NEW ZEALAND TROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 July 1940, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND TROOPS

INSPECTED BY THE KING

KEEN INTEREST IN DETAILS OF TRAINING. MAORIS ATTRACT SPECIAL ATTENTION. (From the Official War Correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces Overseas). LONDON. July 7. His Majesty the King todiiy spent five hours with the troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the United Kingdom, visiting all units and cither inspecting them on parade, or. as he preferred, watching their regular training. Wearing the uniform of Field Marshal. the King first visited the Railway Construction Maintenance. Group, the Maori Battalion and the Field Ambulances Convalescent Depot, which all assembled in adjacent fields. The railwaymen received him with the Royal Salute. He inspected the ranks, pausing here and there to speak to officer or man.

The Macris, at infantry drill in platoons, appeared to have a special attraction for his Majesty. He expressed pleasure at meeting as soldiers the fine men whom he already knew in their home setting and as athletes. He walked from one platoon to another. obviously well informed in every phase of training, and when he had thus visited the whole battalion, turned and retraced his steps for a second look before being hurried away to keep abreast of his timetable. The men of two medical units were just going into lunch, bareheaded, with oil sheets about their shoulders as protection against a heavj' drizzle. The King asked that they be allowed to enter the mess tents while he was within. He waited to see the first of them served from steaming dixies, remarking that the food locked inviting and the men ready to do it justice. At the artillery camp training was in full swing on big guns, anti-tank weapons. Bren guns and with rifles. INTEREST IN MEN AND WEAPONS. It was plain from his questions and comments that his Majesty has a thorough knowledge of the modern army's weapons, and feels a deeply human interest in the. men who operate them. He became one of a circle of men about each instructor in turn, and as he loft at last he observed that a gunner has to be a versatile man. The Engineers and the Army Service Corps, whose camps are a little distance away, assembled on the artillery ground, where they received the King with the royal salute, and were inspec-ed-bv him. The morning's programme was carried through in persistent rain, but the only variation of the intended order was in the case of the Army Service Corps, who have been working at map reading and other training unsuitable for the open during rain. His Majesty refused to allow the weather to interfere in the slightest degree with either the scope or, thd detail of his purposeful wanderings among the troops. The King lunched as the guest of Major-General Freyberg at headquarters. Other guests included the High Commissioner. Mr Jordan. General D. G. Johnson, V.C.. G.0.C.. Local Command, and General Sir Alexander Godley, first G.O.C. of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the last war. who paid a graceful tribute to his successor by appearing in a colonel's uniform and the badges of the- 15th North Auckland Regiment, of which he is Colonel-in-Chief. One hundred and twenty officers, junior and senior, drawn from every unit of the echelon, and a small party of New Zealand nurses, were also present.

INFORMAL MARCH PAST. After luncheon the weather cleared. Setting out to see the Infantry Brigade, the King encountered the Auckland Battalion route marching, and took the salute in a democratically informal march past, standing at the side oi a tree-lined country road. Opposite him on the other side of the road eight paces away, a group of women and children gathered. One woman was without a hat, had a basket on her arm and was leaning across the handle bars of a bicycle. One could not but contrast the unpretentious scene with the elaborately stage-managed military , occasions in dictator countries. Machine-gunners working a Vickers gun. newly issued, felt they had met a fellow soldier when his Majesty pointed out that one part vyas missing from their assembling of it. Anti-tank infantry was seen at work with the anti-tank rifle, and the Canterbury and Otago battalions at bayonet and antigas drill. The King spoke admiringly of the physique and vim oi the South Island bayonet fighters as he walked from group to group. The Wellington battalion was training with the Bren gun and rifle. His Majesty was accompanied by MajorGeneral Freyberg and General Johnson. officer commanding the battalion. The infantry brigade was al physical drill when the official party came; divisional cavalry were clambering in and out of tanks; divisional signallers were sending and receivjng morse. ; The King watched file practised hand of a New Zealand telegraph operator rap out a message, and then said: “These are experts." Finally his Majesty met nurses and doctors on the staff of the First New Zealand General Hospital, all those available being brought to headquarters for the occasion and assembled on the lawn. Nurses' voices added a shrill note to the great burst of cheering. Major-General Freyberg speeded the smiling, apparently untired Sovereign back to London.

HIS MAJESTY'S GOOD WISHES. This evening Major-General Freyberg issued the following special order of the day: "His Majesty the King at the conclusion of his five-hour inspection ot the units of the N.Z.E.F. has asked me to issue an order saying how he enjoved being among New Zealanders again and what a good impression he formed of the training. His Majesty during his visit showed the greatest interest in all he saw. He was specially pleased with the smartness of the close order and arm drill of the Maori Battalion, and was impressed by the fine physique, keenness and determined demeanour of men in all units. His Majesty 7 wishes you good luck wheicver vc.u may serve, and hopes you are enjoying your visit to the Old Country. God Save the King!"

A Press Association message says that the King received a tremendous welcome. Ho met Mrs A. P. F. Chapman. wife of the cricketer. She has charge of a canteen given by her father, Mr T. H. Lowry.