MILITARY LINK WITH H.B.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 23, 11 February 1937, Page 13

MILITARY LINK WITH H.B.

English Major-General's Visit to N.Z. Closely- allied through military af • fairs with the Hawke's Bay Eegiment, Major-General A. Solly-Flood, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., colonel of the Prince of Wales Volunteors (South Laneashire) and the Fourth-Fifth Eoyal Dragoon Guards, arrived ta Wellington in tlie Tamaroa from Sonthampton. He was met at the wharf by Major-General Sir William Sinclair-Burgess, General Officer Oommanding New Zealand For^fes, Colonel O. H. Mead, Adjutant-General, and Colonel F. Gambrill, formerly in command of the Hawke 's Bay Eegiment and now commander of the Second Infantry Brigade, of which tho Hawke's Bay Eegiment is a part. The Prince of Wales Volunteers used to be the old Fortieth Eegiment, which fought during the Maori Wars about New Plymouth and Waikato. This is allied to the Hawke's Bay Eegiment under an alliance which was instituted when the Territorial system was first started, the idea being at that time that New Zealand regiments shfinld be able to share the honours and traditions of the English regiments. The Fourtieth Eegiment is also allied to regiments in Ganada and Australia. Correspondence is maintained regnlarly, and New Zealandeifc visiting England are always entertained by tho English regiment. This is practically the first ; occasion the Hawke 's Bay Eegiment has had the opportunity of doing something in return, and a copjprehensive tour has been planned for Major-General Solly-Flood. Immediately after the Hawke's Bay earthquake six years ago the English regiment took np subscriptiouU among its battalions and sent £130 to New Zealand for the benefit of members of the Hawke's Bay Eegiment who suffered as a result of the earthquake. During the Great War Major-Gen-eral Solly-Flood was direetor of military training to Lord Haig of tho whole of the British Army in Franee, but in 1918 he joined the Ffirty-second Division, which fought alongside the New Zealand Division. "Hence my affection and admiration for New Zealanders," he Isaid. "I have never known hetter soldiers and men than the i New Zealanders. ' '