FAKEHA'S DRAFT

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 127, 31 May 1919, Page 5

FAKEHA'S DRAFT

WAEM WELCOME FOR THE MEN.

A cold and wet afternoon did not prevent Wellingtonians from giving a particularly warm welcome to the men on board the transport Pakeha, which berthed afc the King's Wharf at 4.30 p.m. yesterday. Several thousand, people were gathered on or near the wharf, and as the big liner, carrying 1370 of Now Zealand's soldiers, drew alongside, cheers were frequent, and patriotic airs (played by the Patriotic Society's Band) helped considerably in making the reception a rousing one. Captain Prietor was again in. chargo of the disembarkation arrangements, and, considering that the Paheka brought a record number of men, the time in which the men wero ashore—23 minutes —must be regarded as excellent. Members of the Volupteer. Motor Corps were in attendance, and did good work in taking the men to their homes and to the railway station. The Auckland men loft for their homes, by a special train at 7.15 p.m., and the Taranaki and Wanganui men also wont, as far as Palmerston North by that train. Tho Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay men left by this morning's express. Those for the South were passengers by the Maori last evening, and the Nelson and West Coast drafts sailed for their homes by tho Pataena last night. ■

On the trip a call was made at Newport News, at which port the vessel was engaged in coaling operations for five days. During this spell, the men were camped ashore, arid visits were made to Washington, Baltimore, Richmond, and Norfolk. During, their six hours in the Panama Canal zone the men were well treated by tha residents. Lieutenant-Colonel G. W. Cockroft. of Wellington, was officer commanding the troops on the Pakeha.