THE ORDER OF DANILO.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 February 1917, Page 5

THE ORDER OF DANILO.

NEW ZEALANDERS HONORED BY THE KING OF MONTENEGRO. (From Malcolm Ross, War Correspondent with the' New Zealand Forces in the Field). Northern France, Dec. 28. Among the recent visitors to the British front in Franco was the King of Montenegro, a hale and hearty old gentleman who took a keen interest in all ho saw. Impressed with the successful efforts of our army, he offered certain decorations for officers who had distinguished themselves in the operations. Three of these—Seemid, Fourth, and Fifth Class of the Order of Danilo—have been conferred respectively on Major-General Sir A. H. Russell,'k.CM.G., A.D.C., the General Commanding tlio New Zealand Division; Major G. Barclay, V.D., commanding a Field Company of Tngineers, and Captain M. Urquhart, of the Tamnaki Rifles. At Corps Headquarters jesterday afternoon these very handsome decorations were presented to the recyiients in the presence of various Divisional Generals and Staff officers by Lieutenant-Gener-al Sir Alexander .Godley, K.C.8., K. 1,,. M.G., General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. General Godley, in making the presentations said: "I have been deputed to hand to the recipients these decorations presented by His-Majesty the King r,t Montenegro, and I would like to say how proud I am to do so, because they arc conferred upon three officers who have served under my command for ft long time now, and none knows better than I how thoroughly well deserved they are. General Russell has been one of those New Zealanders who lias been largely instrumental in mal|ng the New Zealand Territorial Forces what they are at the present day, and his service's in command of the New Zealand Mount-' ed Rifles in New Zealand and afterwards on Gallipoli, and subsequently in command of the New Zealand Division on Gallipoli and in Franco, fully merits this award. You all know how well an.i how brilliantly he has commanded first his brigade and then his division. "Major Barclay is an old volunteer whose services as an officer in the New Zealand Territorial Forces were most valuable. As a lieutenant-colonel in the Citizen Forces when the wai broke out, he sank his rank in order that he might command a field company in the Expeditionary Force. He did excellent work on the Peninsula and on the iSommc, and I am sure there is no one who hsa commanded a field company of Engineers better than he.

"Captain Urquhart was for a long time connected with a regiment—the Taranaki Rifles—that fought most gallantly in the Maori Wars anil that has a very high reputation in New Zealand. It is a regiment that has carried on its traditions to the top of Sari Bair on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where its colonel, known to us all as a most gallant officer, fell in the foremost Turkish trenches. Captain Urquhart has proved himself a man worthy to bo a member of that regiment, and his gallant services on Gallipoli, at the Sorame, ana also in the Boer War, are known to many of you. "I can only refer again to the great pleasure it gives me to present these I decorations which have been so wall «vnd