The New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1919. GENERAL RICHARDSON

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10274, 8 May 1919, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1919. GENERAL RICHARDSON

The whole-souled welcome given by Wellington to General Hichardson last night was worthy of the man who deserved it, and creditable to all who took part in the Riving of it. General Richardson is one of the great JNew Zealand successes of the war. *« made the Now Zealand artillery what ir. the field; he shared ; wrtb, conspicuous' 'ability, in the fighting- atGalhpoli. at Salonika, and at Antwerp. During his command al «io New Zealand base ho was as U«t nguished, as popular, as efficient and as prominent as was General Hussell a t the front. On the platform of the Town Hall, the Mayor did justice to to services; the Defence Minister did the same for those services ana foi his great qualities; the soldierly address of the Artillery, presented by Colonel Campbell, gave a terse summary of his splendid career.; and the toe record covered by these speaker. >va enthusiastically endorsed by the cheeis of the great meeting of his fellow citizens It was a great moment in the General's life, one he said he had never ejected in his wildest dreams, and its pleasure to him was completed by the extension to his wife and her mother of the great welcome ac. corded him. To the public of the X the report is the most pleasant reading they have had since the Armistice was signed. It was a great occasion, and the best, feature of it was the speech of the General himself in acknowledgment otthe honours he has so well deserved. It wa 3 simple, straightforward, considerate, and so thorough as to cover everything, leaving out no comrade, and "mindful of every comrade s interest and service. Modest it wa» withal, for it tried to transler all the merit to his comrades. It waH the only failure of the speech, and the failure was forgiven with loud cheers, which carried also the note of appreciation for the work of the comrades so generously recognised. One realised the appropriateness of the happy phrase of the Artillery address — "Insisting on efficiency, you wero particularly successful in cultivating enthusiasm." Here was tho commander who knew every one under him; who Was interested in every individual, and therefore accessible to all; who expended his energies in ceaseless vigilance over the welfare of all; who spared neither exertion nor initiative in the performance of his duty. This is the man who busied himself to such purposo in the instructions provided to help his men in civil life, and opened shops at his headquarters to supply cheaply the needs of his married soldiers facing tho semi-starvation ol tho ration period on slender means; and has returned to watch over the work of repatriation. These things are in the eulogy of tho fighting services of his men and their discipline; in his appreciation of the medical men and their skill with tho wounded and their considerate caro; in his tribute to the nursing sisterhood, who worked so bravely and so tenderly; in his remembrance of the noblo dead, in his solicitude for tho maimed who deserve the help of the country for which thoy fought, in his desire to see-the work of repatriation done well and promptly according to tho country's promise, and the men's deserving. Such was his groat speech. It will live. It will do ' more —it will move.

■ The General did not forget to speak of the war. He dealt only with two questions—Galiipoli and Antwerp. In his reference to the first he virtually defended the commanding General by touching the main cause of failure, which, of course, was the separate attacl»iy the fleet, which gave the enemy notice to prepare*" a defence too forir.idable for the strength of the land forces afterwards detailed. This is> the universally accepted conclusion. In his reference to the second lie met the criticism levelled at the Minister who headed the Antwerp adventure, by

declaring that but for that adventure the enemy would have been in Calais. The Generals assurance is weighty, for he was on tho spot and went through the business. It is entitled to respect. Tho other side of tho question is that tho Antwerp adventure spoiled General Joffrc's plan of establishing his left on tho line of the Scheldt, _ abandoning Antwerp promptly and saving the Belgian coast at the outset. Writers like Do Souza and Major Haldane McPhail hold that the delay in the evacuation of Antwerp prevented the Belgians from taking their place on the lin.e of the Scheldt, which they might have held with tho help of Rawlinson's Beventh Division until the arrival of the French and British, who were lighting' their way north bound for the Scheldt, not the Yser. Now it is certain that those armies. were much impeded by tho German resistance, the First Corps of the British army not reaching the Yser until after the fall of Antwerp. It is possible, therefore, that the line of the Scheldt would not have been reached by the Allies in time to help the Belgian army to hold it. If tho Antwerp adventure really diverted the weight of the German attack to Dixmude after the retreating and harassed Belgian -army while the Yser gap was open, then the adventure must be held to have saved Calais. General Richardson's emphatic statement is. a new light on this critical phaso of tho campaign of 1914, which compels reconsideration of eld contusions. At any rate his taking the first opportunity of publicly stating his view is an instance of his conspicuous loyalty to those with whom he served, which rounds off the completeness of his speech very appropriately.