PLAYED HER PART

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1932, Page 8

PLAYED HER PART

NEW ZEALAND IN WAR

AFTER-DINNER SPEECH

THE. HIGH CO3DIISSIOXEPv

(From "Tha Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 10th November.* Siv Thomas Wilford was the chief guest at the Authors' Club dinner last night. At these pleasant periodical gatherings a topic for after-dinner speeches is chosen beforehand,;and as it was only two days before the Armistice Day celebrations the topic on this occasion was appropriately "The Dominions and the War"—rather mor« sobur and serious than usual. RearAdmiral A. F. B. Carpenter, V.C., of Zeebrugge fame, was in the chair and ";. \° h. is J ot to propose the toast 01 me Uigli Commissioner. His meeting Sir Thomas-for the first time, he said, recalled- a story of a brusque admiral who, on joining his flagship for the first time, sent for his oflicer. "That young officer happened to be me, ' said the chairman. "I- entered his cabin, and found him writing at his table. Ho went -on writing without looking up. When he had been doing that for some time, I thought the time was approaching when I should make my presence known. With, great trepidation I said: 'You sent for me. sir.* He went on writing without looking up. After a while he loked up at me and said: 'Yes, I did send for you. I don't like your face, but I expect we shall get on.' (Laughter.)' . "This is the first time I have met Sir Thomas Wilford. I am now an admiral, and, not only that, but chairman, and I can say: 'Sir, I like your face.' " (Cheers and laughter.) Admiral Carpenter went on to speak of New Zealand as a great country which had played a very great part in the history of the Empire. Less than a hundred years ago, he said, we were_ actually at war with the Natives of i.yew Zealand, but now there were no more patriotic and loyal subjects of the Crown than the Maoris. New Zealand had played a great part in tha war at Gallipoli, in France, and. Palestine. He believed, however, it had an important.part to play in the future'-in knitting the Empire more closely together. The British Government would be turning to the Dominions for advice with regard to the great problem of Empire trade, and he hoped that the representatives of those Dominions would make their suggestions go down so hard and so far that they would. ''O clean through the earth to the other side and to the distant parts of the Empire. ' ... A BRITISH POPULATION. The High Commissioner had a sympathetic and interested audience, and covered a wide field in his talk. They were a loyal people in New Zealand^ he said, and one reason for this was that they had no dumping. They had taken care to select those who occupied their land, and to-day the population of New Zealand was practically 98 per cent. British. If he might do so, he would describe New Zealanders as Empire products with a home flavour. They sometimes thought that a country like New Zealand, which, was free- from traditions, had a better" opportunity of .- getting out of the rut thanthose which were, tied by traditions. Nevertheless, there was in this country a spirit of determination and grit which could not be broken, and which made for. solidarity and steadiness of purpose. He had seen it in the general strike of a few years ago. ■ .. ' Leading up to the subject of New Zealand and the war, Sir Thomas told a story which had reference to the selection of members of the Fourth. South African Contingent.- It was necessary, he said, that volunteers should have £25 in cash and a horse that had been passed by the Veterinary Department. Six hundred volunteered, and fifty were chosen by the Wellington committee, of which he was a member. "After the selection was over," said Sir Thomas, "a man came to me and said that he and others had been guilty of false pretences. Four of them had walked a hundred miles to volunteer. They had £25 between them, and one horse. "You have picked two of us, and we don't know what to do;" New Zealand sent 10. per cent, of her population into the Great War. Was there any wonder that when the call came on 4th August,, 1914, tha Maoris were ready? They furnished 3000 men, and no Maori was ever conscripted. (Cheers.) New Zealand mobilised 124,211 men. They suffered 58,014 casualties; 16,698 died,' but only 371 were taken prisoner. (Cheers.) They in New Zealand were rather proud ot that. It was nothing compared with, the responsibility taken. by the Old Country, but in their little population of 1,500,000 people they added £58,000,000 to their national debt. "The call came to us/ Sir Thomas said, "on the night of the 4th, and.on the night of the Bth our country was askad for volunteers. Four days afterwards an expeditionary force of -1408 left our shores." (Cheers.) . : CHIVALRY OF THE MAORI. The High Commissioner , elaborated the theme of the.Maoris, and told some stories of their chivalry in : the Maori Wars. He explained that the New Zealand Division had always been kept up to full strength in France, .and he described some of the activities of. New Zealanders at Gallipoli, in Egypt, Palestine, and the East, He also read the tribute paid to the New Zealand.troops by Lord French and by General Haw-, linson. ■ : "There is nothing wrong with, ths Mother Country but want to confidence,' 3 he continued. "What astonishes the New Zealanderis how much the Englishman belittles himself. Wa feel there is a great future, for tha world with the leadership of the British Empire. (Cheers.) So-far as lam concerned, let me say on behalf of.New ' Zealand, whatever you ask us to do within reason we will do gladly.' \ Before concluding, Sir Thomas spoke of trout-fishing, of the famous Pelorus. Jack and the Act of Parliament which ' protected it, and he described tho wonders of the Waitomo Caves.

Sir W. Beach. Thomas explained why it was not always possible, as a war correspondent, to give credit to the operations of the New Zealanders in Fiance. The German Intelligence Branch were always quick to find out on what part of the line the Australians and the Canadians were operating, and the embargo on the use of names in dispatches was not so strict in regard to these bodies of troops. The New Zealanrlers, however, came under the general embargo, and so for this technical reason they were mentioned less frequently than the other Dominion troops. Speaking of the need for tact in deal-; ing with the Australians, Sir Beach' Thomas told the story of the. two Australian privates who "failed to salute'a junior British officer. After the latter had remonstrated with the men and had failed to impress them, he said: "Well,anyway, the general is looking out of the window, so you had Letter salute," and they did. '

Admiral Carpenter, in replying to the toast of the chairman, mentioned that his grandfather had joined the Royal Navy as a lad of 12, and he was still serving on his flagship at the age of BT. "They get rid of admirals mgjf quickly to-day,'* he added, .-— -