GRAND NAVAL AND MILITARY TOURNAMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 934, 22 December 1910, Page 2

GRAND NAVAL AND MILITARY TOURNAMENT.

THE BATTLE SCENE

The final arrangements are now complete in connection with the display representing the defence of Rorke’s Drill, one of the most heroic incidents of the Zulu war. The display is under the sole control and management of Staff-Sergt.-Major H. Peacock, who has arranged for representatives of the Manawatu Mounted Rifles, the Palmerston Rifles and Guards, the Palmerston Technical School Cadets, and the Palmerston School Cadets, to take part in the scene, numbering in all about three hundred.

The opening scene will show a bivouac of Mounted Rifles, with camp fires, and songs and solos will be given. Amidst this will come an order calling the men away, and immediately following their departure coming the news that the Zulus were falling on Rorke’s Drift in overwhelming numbers. The handful of men left in the camp at once make preparations for the defence of the post. Then the action immediately follows, and the whole action will be faithfully depicted, so far as the buildings and men are concerned, it being arranged to have erections exactly similar to what existed at the historic Rorke’s Drift.

The Tournament Committee has gone to no end of expense to make the display one that will be remembered by those who are privileged to witness it, and there can be no question this great battle scene will alone be worth travelling many miles to see.