NEW ZEALANDS BATTLESHIP.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 12 January 1918, Page 2

NEW ZEALANDS BATTLESHIP.

J_j j'i XJ- i'j-L*. -i 1 i L L i*Ljj V-< '- - ~ MANHEIi. "GERMANY WILL EIGHT TO THE LAST CAT AISiJJ DOG-"

Mr frankly 11 Webb, of Levin, has received ail interesting letter • from his brother, Captain JXichurd Webb, C.8., who iate last year was appointed to the command of the Dominion's battleship, the New Zealand. Captain Webb has had a distinguished career. He was in command of the battleship Amethyst at the. beginning of the war, but was soon given an important post in connection with the anti-submarine measures. His services in that field of war- won for him the decoration of Commander of Bath. Latterly he has had a high position at the Admiralty but the call o:t the sea proved irresistible and he received his present post. Mr Franklyn Webb has kindly placed his brother's letter at our disposal and some excerpts follow: "I was getting very weary ol office life, and don't think I could have stood it much longer; and then the offer of this spendid and historic ship came along, and here I am. I joined on the first of this month and found the in splendid order in every way. kew Zealand may well be proud of her | battle cruiser for a finer lot of officers and men I have never met. She is well-known throughout, the fleet as an efficient ship, and I have no doubt whatever that if she does get the chance she will add in splendid fashion to her already splendid record. "We liad Sir Thomas Mackenzie,

the High Commissioner for New Zealand on board soon after I joined and we welcomed him with a haka danced by some of the men in proper costume: they learnt it when out in New. Zealand, and have kept it up ever since- Sir Thomas pronounced it exceedingly well done, which I need hardly say gave great satisfaction. He inspected the whole ship and was very pleased with all he saw. He and his party lunched with me and then we took them round the fleet in a motor boat. Of course the ship is full of gifts of all kinds presented during her cruise, but the real gem is a Maori tiki from the Ckristchurcli Museum over which many incanta,tions were said by the chiefs before presentation. This and a mat presented to Halsey by one of the chiefs are always worn by tlxe Captain when the ship goes into action, and the former also when the ship goes to sea during wartime. i "The ship herself is in splendid order and though no longer a very new vessel is* quite ready for allcomers. "Ernest (a brother) _ wntes me from Ypres, where he is with his Labour Company, and he tells me he has met many New Zealanders. He says they are the finest troops on the front, which I can well be. lieve to judge by the'fine young fellows who are constantly coming on board to visit the ship. '"All hopes of a peace this year seem now at an end. The Germans will, as the Kaiser says, light to the last cat and dog, and they are a very long way from that yet. It is quite clear that we have got to see it through. The entry of America into the war is . bound to, make an immense difference—in fact all the difference in the world, and they are going . into the war with all their custo J i mary thoroughness. Their (destroyers have done and are doing magnificent work and I don't suppose their flying men, their artillery and their infantry will be one whit behind them."