Our Boys at Home.

Hastings Standard, Issue 413, 31 August 1897, Page 4

Our Boys at Home.

The following is an extract from a letter received in the colony from one of the New Zealand contingent: " New Zealand will be pleased to know that her troops took the palm at Aldershot. The evening papers of that date said : '■ The regulars of this country would do well to take a lesson from the New Zealand troop. At the interviw and march past before Her Majesty they had the longest line of all the mounted troops, but nevertheless their line was perfect." The captain was very proud, and considering that the flower of the British Army was there it was a very great honor to take. The next day we were again reviewed by the Queen, and Captain Robin was again complimented by all men of military rank and fame as well as by the nobility present. We have been asked everywhere. In the Crystal Palace a finelooking man stuck me up, and asked me a lot of questions about New Zealand, and he said he would never have believed we were volunteers. He gave me his card and asked me to go and stay with him, but of course I could not do that. He is a colonel of one of the artillery regiments stationed in Ireland. We have been entertained by members of Parliament and by many other notables. The swells in their carriages raise their hats to us, and the girls lean out of their carriages and throw smiles and kisses to us as they pass. In a word, we are treated on all hands with the greatest deference and respect, and we are doing all in our power to deserve it, and at the same time uphold the honor of New Zealand."