OFFICERS FETED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 738, 10 August 1929, Page 13

OFFICERS FETED

STATE luncheon given P FOR TOURVILLE PRIME MINISTER’S TOAST

Press Association WELLINGTON, Friday

The French, cruiser Tourville, now 6 t Wellington, is creating considerable interest, largo numbers of people being gathered about the ship this morning. Yesterday's official calls were returned, and the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, was accompanied by a number of Cabinet Ministers and the Mayor by several City Councillors. The captain and officers were entertained at a luncheon at Parliament Horse today.

Sir Joseph Ward, proposing the toast of the naval visitors at the luncheon, said he was convinced he was expressing the sentiments of the entire Dominion when he said the welcome he had the honour to extend was characterised by a veryspecial spontaneity, sincerity and warmth of feeling. They had been bound together for more than a decade by ties of friendship and mutual respect, which were none the less effective for their lack of formal and precise definition. The two nations found themselves in 19X4 obliged to defend by sea anti 3 and the honour of their countries and the liberty of mankind. Brotherhood in arms had gfven way to brotherhood in peace, and the two countries, still in the closest co-operation, were engaged in an endeavour to guarantee the liberties of the nations and to build the future of the world on a permanent foundation of security and justice. Captain Abrial spoke in French, in replying to the toast. He said: “It is a great honour to the officers of the Tourville and myself to be today the guests of the Government and of the Parliament of New Zealand. Since we arrived in this country wo have received so many proofs of sympathy and friendship that it is difficult for me to find the necessary words to express myself adequately, but several days ago in travel! ing across country trom Auckland to Wairakei and Rotorua, I understood better than ever the causes of this friendship. “Everywhere -in the small towns we saw monuments to the dead—memorials, as you call them here. At Hamilton I saw a park where all the trees had been planted in memory of soldiers fallen on the field of battle in Europe. Yesterday, when paying my official visit to the Harbour Board, I shook the hand of a mother who had lost two sons in the Great War. I saw (he tears in her eyes, tears like those of the French mothers mourning their sons dead pour le Patrie. There you have it —the bond of friendship between New Zealand and France, a sentiment durable and profound. Gentlemen, I raise my glass in honour of the Government and of the Parliament of New Zealand. Long life to the British Empire.”