SYRIAN BANQUET.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1901, 9 November 1918, Page 3

SYRIAN BANQUET.

Mr Sam Ala ( tar, a local Syrian business man, entertained the Mayor, Councillors, returned soldiers, and a number of citizens, at a banquet in the Town Hall supper-room last nigh I, in honour of Turkey’s surrender and the liberation of the Assyrian people from the Turkish yoke. There was an attendance of upwards of of) guests. The room was tastefully decorated with bunting, and the catering was in the hands of Mrs Walls, and was excellent. Mr Mat tar briefly welcomed the guests, and asked the Mayor to take charge of the proceedings, which were opened with the singing of the National Anthem. During (he course of the evening speeches were made in reference to this ancient nation and the part they had played in disseminating light and learning Avhieh had spread to the western nations, and the hope expressed that they and the Jewish nation would have their independence restored. The part the New Zealand soldiers had taken in the restoration of their liberty was also touched upon. Air Mattar, in responding to the toast of himself and the Syrian people, said: “Mr Mayor and Gentlemen. —I am glad to congratulate you to-night on the suceessof my friends, the Allies. I thought it would be proper as representing the Assyrian Nation in Foxton to entertain- my friends. People may think that we Assyrians are over-joyous, hut wc are as a nation now free after four hundred years of bondage. My country gave birth to the civilisation that now exists in the West. 1 am proud to-day that lam an Assyrian. We have remained Christian against the, greatest tyranny that has been known. Our country is a beautiful one. I know its cedar trees and its olive groves, lint I could never walk there with a feeling of freedom. At any time a gun might go off and a man, or many men, might be killed. A village at any time might be destroyed, and its inhabitants killed outright, and that has gone on for four hundred years. Now I can go there and know that we arc free, and that justice will always prevail. Our country was the birthplace of all modern civilisation —you get your alphabet from us, and to-day you are giving us our freedom in return. I know all these things myself. Any holiday that we wished to celebrate in our land we were forced to carry lire arms for our own protection. If a church bell rang a Turk might, shoot any pas-ser-by i»y saying he had a headache, I would like to tell you that it was a continual quarrel between Turk and Christian, and the Turks always had (he best. We wen l always an industrious nation, but the Turk continually stole the fruits of our labours. A man might go into the country and earn money, and it would he robbed from him by the direction of his employer. So it was very easy for the employer to pay good wages. And now the day has come when by the shores of the blue Mediterranean, with (he sun shining almost continually, we shall see a people devoted to their little farms, happy with their families, contented with (heir lot. Assyrians scattered in all quarters of the globe will feel that this is due to the great arm of .justice that always stretches itself to all oppressed peoples.” Mr Mattar's speech was followed by Assyrian airs on the gramophone. The toast list was as follows: — “The King,” the Mayor; “Great Britain and Her Allies,” Dr. Mandl; “Our Host and the Syrian Nation,” Mr Hornblow, responded to by Mr Mattar; “Our Boys at the Front, and Returned Men,” Mr Fnrrie, responded to by Messrs Derrick, Honore, Hughes, Rimmer, Cottingham, Tunnicliffe and another; “The Navy and Mercantile Marine.'’ Mr Kellow; “Mayor and Councillors,” Mr Stevenson, response by the Mayor. During the evening songs were contributed by Messrs Colder and Kellow. Mr S. B. Collins presided at the piano. At the conclusion cheers were given for the host and (he Syrian nation.