BELGIUM’S THANKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1921, Page 5

BELGIUM’S THANKS.

DECORATION FOR PREMIER. DOMINION’S HELP RECOGNISED. Br Telecraah.—-Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Prime Minister was formally invested with the Order of the Crown oi Belgium to-dav by M. Henri Segearl, Belgian Consul-General to Australasia. The. decoration was conferred upon Mr. Massey by the King of Belgium in recognition of the work done during the war by the Government and the people of New Zealand, and the direct help given Belgium by the people of the Dominion. The ceremony took place in the Cabinet room, among those present being a number of Ministers, M.P.’e, officials, Consuls, and public men. _ I

M. Segeart, making the investiture, said the order ranked among the highest distinctions his King could bestow, and his country knew it had never been better deserved than by the statesman, who, since the first violation of Belgian neutrality, had led his people to their aid. Never before in the annals of mankind had there been such an outburst of sympathy and charity as was shown by New Zealand to Belgium. His country would never forget it, and it was with the intention of giving tangible expression to this deep gratitude that the King had sent him that day to invest Mr. Massey with the title and dignity of a gregt officer of the Order of the Crown.

Mr. Massey, in replying, said he recognised that the honor was a compliment to the people of the Dominion as a whole. He alluded to the sentimental tie with Belgium, because in its soil were sleeping many of our boys. Later on, replying to the toast of his' health, Mr. Massey recalled that fateful Easter Sunday in 1918, during the great German drive, when Mr. Lloyd George cabled out asking if New Zealand could send more troops, and that night he was able to reply that five thousand troops were ready and would sail in a few days. He referred with pride to the way in which the Belgian troops had held the Germans at bay while the Allies got ready. He then thanked the Consul for the distinction conferred on him.