Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1940. THE MAORI BATTALION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 127, 29 April 1940, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1940. THE MAORI BATTALION.

Following its period of trainingat this centre, the city watched with interest the parade of the Maori Battalion on Saturday afternoon. A considerable section of the Main Body of the Expeditionary Force in the Great \Var received its training at Awapuni, which subsequently became the headquarters of the Medical Corps, so that it was not inappropriate for Palmerston North to again be the centre for a military unit. The choice fell upon the Maori Battalion whose members coming from every part of the country have been moulded into a well trained unit Jed by experienced officers. - That they were privileged to have their camp within a city was generally appreciated by the Maoris, whose conduct as a whole has reflected credit upon themselves and. their officers. They have not been unappreciative, either, of efforts to entertain them when away from their camp or within its precincts, and have been quick to generously acknowledge what has been done for them. The Maoris take with them the citizens’ cordial good wishes for their future welfare. Like their predecessors who fought either in the infantry or in the Pioneer Battalion in the Great War, they have responded well to the call and have taken a sincere interest in their training. Their zeal and efficiency were commended by the GovernorGeneral when he reviewed the battalion. Ilis Excellency then observed that the traditions the Maoris established in the Great War would be enhanced in this conflict by their successors. Those who have seen the Maoris at their drill or performing their exercises will readily support this observation. Their training, too, has met with the approbation Of the Chief of the General Staff, who paid a well deserved tribute to the commanding officer, Lieut.Colonel Dittmer, and his officers, both commissioned and non-com-missioned, for their perseverance and energetic work.

Some words in season were said to the battalion by MajorGeneral Duigan. The Maoris are a warlike race by tradition, and they are also chivalrous and proud. Within their keeping rest the traditions of the Pioneer Battalion which won its spurs in the Great War, and returned honoured and esteemed bv the people its members met overseas. It is the duty of this new corps to preserve their race’s traditions, to be proud of their battalion, and to act always with the chivalry inherent in the true Maori, and honour the good name of the men of 1914-18. That this task rests in safe hands must be the general verdict of everyone who has come in contact with the battalion, whose members take with them the very best wishes of this city wherein they received the first training of a soldier, many

of them not having had even elementary training before. The leaders of their race who must remain at home will be watching their progress, with the conviction that the Maori youth of today retain the great fighting instincts of their forbears which made them a brave and chivalrous foe for the British last century.