THE MAHENO.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1915, Page 2

THE MAHENO.

BRIEF VISIT TO MALTA. A PAPER'S TRIBUTE The New Zealand hospital ship Mahcno is the subject of reference in the Daily Malta Gazette, of September 20 last. In a article head "New Zealand and the War," the writer says:— "One of the finest hospital ships that have anchored in our harbors since Malta became a base hospital for the Dardanelles some five months ago, was undoubtedly the New Zealand ship Maheno, which arrived here last week and left again on its errand of mercy after a couple of days' stay. The Maheno may be fitly described as the latest practical token of that intense patriotism of New Zealand, and its unalterable attachment to the grand Imperial connection, which, first shown in the free offer of a battleship to the Mother Country—the now famous New Zealand, the first Dominion gift to the Imperial Navy—gloriously stood a fiery test during the South African war, and has been Staled for ever-more during the present conflict, when the heroic troops of the Dominion, side by side with their Australian brethren, have written in characters of blood in a soul-stirring and imperishable chapter, not only in their own history and that of the British Empire, but also in the annals of the civilised world. The Maheno is luxuriously fitted; cots are provided for 388 sick or wound-. Ed soldiers, and, in case of emergency, the drawing-room, equipped for the use of the officers and nurses, could accomodate CO more patients. Complete in every detail, not only for the purpose for which it is primarily intended, namely, as a hospital ship, but also from the point of view of comfort, is the briefest but best description of the Maheno. It speaks volumes for the patriotism of New Zealand that the amount necessary for the transformation of the Maheno and its use as a hospital ship was raised by public subscription in the Dominion in a few days. The popular skipper of the Maheno is Captain D. McLean. During the ship's stay in our harbor, Captain McLean visited All Saints' Convalescent Camp, where so many of his countrymen are recruiting their strength amidst charming and healthy surroundings, and which is under the efficient command of a New Zealand officer, Cap tain Burton Mabiu.. What is more, the skipper of the Maheno and the camp commandant at All Saints are very old dear friends—but they had not met for 20 years. The lung separation, however, and the inevitable changes wrought by the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century, have not availed to cool the ardent feelings of friendship and esteem that bound the two gallant officers; and wc may well imagine Sow heartily and eagerly Captain Mabin and Captain McLean, as they sat down to lunch in the officers' mess, surrounded by a score of other officers from different parts of the common Empire, but all speaking the same tongue and animated by a common sentiment, spoke of old days, of the present crisis, of future hopes, and of the extraordinary, but happy, conineidenee which, after 20 long years' separation, reunited them for a brief moment on the hospitable shores of this little spot of the Mediterranean lake, divided from the dear old home by 13,000 miles of ocean and land barriers,' but none the less a corner, small, but all-important, of that magnificent world-Empire over which the sun never setst"