MAORI CONTINGENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1916, Page 6

MAORI CONTINGENT.

ADDRESS OF APPRECIATION. Before the members of the Second Maori Contingent left the' troopship Waitemata, which took them to Egypt, they presented Captain Nicholson and the other officers of the vessel with the following address: — "A message of love and leave-taking from the Second Maori Contingnt, known as 'Te Hoko Whitu-a-Tu,' i.e., 'The Fighting Contingent of Tu, the God of War.' "We cannot leave you without expressing our appreciation and gratitude to you for your patience, your zeal, your wisdom, and- your continual vigilance, by which you have brought us safely through the storms and wastes and the many dangers of the Great Ocean of Kiwa, our ancestor. We extend to you our affection for the kindness, the care and the great consideration you have shown for our welfare throughout the trip, for they have been equal to those' of a parent for his children. By your happiness We have been made happy By your participation in our pleasures those pleasures have been made great. On account of all these facts we shall never forget, you, for we have learned to regard you as a father to us your children.. And now our hearts are heavy and sad. for we have come to the time when we must part. Farewell. Return to the land whence we came, and as you go you will take with you our love for tiiose we have left behind. May the blessing of the Highest rest'upon you, upon your officers, and upon your ship as you go on doing the part that lias been allotted to you in this war in which we all in common are fighting that truth may prevail, that error may fall, and that peace may he restored to the world. Farewell. Farewell. Farewell."