Reception of Waimate Troopers.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 177, 18 July 1901, Page 3

Reception of Waimate Troopers.

Yesterday afternoon, three members of the Fifth Contingent, Quartermaster-Sergeant T. Gfoldstone, Farrier-Sergeant D. McTaggart and J. Lindsay returned to Waimate. They were met at the railway station by members of the Waimate Rifles, and carrie i shoulder high to a buggy. Then, headed by the Waimate Brass Baud playing patriotic airs, and followed by a large crowd, they were drawn up the main street by members of the Waimate Rifles. They were accommodated with Beats on a platform in front of the Borough Council Chambers, on the platform also being the Mayor (Mr John Manchester), Mrs and Miss Manchester, the speakers and members of the Reception Committee.

The Mayor, in welcoming hack the men, said this was the fourth occasion of a similar nature. Some uncertainty had existed as to the lime of these men’s return,, and this militated against the attendance. He, with many others, wondered why they were Bending these men home. He would like them to return when the last ritla had been laid down by the Boers. He was glad to welcome the men back safe and sound, and hoped those left behind would soon be successful in silencing the Boer hostility. The Rev. J. Blight gladly acceded to the request of the Reception Oomraittee that he should help to voice the feelings of the people of the district on this occasion. They were, glad to see the men home, and expressed thanks to Almighty Hod for their cafe return. He remembered that some who bad started for South Africa had not seen the land, and others had passed away in sight of home, and their rejoicings were tempered by these reflections. Bat amidst all dangers from ballet, the deep, and the fell enteric and pneumonia the men in front of them had been graciously preserved. They and their brother colonials had done good work. At the first stages of the war the voice of the pro-Boer was heard in the land, but that was so no longer. Perhaps the ardent patriotism all around had killed this sentiment, perhaps the sympathisers with our enemies had learned by the magnitude of the Boers’ preparation that an organised eonspiracy had been arranged. To keep the natives in servitude the Boers had need to first set aside the British, but their intentions were frustrated. In this New Zealanders had been of great assistance. In the Crimea raw recruits, some Only seventeen years old, and'many of them delicately reared, bought side by side with veterans amidst incredible hardships. So it was with our New Zealanders. People said the volunteers would run at the whiz of a bullet or the burst: ing ofa shell, but this war had shown them to the Batiie attributes of dash* daring and couragb as their fbrelathSrs at Inkermin, Sebastopol and Waterloo. she presence of Colonial soldidrS also helped to avert the threatened European interventiOih Wettid have rendered

meters mflfc complicated ever. He bfcd also' to contrast their conucletate behavior to the Boer women and children with the brdtal conckict of the foreign armies In China. He hoped this whs a presage of 'the time when war woiild be no rhore. He trusted the experiences these men had passed through would be of lasting benefit to themselves and to those in whose midst they had come to reside.. ’

The rev. speaker resumed his seat amidst applause. Captain Barclay, of the Waimate Rifles, was the next speaker, and was received with applause. He said he was moat heartily thankful for the return of the men, but he first wished to congratulate them on getting away, for rhany other able men anxious for experience on the battlefield were unable to go. was said to be a curse, but it was never wise to call a thing a misfortune until we saw the 1 end of it. It had in this.case strengthened ami consolidated' the Empire and its defences, and had taught our armies a form of j warfare in which they were hitherto unskilled. It had raised the confidence of the colonies in the soldiers they had sent, whether to do duty on the battlefield as combatants or in the no less important medical and ambulance work, among the latter b dng Surgeon-Captains Thomas and Burns. (Applause.) Also, they would raise the status of volunteering in the colonies, and already in New Zealand this result was being achieved. A certain amount of training would henceforth be given cadets at

school, and there would be no chance of men going absolutely unskilled into the battlefield. This was not cultivating an offensive military spirit, for it was by having the name of being well trained and equipped for war that would save us from its' horrors. He hoped that those who had returned from the war would join the corps to which they had belonged and give the other members the benefit of their knowledge and experience. They had had the privilege of helping to make a page of the nation’s history ; let them not forg-d their corresponding duty of assisting their comrades in every way ’0 become as capable as they had been should they ever be called on to bear a-ms in the name of our Government for our beloved New Zealand or in the name of their King and Empire,

The memento medals were then presented by the Mayoress in order of rank, each recipient being greeted with cheers and “ He’s a jolly good fellow.”

'This closed the ceremony,