OUR DREADNOUGHT

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10113, 7 October 1910, Page 6

OUR DREADNOUGHT

A COMPLIMENT TO MASTERTON. Masterton received a high compli ment in the House of Representatives at the hands of Mt Craigie, Member for Titnaru Mr Craigie I asksd the Government a question relating to the proposal to alter the name of the battleship "Mew Zealand" or "The Maori," the object being to transfer the name "New Zealand" to the new Dreadnought. The school children of New Zealand, Mr Craigie said, had presented the battleship with a silver bell, a shield, and a book in which to record ihe shooting prizes. In addition to that, a sum of £SOO "had i been invested in Timaru municipal debentures bearing 4| per cent, interest, which was paid automatically to a shooting prize fund for the battleship. Th ! s fund, he believed!, rendered the battlaship the best endowed vessel in the navy in the matter of shooting prizes. The people of iimaru were keenly interested in the matter, because it had originated ia Timaru. and they wished to know what would become of the gifts, as they would look out of place on H.M.S. Maori, while bearing the name of another vessel. That the movement wa3 of national importance, wa3 proved by the fact that something like a thousand schools had subscribed to the fund. In this connection he pointed out that a great many schools, particularly in the backhlocks from Southland to the North Cape, had been most patriot c and given donations, and that the district of Masterton had subscribed more money than the four large centres, This being a national affair, he hoped the Prime Minister, after looking into the question, would confer with the Admiralty with a view to doing what was best under the circumstances.' The Prime Minister said that he would carefully consider tha question, on which he would probably have to communicate with the authorities in England. Speaking on the spur of the moment, he thought that the gifts could not be transferred from the vessel to which t they had bean made. Possibly the I inscriptions could be altered to get I over the difficulty.