GENERAL BIRDWOOD

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10610, 8 June 1920, Page 3

GENERAL BIRDWOOD

GUEST OF N.Z. CLUB

A STIRRING SPEECH. AND A GREAT OVATION. General Sir William R. Bird wood, K.T., G.C.M.G., K.C.8., who was tlio guest of honour ut the New Zealand Club luncheon at the Y.M.C.A. yesterday, delivered a characteristic spoch—high in fcjue, stirring in quality, and enlivened with anecdote and humour. There was a very large attendance, and Air William Al. Pago (president), in extending a very cordial welcome' to General Birdwood, congratulated him upon having won, so- great a reputation as a leader in time of war, and predicted that he would prove himself equally as great a leader in time of peace-. (Loud applause.) On rising to respond General Birdwood was received with loud applause and oiiecrs. Ho thanked the member* o ij ° 0 f° r hdieii- invitation to adaddress them, and for their "too kind welcome.” He had gone up on the hills that morning, he said, to try and got a comprehensive view of Now Zealand’s capital city, but it was so> calm and (there was so much smoke hanging about that ho could not do so. He understood, however, that we somethin had a breeze in 'Wellington. (Laughter.) In lact, he had been told by some detractors of our fair city that you could always tell a Wellington man anywhere by his holding his hat on his head as ho went round a corner (Laughter.) He could not but think, as ho looked at the smoke, that tihe.ro could he no smoke-nuisance-nbatenieut by-laws in Wellington; and that there must, in consequence, bo hundreds of tons of good carbon going to waste here, every year. But he wm glad (to tako the smoko as a sure and certain sign of tho industrial prosperity of the city. "LILLE—A DEAD CITY.”

Looking down over Wellington reminded Jhm of Lille, formerly a great French manufacturing centre. His ainiy happened to have the good fortune! to relievo Lille. (Applause.) But Lillo was dead. The Germans had taken away the whole of the machinery from her factories and sent it off to Germany; with the one idea that had governed them throughout, that when tho war ended they should not only have conquered the world by force ol arms, but have the commercial supremacy over everybody, too. The taking of that machinery was not a legitimate act of war. but an act of sheer spoliation. (Applause.) Lille did him tlie honour to give him tho freedom of the city, and when ho went there a year later to receive it, ho found Liu still a city cif the dead. He asked her people why, and 'they said it was because they could not got the machinery. They wore waiting for it from England, but it had not tome. That made him think how extremely fortunate We-IlindKibn and olliar British cities weru in not having an enemy at' our gates. (Applause.) “Alakc sure.” ho adjured -them, “that if lighting takes place, it takes place in somebody che’s backyard, _ not in yours.” (Laughter and applause.) We could licit, of course, launch out in indefinite expense for defensive purposes) but wo ought to have a definite defence policy, and work it out. Then, realising how -far short it must of necessity fall, wo should let tho people know’ so that they would be aware o, how much more would ho needed to moot a case of emergency ._ (Applause.) Wc must see that our cities were not treated as Lille was. Lillo was one of more than half-a-dozen towns so- treated. In foot, some were absolutely wiped out. DEFENCE AND POPULATION. After all defence was a matter of population. That must surely, bo our first care, the crying need of population. (Applause.) lie believed that that was realised by our men and women as essential. Lcoking over our latest Year Book, which had been sent him, it struck him that, seeing the rates of child-birth so well maintained during tho war, one would never have thought that so large a proportion of onr men were away. One would have expected a considerable falling-off; but the women evidently realised that it was up to them to do their bit for their country, and they had done so. (Laughter and applause.) In 1914 the birth' rate was 20.99 per thousand of our population; in 1915, it was 25.33; in 1916, '25.94; and in 1917, 25.G9 hardly any falling-off at all. , Tho men also did their duty. Ho understood they brought hack to Now Zealand witli them some 3000 wives. The AusItralians had brought back- some 15,000. Ho had congratulated them on having done so, and as a result ho was deluged with letters, especially from ladies asking him if ho did not think the Australian girls good enough for them. (Laughter.) tie hoped to have, a chance of meeting some of the English brides here; and lie -was sure that lie would find them settling down hero as comfortably aa those in, Australia. (Applause.) One of his daughters had married an Australian (applause), and if the other married a New Zealander, ho would ho only too delighted (applause); but she w* - a' only a small child of ten at present. (Laughter.) THE MOST VALUABLE CROP. Wherever he went Australia, added General Birdwood, ho round a magnificent lot of children abour tho place—tlie most valuable crop a country could have, and tho crop wc wanted to look after most when wo had raised it. (Applause.) They had told him a good -deal in Australia about droughts and bad harvests; but h,e told 'them they were to be congratulated, at all events, upon their splendid crop of children. (Applause.) Ho was surd ho would find throughout New Zealand just as big and prosperous-look-ing children ns in Australia. (Applause.) That was all very well, however. Tlicse crops were coming on, hut wo needed to get population before theSo crops of children were grown up; and when the men of the N.Z.E.F. were all settled down, he was sure that wo would welcome to New Zealand all tho men of the British Army and Navy who would come out here. Many of them had been invited by their Australian and New Zealand comrades in the trenches to come out to this part of the world, help develop these fine countries, and reap with them the benefit® of doing so. Looking at the gorso on the bills, he said, why wo could not compete with the gorse even until wo had tho population. (Laughter.) CITIZEN-SOLDIERS AND SOLDIERCITIZENS. Some of them might look upon tho soldiers as non-productive people. He did not moan as regards the children (laugfiler), but as regards bringing wealth into the country. But if they looked into it thev would not think .that

long; for they would realise that for tlie first time in our history wo had been engaged in a really national war. After all our army was an army of citizens in the garb of soldiers, and it was soldiers in the garb of citizens that we wanted to develop the country. (Applause.) In New Zealand the proportion of returned soldiers was enormous; and ho believed that they were going to do their very best for the country. His message to all tho men was—“ Shake off war-apathy. A kind of war-apathy does come. Shake it off, and make up your minds that yon are not going to live on tho reputation of the N.Z.E.F.” .j (Applause.) Ninety-nine and a-half per cent, of the men were determined to do that, ho was su.ro (applause); and the other half per cent, were probably not workers before the war. (Laughter and' applause.) The rest of tho men should take that half per cent, by the nock and make them work, and not let them blacken the faces of good honest men. (Applause.)

MESSAGE FOR MAIMED MEN. Even the maimed men could do their bit. He had been out to see the 200 or so of them at Troutham ; and, speaking to them, he found that every one of them was anxious to do his hit when ho was well enough. (Applause.) M’o could all of ns, he said, do a great deal to encourage those men to make good. He saw one maimed than who had had been in hospital over three years. Ho asked him what he did. “Nothing,” was the reply. But ho could have been doing something. It would have been good for him to have been doing something. (Applause.) Ho told him lie had been allowing his mind to lie fallow, and that it would he very difficult for him to to he up tho running again. It might seem a bit unkind to urge maimed men to go to work; hut it was really tho kindest thing we could do to urge them to do what work thev could up to the extent of their ability. (Applause.’) It was extraordinary what a man without an arm. or a man with one log. or even both logs off, could do in the way of basket-work, woodcarving, and so on.' A WORD TO EMPLOYERS.

Further, he urged business men and other employers to have patience with the men who had had their nerves film tiered by shell-shock, owing to the fearful shell-fire of this war. Such a man, he said, might work splendidly for a couple of months, and then disappoint his employers. "Hut don’t turn him down,’’ ho pleaded. "Ho patient with them—not once, nor twice, nor half a dozen times, hut every time. Give them every possible ehaiico. If you realise what good, warm-hearted men they really are, I am sure yop will do that. Do it, and you will '/am the gratitude of these men nnd of your country for making them into good citizens again.” (Applause. ) IVc should, he continued, do all we could to employ the men of Mow Zealand and of the Empire, and (:o use the goods of New Zealand and of the Empire. We should make that n really practical We should form ourselves into an association that would do its very best to that end. (Applause.) ENCOURAGE INVENTION.

He had been reading a report of a British Royal Commission on petrol, which stated that we should soon ho facing a. real petrol famine, and that we should have great difficulty in supplying ourselves with petrol even at famine prices. We should encourage invention, develop the latest inventive geniuses of our country, and try to find substitutes for petrol. And wo should do our utmost to develop all the natural resources of the country. The world had had one big Loom of oil, and another of rubber, and ho believed that the next would he of timber. Ho had, therefore, been very glad to read the report in that morning's paper of Sir O. E. Hutchins’s lecture on New Zealand forestry. Wo must find something—some mineral or vegetable product—to take the place of oil. He congratulated the Oomin- 1 ion on its great water-power supplies. Wo should develop them as speedily as possible; and, speaking of hydroelectricity, Edison hud been trying for years to find an accumulator, or stor-age-battery, less weighty than those now in use. Why should not a New Zonkinder discover that accumulatorP (Applause.) Wo must, 'ho thought, have a lot of oil in New Zealand, with till its volcanic activity. He also urged the need for making the pictureshows less likely to divert the minds ot the yotmß In wrong paths. We •should lie able to devise some rcallja good picture-shows, at once educational* in tlie true sense, yet interesting and amusing. Finally, ho said, when wc gave thanks to God for winning this war, another thing we should give thanks for was that for the hurt 500 years Britons had been what they are. Briton had sent forth exactly the same men to fight the Armada as she and her colonies had sent forth in the last war —(applause)-—men who went willingly to die fearlessly for their King, their country, and right. (Applause.) Ho know what cause wo had to he really proud of these men. (Applause.) OUR HANDS CLEAN.-

Ho thought, however, that wc, as n nation, hardly took credit enough for the fact that throughout the whole of this lighting our hands had been clean. Not only in lighting the enemy—because in that the hands of men of the "British race would always ho clean; hut he meant, also, in entering the war. Wo had not gone into the war for gain or far self-aggrandisement. Wo did nothing to bring rt about. Wo entered it purely for right and justice. (Applause.) But one small rilt wo could point to, in which it coSld bo raid that we had failed, in that" we were unready—nut only unready, but obviously unready. Had Germany thought what the British Navy could expand to; had she thought that Britain could send sixty divisions into the field, Australia live, Canada four, and New Zealand one, the war would not have come when it did. Probably it would have come later, however, because the expense of Germany’s preparations were so terrible. But if it had to come, then tho sooner the hotter, because later Germany would have been still better prepared. If we had slept for another twenty years and Germany had gone on preparing, goodness only know what the result would have been. KEEP FULLY INSURED. s We had been unwilling to pay tho insurance premium; and it was only right that on us should fall the loss — not only in treasure, but, unfortunately, also in the line men' we had loot. We must see that for tho future w e were fully insured prepared fbr whatever might como. (Loud and long applause and cheering, followed by tho strains df “For He’s a Jolly Good Follow.”) In moving a hearty vote of thanks to General Birdwood, which was enthusiastically accorded, the chairman said that the splendid speech they had just listened to had fully justified his prediction that their guest would