Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1929 OUR GOVERNOR-GENERAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 20 July 1929, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1929 OUR GOVERNOR-GENERAL

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNORGENERAL is paying, at tlio present time, a visit to tlic districts of tlio West Coast which have suffered most severely from tlm recent severe earthquakes, and is expected to be in Nelson early next week. We therefore take the opportunity of saying a few words of appreciation of the solicitude which 11 is Excellency is exhibiting to those who have suffered grievously, both physically and materially, during the trials of the last month. This kindly action of Sir Charles Eergusson is in keeping with his innate sympathy for those in distress, and with the chivalry and altruism which have characterised all his actions and utterances and those of the Lady Alice Fergusson while they have been in New Zealand.

It, is to he remembered that Sir Charles was first associated with this country during the Governorship of his late father, Sir James Fergusson, i/i the years 1873-4. Subsequently he entered the British Army and, after serving with great distinction, reached the culmination of his military life when ho was orderod with the Division which ho commanded to take ship for France in August 1914, together with the six other Divisions of Sir John French s overglorious Expeditionary Force, which was to perform such splendid scrvicos, at Mons, at Cambrai, at the Marne, at the Aisne, and at the first battle of Ypros. That expression of admiration is to-day universal. It is adopted by those Germans who themselves owed so much of their failure to reach Paris lo the action of “the Old Contemptibles.” Soon alter the war was over, a British Colonel was in Berlin, where lie met Von Kluck, to whom lie held out his hand. But the German General said, “Before 1 lake your hand, llerr Oboist, I want to say that in my opinion there never was, in the history of the world, so splendid a body of troops as the British Army which operated against me under General Sir John French, in August and September, 1914.” Major-General Sir Tom Bridges, Governor of South Australia, recently told the following story. Before the war, lie had been acquainted with a certain German stall’ officer, who, during the British tactical retreat from Mons, knowing Bridges to be in the British army, sent through a neutral Minister the following message to his erstwhile friend, “If you see Bridges, tell him the British cavalry has saved the British Army, and the British Army lias saved Paris.” It is well to remember that Sir Charles Fergusson was a member of that incomparable band of soldiers. The following is an extract from Sir John French’s despatch, written after the first Battle of the Aisne:—

In view of the peculiar formation of the ground on the north side of the river between Missy and Soissons, and Us extraordinary adaptability to a force on the defensive—(as the Gerliiaris were) —, the sth Division found it impossible to maintain its position on the southern edge of the Chivrcs Plateau, as the enemy in possession of the village of Vregny to the west was able to bring a flank fire to bear upon it. The Division had, therefore, to retire to a line the left of which was at the village of Marguerite, and thence ran by the north edge of Missy back to the river to the east of that place. With great skill and tenacity Sir Charles Fergusson—(who commanded the Division) —maintained this position throughout the whole battle, although his trenches were necessarily on lower ground than that occupied by the enemy on the southern edge of the plateau, which. was only 400 yards away. It would possibly require a military training to appreciate fully what Sir Charles’s Division performed on that occasion. It is enough to say that if ho had not successfully held, during the long drawn-out, Battle of the Aisne, a position which was well-nigh untenable, tlie British line would have been broken, the battle would probably have been lost and the British Army would have lost the line of the Aisne. To the “great skill and tenacity” of the kindly and benign gentleman who next week will he in our city, in the capacity of the King’s representative, was attributable in large measure the success of the British (Army in establishing Jkself immovably on the line of the Aisne.

Sir Charles Fergusson is not only a brave and stedfast soldier, he is a great humanitarian. Last Anzac Day lie related his impressions of a visit lie paid to a cemetery at Cambrai, where lay the dead of many nations. One evening, (said His Excellency), 1 went to see the cemetery. It was a beautiful spot, a former nursery garden, and in an area of perhaps six or eight acres lay the dead, thousands of all nationalities, and there was jio distinction made between any of them. Here were English, French, Germans, Italians, Russians, the men of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, youth Africa, India—all alike—each with a small cross at his head, with his name and regiment carefully inscribed. At the west end of the cemetery there stood a colossal cross, and on it were written, in four languages, these words: “THE SWORD DIVIDES: THE CROSS UNITES.” And, as 1 stood there that evening in the setting sun, the shadow of that great cross was spread over the whole length and breadth of the cemetery, and under the shadow of that cross lay the men of different nations, all gathered together. And, remember, it was a German General who had planned that wonderful scene ’

Incidentally, it will be noted, Sir Charles is a master of the English tongue—such clarity and simplicity of speech are seldom met with,, and therefore are the more valued. But llis Excellency is not only a renowned soldier and a largeheartecl humanitarian. He is a practical politician: not of course in a parliamentary sense, hilt as a thinker who has the best interests of the country at heart. Recently he spoke on the, arrested development of New Zealand, through the enforced cessation of immigration, and the tendency of boys, on leaving school, to crowd into the towns instead of “going on the land.”

It the hoys ol New Zealand will re (■(■•guise lliiil the way in which they can best help their country is by doing as their lathers and forefathers did of old by developing the land, then you would hear none of this talk about buys leaving school and being unable to tal-m up their life's work. You would be able to build up a population on the land ten times as big as tu-dav, and then there would be a chance for the secondary industries.

New' Zealand has had .many good Governors and Govemors-Gencral, but none who has endeared himself more to New Zealanders Mian Mir Charles Eergusson has done, for in a special sense lie lias brought the spirit of the Mother Land to this country, and thereby has strengthened New Zealand’s loyalty to the Throne. Anxious as doubtless he is to be again ‘'among his own people” and at home in his Scottish country-seat, the people of New Zealand while glad to have had so model a Governor-General, and regretful that lie must part from them, will wish Sir Charles Eergusson tlio greatest possible happiness on his return to his native land. It has been a privilege for this country to have had so high-minded a Governor-General and, on saying “Goodbye” to him, the people—-

from tlm North Capo to the Bluff—will whole-heartedly wish that Sir Charles Fergusson may live long in the land of his fathers.