H.M.S. New Zealand

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 15, 18 June 1913, Page 5

H.M.S. New Zealand

VISIT TO NEW PLYMOUTH. A PICTURESQUE HOLIDAY. MERRY MULTITUDES. A SUCCESSFUL FUNCTION. Dawn leaped in at the casement yesterday with threatening brows and a scowling face, wet with a short, sharp shower of rain, and hundreds of eager little eyes which had been watching for the breaking of the day reflected its temporary gloom. But the fates were propitious for once, and as the early morning stretched itself from sleep the sun broke through, and hurling his shafts to east and west and north and south hurried the glowering clouds across the mountain and away to sea, and majestically mounting his blue accoutred throne, prepared to preside over a festivity which is unique in the annals of Taranaki. The weather counted yesterday far more in everybody's mind than casein ] tests or the multiplication table, and it is hard to say whether the youngsters or the oldsters were the more relieved when it settled its flickle mind to unqualified fineness. It was a beautiful warm day, reminiscent of early spring, whilst the sea, which the previous day was very rough, behaved itself with an appropriate recognition of the fact that ul'on Britannia rules the waves she rules them straight. The sun shone brightly as the first

train drew out from the railway station, shortly after 7.30, laden witli a happy freight of joyous school children, eagerly scanning the horizon for a sight of the long-expected Dreadnought, whose risit they had been anticipating for so many slow-moving weeks. Arrival at the breakwater, even at that early hour, showed that the energetic committee had been still earlier astir, making preparations for the creature comforts of the vast concourso of people that were expected, and who did not fail to materJaHs.! as the day wore on. As train after train deposited its load, principally of juveniles, the environs of the Breakwater soon wore an animated appearance, which was enhanced as scores of motor-cars and hundreds of traps from all the adjacent country added their living quota. The arrangements made by the organising committee for handling the huge crowd were most complete, and worked liko clockwork, there not being a single hitch noticeable anywhere. The foresight in dividing the wharf lengthwise ' into three races or compartments greatly facilitated the handling of the thousands who boarded the excursion steam-' era for a cruise around the leviathan, I for there was too great a swell on the, bosom of the waters to allow of the larger boats being taken alongside, though quite a flotilla of saucy oil launches fussed hither and thither/dodging the traffic and conveying scores of curious visitors from the'wharf to the vessel, which was quickly overrun by a swarming throne insatiate after knowledge. As each train arrived at the freezing work* the children were marshalled an 3 marched to alJoltcd places to the west of the Breakwater, toward Mikotah'. until it was time for them to embark on the excursion steamers. Soon was heard the cry. "Here she comes!" :.-« smoke was seen in the distance. Tt proved a false alarm, however, as it was only the Taviuni. A little later, H.M.S. New Zealand was discerned away out to sea. rapidly approaching New Plymouth.'! The grey monster stole in from the grey horision almost stealthily, majestically conimandin, and with something almost sinister in her "crouch" uxion the wr.ter and Ihe threat of ner halfhidden armament. She paused, hesitated and tlun anchored about a mile and a half from port, an aristocrat among the aristocracy of Britain's fleet. j

Tim first load of school children was rapidly and methodically got aboard tlip Tutanekni, until at 8.30 a.m., when that vessel east away from tlin wharf on her trip to meet the warship, she was packed from stem to stem with a hanpv mass of humanity. What mattered if the ship did roll a little, or. as on" sm.'ii; mite put it, did "shake ui> and down?" They were out to enjov themsr-lves. and enjoy themselves thev did. The captain did not deem it advisable to go alongside, so circled tlm gient cruiser two or three times, to five the children every opportunity of inspecting her. Thereafter the warship was the centre of n busy crowd of vessels of all sorts and sixes that swarmed around her like a hive, of particularly bnsv bees THE OFFICIAL' VTSTT.

Almost simultaneously with the despatch of the Tiitar.ek'ai, the official party left to pay a formal visit to the man-of-war. The ivirfv. which left m two launches, consisted of t!:- ?.'nyor of New Plymouth (Mr. (!. \V. Browne) and borough councillors, Messrs. 0. Young (Mayor of Inglewood), \V. F. Jenkins (Mayor of Waitara) and T. B. Crump (Mayor of Eltham), Messrs. H. J. Okey and C. A. Wilkinson, M.P's.. Hon. W. F. Carncross, M.L.C., Mr. J. 13. ConiK'lt (chairman) and members of the New Plymouth Harbor Board; Colonel Malone, Captain and Adjutant Lampen, Messrs. T. 0. List, W. C, Weston and others. The launches were alongside before the gangway was lowered, and the party were soon aboard the vessel, where they were met by Commander Grace, who introduced the Mayor of New Plymouth to Captain Halsey. The Mayor then formally introduced the balance of the partv.' . The visitors were conducted over the vessel, which was inspected thoroughly, the working of the guns being minutely explained to ".11. Viewed from the stately warship, the steadiness of which offered a strange conthast to the dancing of the tiny launches, which were the sport of the sea, New Plymouth, with Mount E?mont in the background, presented a very fine picture. The steamers circling the vessel were also tine spectacles, with their hundreds of eager passengers straining their eyes to take in as much of the vessel as possible in the time at their disposal. The Tutanekni, Taviuni, Rarawa and Tainui were utilised to convey the excursionists, and one and all were koit particularly busy nil the day. THE OFFICIAL WECOME. CAPTAIN* HALSEY WELCOMED BY THE PROVINCE. SPEECHES ON THE WHARF. There was a gay scene on the wharf when Captain Halsey, accompanied by Engineer-Commander T. H. Turner, StallNunicon Dr. Mark-Hall, and Lieutenants A. D. Bovle and North, were .welcomed at the landing stage by the chairman of the Harbor Board (Mr. J. B. Connett), his Worship the Mayor (Mr. G. W. Browne), and by Mr.'lf. J. Okev, M.P. A raised platform had been constructed at the side of the wharf, from which the speakers addressed the big crowd, which included the Taranaki Veterans, one hundred strong, under Colonel Ellis. THE HARBOR BOARD. Tn extending a hearty welcome to Captain Halsey, his officers and men Mr J B. Connett (chairman of the Harbor Board) sam lie felt sure the New Z ea

I land would give a good account of herself I should necessity arise. Be fervently hoped, however, that her services would! never be required in that direction and thought that the help given and offered by New Zealand and other dominions might have the effect of preventing war, as the surest way to secure peace was to be prepared. "To Sir Joseph Ward," proceeded Mr. Connett, "is due the credit of making the suggestion of this fine gift battleship, for which he deserved great credit. It was never a party question, but favored by almost the whole population of this Dominion. Taranaki was rightly termed the 'Garden of New Zealand,' the exports per head being the largest in the Dominion, and its inhabitants were not lacking in loyalty to the Throne and Empire, as they would see to-day. The Harbor Board were pushing on the dredging operations as speedily as possible so as to accommodate the largest ships trading to New Zealand, and were looking forward to the time when battleships would be lying at the wharf taking in oil fuel, as there wereno- doubt large areas of oil-bearing country in this district. It was very gratifying to see such a large number of settlers present, and especially the children from all parts of the province, wh» had looked forward to the visit of the New Zealand with the. utmost interest. . This was a memorable day to them, and one they would be able to speak of with pride in the days to come.'* Mr. Coinett concluded with the hope that the captain would have a pleasant time during his short stay here. SPEECH BY THE MAYOR. His Worship the Mayor' (Mr. G. W. Browne) then welcomed our viistors', and remarked that it would be pleasing to I the visitors to learn that they had with them some of the remaining few of the first pioneer settlers of the province, who landed in 1841 within a few hundred J yards of where the platform stood. They I were proud to have the founders of this part of the Dominion to assist in welcoming New Zealand's gift ship, the visit of which reminded them of the early days, when the navy played such an important part. The battleship Jiyitng out in the offing conveyed a great object lesson in thot it enabled them to realise their duty to the Empire. It inspired them to be ever ready for further effort; it enabled them to understand that the only price of permanent peace was being prepared to enforce it Deep down in their hearts they knew that no sacrifice would be considered too great that would enable the Empire to guarantee the peace of the world.' The visit of the battleship to our shores ha* a great significance to us in New Plymouth—greater perhaps than to aw other part of the Dominion. Every effort was being made to develop the oil f* dustry and supply fuel that would be of specially great value to the navy e»trusted to police the South Pacific. Oo»tinuing, Mr. Browne said the vißit wonlj enable the children to realise their r# sponsibility, and it would inculcate & their youthful minds that spirit of ]■» pcrialism that permeated the T?h,oTe <t the British Empire. As a special favot he asked that the children be allowed to see the New Zealand flag presented W the ship, as in after years it might remind them that it would be" their dutr " to keep it flying at all costs. (Applause).

THE MEMBER FOR THE DISTRICT, Mr. IL .J. H. Okey, MP., extended a welcome to Captain Halsey, on behalf - of the Bettlers of Taranaki. It was a great pleasure to him to welcome Cap- \ 1 tain Halsey, the commander of the ship j which was given by the Government of Now Zealand as a recognition of loyalty to their King. "There is no need," continued the Speaker, "for the settler* in this district to flaunt their loyalty. They have had to fight in the past, m order to save their country for the Kmg. (Applause). Then in South Africa, did not our settlers send their sons to respond to another call, and did not. these men shed their blood in fighting for their. country? (Applause)." They were pleased to have Captain Halsey here, if only for a short time, Mr. Okey concluded, and trusted tfcat his remembrances' of New Plymouth would, be pleasant. (Applause). j OUR VISITOR RESPONDS. Loud applause welcomed Captain Halsev, when he rose to respond. "I ca« only thank you," he said, "for the most hearty welcome you have accorded u%, and I also wish to thank the speakersfor the very kind expressions of welcome which tliev have extended to us here this morning. 1 can assure you that although our stay here is a short one, it would be our wish that we should stav for n longer time, because not only will we have very little c*ance of seeing this beautiful district, but, I' am quite sure, we should have received the Bame welcome nil over the district as we have- ' experienced wherever we have been in this Dominion. (Applause). This is the last place on the West Coast that we are visiting, and we are luckv enough to be able to get ashore for the first time on the West Coast. (Applause). The only i thing I hope is that I shall get off amii l ' (Laughter) Not .that I want tfr •;ave you, but I don't want to leave my ship. (More laughter). "I am glad to think," Captain Halsey went on to sav. "tliaf we have a «nV day here. Although manv thousands cannot leave the big craft to go alongside, yet in the smaller vetsels they are getting aboard. In ih« big ships' they are cruising around, to see all thev can of the battleship, which' you so magnificently gave to the Empire, During the time we have been in Dominion waters we have had four hundred thousand; people aboard. It has been the greatest pleasure to us to receive them on board, the only thing is that we are sorry that the time lias been so short in places They have all been so loval in wishingto see everything'in the ship that we more deeply regret that we have not been able to show them all that wfc should.have liked them to have seen. However, we have done our best to all we could, and I am very grateful to all' who have been aboard for the patient way m which they have behaved on the eneeto t.s"' S m " de th ° * reatm,t differ"PAVKD THE WAY OF PEACE." rw °- V ' u , flU ' "* tlle sil! P is concerned," Uptain Halsey proceeded, -'as you know you saw that ship to the Empire to 1?„ ° ''T re t0 < !< lfend Empire.' As one speaker to-day said, you na£ " )p t! ° Em P> re ' rfoht away from the ou wfl'l Si "?• Perfectly Pertain that ■™^V t «»>tinue to do vonr utmost o.rtnefcmmrc. I am sure of this, font tn.it the Empire has no more loyal do"ml'wh If Zb " m4 <W<lel the whole manhood of New Zealand if i ou in New Zealand, as far as the navv « concerned, led the way. Tour lead ;«* been followed, „nd "that lead S* S'veu the possible enemies of the EmrX (Applause). Yon, mi doing this i mw , paved the way of peace. Af 'a snouiti the opportunity occur and w«» anseI■ .» rertafa that you' 3 -peoiallyl'Tntli?" Z, * ,and ** ; Lad,os «nd gentlemen," conclude* -'. (TobeC e»«»ued.oaPagea^