RETURN OF THE SOUDAN CONTINGENT.

Kumara Times, Issue 2752, 17 July 1885, Page 2

RETURN OF THE SOUDAN CONTINGENT.

PUBLIC BANQUET TO THE SINGLETON MEMBERS. On Friday evening, Jane 26th, a public banqudt in honour of the four Singleton members of the returned Soudan Contingent was given in the Oddfellows’ Hall, Singleton, New South Wales, at which between 60 and 70 persons were present. As most of our readears are aware from what has previously appeared in this journal, Sergeant J. C. S. Schulstad, whose parents reside in Kumara, was one of the Singleton members of the contingent, and therefore the remarks O 7 which he made in response to the toast of the evening will be read with interest. The names of the other three Singleton members were Private S. Gould, Private P. Howard, and Private Shephard. After the usual formal toasts had been proposed and responded to, we learn from the Singleton Argus that The Rev. Dr. White, M.A., proposed, amidst loud applause—“ Our Guests : the returned members of the Soudan Contingent.” During their campaign in the Soudan they no doubt learned some useful lessons, and would appreciate and value more highly the comforts and blessings of Home. The soldier, taking as he does his life in hand, should be a good man. always prepared to die. The late Colonel Burnaby, an ideal of a British soldier, would never join in the beautiful and impressive part of the Church of Eng-

land Service, which deprecates sudden death. The health of our gueSta, who have so well acquitted themselves, I feel assured that you will all honour as such a toast ought to he honoured by those, who c»n appreciate the noble qualities for which our race is distinguished.—[Loud applause.] Sergeant Schnlstad and his comrades rose amidst a perfect storm of enthusiastic applause, and the Sergeant said: I have been requested by my comrades to I’eturn you our sincere thanks for the enthusiasm with which you have welcomed us home. It has been a matter of the greatest gratification all through this day to find ourselves greeted so cordially. Eve*ywhere our welcome has been of the heartiest description, and we have been warmly shaken by the hand times without number. We do not know why we should he thus honored. We have simply done our duty as soldiers—we felt impelled to go to help fight the nation’s battles. We little thought you would have watched us with such attention here. Yet we often thought of the dear old friends whom we bad left behind, and that nerved us and cheered us in many a solitary hour,— [Applause.] Although we,had such a lot of trials and hardships daring the short campaign through which we have been spared, we do not look back on the campaign with any regret. We felt rather that it was a privilege to take part in it. We have served side by side with the English soldiers, from whom we received the warmest welcome and nothing but kindness at their hands. The relations between us and them have done all that was possible to strengthen the bond of sympathy between this and the mother country.— [Applause.] We had very little fighting to do, hut we had the satisfaction of knowing that what we did met wirh the approval of the British officers. [Cheers.] At some future time, perhaps, we may be able to show our ribbons in the Singleton Company. I hope whenever the mother-country is involved in trouble abroad, our troops will respond to the roll of the drum as readily as we did.—[Applause.] I know my comrades arid myself will not shirk any duty,—[Applause.] It would take too long to give you even a resume of our experiences. We took part in the largest British square ever formed, and occupied in it the pride of place.— [Applause.] We built all the camps along the line of march. The heaviest fighting was over before our regiment landed ; the gallant 49th and 53rd, and the Marines, had home the brunt of the great fight of a few days before. Right through, wherever we went, we were the pets of the array.—[Applause.] Many of the English regiments view each other with jealousy, but we were petted and caressed by all of them. From them we learned a great deal—more, in fact, than we could have learned in 50 Volunteer encampments. Of the comrades you sent with me I am especially proud. They are three men with whom I should never be afraid to appear on any duty.— [Applause]. Ready for work and steady under fire, they scarcely ever missed duty. One of us (Private Goold) was in hospital for a few days, but on his hearing that a number of our boys had been killed he got up and rushed away from the hospital and rejoined his comrades.—[Great applause.] And to show the spirit that animated the Singleton boys, the fourth member (Private Shephard) who is too ill to he here to-night had been ill for some days, but sooner than not take his place and share the work he refused to report himself ill, and he had even done duty as a sentry while in Quarantine.— [Applause,] Private Howard was never absent from duty; he had become a favourite with his comrades and was beloved by them all.—[Applause.] For ray own part I have been spared any sickness, and have never missed duty, and I believe I was fortunate enough to carry with me the regard of all concerned.—[Applause.] As yon may notice, lam suffering greatly from hoarseness, the result of the wetting on Tuesday last. I will not detain you any longer. Probably in some other way you will learn my impressions of life in the African deserts. It is the opinion of British officers that a terrible war will break out before long, and they are all prepared for it, and so is the army. But if any danger should threaten our colony our troops have only to show themselves made of the same sort of mettle as they showed in the Soudan, and the Australians will have nothing to fear as long as their arms and ammunition shall hold out.— [Applause.] General Sir Gerald Graham is not a man who wastes words. He is the. idea! of a soldier, and worth Ms weight in gold. Praise from him is therefore valuable, and we received many compliments tmm him, which were highly appreciated. But ho was

not slow to condemn when anythin" went wrong. Gentlemen, 1 can simply thank yon on behalf of my comrades and myself for the hearty manner in which you have responded to the toast of onr health.-[Loud and prolonged cheering,] . , . Some diversion was caused during the latter part of the proceedings by the arrival of, quite unexpectedly of three other members of the contingent who had started for one or other of the northern towns but found the evening train from Newcastle did not go beyond Singleton. One of them, a little under the weather,” a fine young giant, on being told by a comrade that a venerable-looking old gent present was “ Sam Gould’s father,” immediately followed the ancient example of Joseph when he found his long lost brother, and “fell on his neck and kissed him in a most enthusiastic fashion. A ball followed the banquet, and proved a successful wind-up to the day s festivities.