuation of Gallipoli, he commanded an Australian, Corps in France, and eventually beoame an Army Commander. The New Zealand Division, which was formed after the evacuation, did not come under his personal command on tho Western Front.

A civic reception is to be tendered to General Birdwood in the Town Hall this evening. The Mayor of Wellington will take the chair, and the speakers will include the Prime Minister (Right Hon. W. F. Massey) and representatives of the Returned Soldiers' Association.

General Birdwood will call upon tho Prime Minister this morning; He will be photographed with the delegates to tlio Returned .Soldiers' Conference at) the Parliamentary Buildings at 10.45 a.m. to-day. It ia anticipated that returned .soldiers will attend in large /numbers tho civic reception to General Sir William Birdwood, to b« held to-night at 8 o'clock. Tho ground floor of the Town Hall lias been reserved for returned soldiers, saitors, arid nurses. Dr. Boxer, president of the N.Z.U.S.A., and (Mr. W. • Perry, president. of the Wellington R.S.A., will speak as representatives of the Returned Soldiers' Association. •