Welcome Social to Trooper Perreau.

Manawatu Herald, 3 November 1900, Page 2

Welcome Social to Trooper Perreau.

1 . On Thursday evening the public of Foxton tendered a gemrre welcome to Mr Robert Perreau, a i.«ember of the Third Contingent, on Lls return to his home. The Mayor had charge of the proceedings and worked hard to make the evening pass pleasantly. A large number were present, two-thirds being ladies, which proves what manner of man the guest of the evening is. The Brass Band, under the leadership of Mr Kearsley did much to please the audience, and the Misses Harris and Hamer, and Messrs E. Osborne and C. Spring each added some items, and a little after ten the affair broke up. During the evening a very tasty supper was handed round, provided by the Messrs Perreau Bros. It had been outlined that a r jple of hours dancing should follow the formal welcoming, but fell througL owing to some misconception. At nine o'clock the Mayor took the chair having Trooper Perreau on his right, and was supported by Captain W. Hunter of the Foxton Rifles and Mr J. E. Barham a member of the Foresters. The Mayor, addressing the guest said : I want to thank you, on behalf of the colony, for the service you have rendered. You have done your duty as a man and a soldier, and we tender you a hearty welcome back amongst us. (Applause). Captain Hunter said that on behalf of the newly formed Volunteers I desire to tender Trooper Perreau, as one the of N.Z. Contingent who. has helped to make a name for our ♦colony which history will record to the end of time, a hearty welcome and we must not, in our rejoicings forget to give a thought to those who will never return, and if any peace demon, strations were held, I would suggestthat as a token of respect for those who have laid down their lives for their Queen and country, a piece of crape should be worn. I tender Trooper Perreau a hearty welcome home. (Applause.) J Mr J. E. Barham said : I have been deputed, as a member of the Foresters to tender to Trooper Perreau their hearty congratulations at his safe return. He had always been a good and active Forester and it was pleasing to see him safe home. (Applause.) Mr Thynne said : As an old married man I can heartily rejoice to see Trooper Perreau back amongst us once more, but judging by the very large attendance of the ladies and their manifest interest in him, it might not be unnatural to suspect that many young and unmarried men might wish he was still at the war. Trooper Perreau had distinct claims for our interest in him as he was born in Foxton and his parents v> ere old residents, and his progress d-ir: g his stay in South Africa had been watched with great interest. The many private letters received from him, from which pretty full extracts had been published in the ManawaTu Herald, had been read with pleasure, . and they marked the writer as being no harum-scarum adventurer but as one who -understood the responsibiliiies resting on his shoulders and bad done his duty with earnestness and attention. We have all read in the reports from the seat of war, that the feeding of the troops was not exceedingly well carried out, and the men who missed most their comfortable meals were the men who belonged to this colony. This was but natural, and that attempts should be made to improve these conditions were only natural. Our men have got the character of looking atter themselve when the chance occurred and it was only recently a capital yarn, probably only a yarn, was told about them. It was this ; that in commandeering poultry every troop did its best, but as the majority, only provided for the day, the New Zealanders provided for a further five days, and carried fowls about with them, until it was a custom of the Boers to recognise the vicinity of the New Zealanders by the crowing of roosters at early morn on the veldt. No doubt our guest could make this clear, but possibly silence will be best. When farewelling Trooper Perreau he (the speaker) had reminded him that he went forth into the world not as a simple individual hut as a representative of Foxton and the Colony, and it was very pleasing on his return to be able to say that these responsibilites had been abserved by Trooper Perreau, and that he and our other New Zealand boys had done credit to the Colony they sailed from. (Applause). Trooper Perreau was received with great applause, and he gave a narrative of the part he took in the notable events in South Africa in a particularly pleasing modest manner, permitting no particular reference to self to appear. He .said : It gives me very great pleasure to see such a lot of smiling faces to welcome me back, and 1 have to thank my many friends, and the public generally for the very hearty reception given to me. The Third Contingent left Lyttleton by the Knight Templar on the 17th February, and went direct to Durban. We laid there 24 hours and were then ordered on to East London where we were disembarked and remained 14 days. We enjoyed splendid times there, the hospitality of the residents compelling us to attend smoke c mesrts and dances. Word came that wj were to go to Beira, but was cancelled owing to the coal-bunkers of the transport catching fire. The townspeople congratulated us on this mishap, and we were dispatched to Aliwal North on Easter Sunday, and crossed the borders of the Orange Free State the next day, when we first came under fire. Our torce was going to Wepener under General Brabant, and we -had some fighting. We were travelling along the Basuto border and it was astonishing how friendly the Basutos were, as after a fight near Springfontein they came and offered us tobacco, and chattered away freely, though we could not understand a word they said. At Wepener the state of things was very bad as there were any number of dead horses lying about, the Boers, it was said, having slaughtered over 2000 of them. We then went on

to Smithfield where the Maltese having fired upon us in mistake, led to the alteration in the hats we wore. Having reached Bloemfontein we marched on to Kronstaad and had some skirmishes in this district. Preparatory to the crossing of the Vaal river into the Transvaal from 40,000 to 50,000 troops were assembled, and when they were all lined up it was a magnificant sight. Here we had the first and only church service on the field. After dressing the Vaal river we encountered dreary and hard times, and it was then that men began to fall back with fever. When we were short in food we commandeered from farm houses and fared pretty well, but we were unable to procure fodder for the horses and they fared very badly. It made one sorry to see the condition they got into, and tears dropped from the horses eyes. We were in the advance tqYohannesburg, and at Dornkop were in » good engagement with the troops under Generals Hutton, Hamilton, and French. It was on the same field in which the Boers repulsed the Jameson raid some three years previously. It was here that the colony had the misfortune to lose Bradbury, he being killed by a portion of a shell. I was speaking to him just before he was struck. We then pushed on to Pretoria and we were with Lord Roberts wHefr he bombarded the forts, and with him when he entered the town and hoisted the English flag. The march past of the invading army, which took place before Lord Robert?, was a grand sight, and took hour after hour. Lwas standing by the wall of a churchyard looking on, and talking to a young Boer, and when the soldiers went by with the big guns drawn by teams of 30 to 40 bullocks, he was amazed and said "No wonder you wallop us ; no wonder you can beat us when you fire such guns as those at us, and the forces are 10 to 1, and you go up in the air in bags. No wonder you can beat us." I asked him where does old Kruger live as I should like to see his house. He replied " There's his house." pointing just across the street, and I was standing by the fence of his own church. At Diamond Kop near Bloemfontein, we saw the charge of the Boer Irish Brigade against the British guns, which you may have all read the accouut of. We were constantly under fire, having to keep in touch with the enemy until the army in Pretoria was re-organised, and it was on one of these scouting expeditions that my horse tell and rolled over me, resulting in my being invalidec^ I was in the Pretoria hospital, iiFthe building of the Palace of Justice, and I there saw Lady Roberts, who used to go round the wards giving calces and nice things to the patients. I was then moved to the hospital at Bloemfontein and was nursed by the New Zealand Sisters, and you can be sure that they were very kind and attentive. I was also moved to the WindMrg hospital, which was visited by th^Frincess of Teck, and one day she inquired if any of the Guards were there or any Colonials. She was told that a New Zealander was there and she came up and spoke to me, and until she had gone I had no idea who she was. As I was recovering from the injuries caused by the horse I caught the enteric fever, and though I soon got over that, the doctors said I was not well enough to go to the front, and not bad enough to be kept in the hospital, so that I was sent back here. Tn*e way we have been treated, in South Africa and here, has baen very encouraging and if another war broke out and our services were required I would not be the last boy to volunteer for the front. (Applause.) The Rev. Mr Leach sent a letter of apology for his absence. Mr Perreau afterwards exhibited his Mauser rifle and explained its working- mmmmmmmimmmmmmmmm