CIVIC RECEPTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 54, 1 September 1943, Page 6

CIVIC RECEPTION

MINGLING OF PEOPLES P.A. * AUCKLAND, This Day. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt was welcomed by a great crowd at a civic reception at Auckland today, following visits to American establishments. The Mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, said that the day was one of the most memorable in Auckland's history. One regret was that President Roosevelt was unable to be here. The presence of' 'American forces had filled New Zea-. landers with a sense of confidence and security. It seemed but yesterday when it appeared that, the end was almost at hand. Then suddenly the scene changed as the Dominion was joined in the struggle by the gallant men of the ■. United States of America. The fact of being able to extend a welcome today was due solely to the vast development of the defence forces \in this part of the world, which augured success in the joint effort.

. "Your men came at a time when our own sons'were serving in distant fields, and it was with the feeling that here was the opportunity to repay the kindnesses extended to our. boys in other countries, not least in America, that the people of New Zealand opened their hearts and homes to these boys in whom you have so feelingly expressed your own pride. Where men in thousands move in and mingle with new peoples, each speaking a common tongue, those invisible ties binding nations together are closely linked. Thus we envisage the time when postwar problems will come more easy of solution by the gx-eater understanding created," said Mr. Allum.