CHURCHILL’S VISIT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21247, 18 October 1940, Page 7

CHURCHILL’S VISIT

NEW ZEALAND TROOPS CONFIDENCE IN FUTURE TRIBUTE PAID GENERAL (From in* Official War correspondent i attvhM t , ; i.* New Zealand Forces In '.rear Britain.) SOMEWHERE IN BRITAIN, September 4 Mr Winston Churchill's visit to the New Zealand camps took place under a cloudless sky on the hottest afternoon of an unusually good summer. The Prime Minister was late in arriving, but he stayed his full time, moved freely among the training and paraded troops, and, at the larger of the two concentrations which had been arranged for him. gave us a taste of the rich Churchillian phrase that so aptly expresses the spirit of the British people in this time of trial and test. “Soldiers of New Zealand.” he said, “in the name of the British Government I wish to tell you how very glad we are to have had you with us during these last four months, so critical for our island home and so fateful in the history of the British Empire. When you came, our forces in this island were by no means as strong as they are today—not to go into detail. “When you first came, a comparatively small army of the enemy , might have wrought much havoc 1 here before they had been finished ! off. But now we have very pow- ] erful armies here, and if, as some , think, that bad man is inclined to t try his venture, we feel sure we | shall give a good account of our- : selves. And again I say we are very | glad that troops from New Zealand ’ would bear their part in the defence 1 of this ancient State and island—the i heart of the Empire, and the cradle i and the citadel of free institutions j throughout the world.

Not the First Time “This is not the first time I have seen a New Zealand brigade or division on the eve of battle. I saw your division in 1917 when Sir Douglas Haig reviewed them. I sat by his side. In those days I made the munitions for the Army. Nor is it the first time I have seen your general, my honoured friend Bernard Freyberg, in the midst of war alarms. “It is a long time ago since, as First Lord of the Admiralty, I signed the necessary papers to procure him a commission as sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, from which he rose to high command —by unexampled valour in attack, by training in knowledge of the military art, and by being a veritable salamander in the fire of the enemy. You are in good hands. I trust you in utmost confidence to him. He has never led finer men in all his experience of war. And there is one thing I will tell you about him: he may set you some hard tasks; he will never be able to tell you to do anything that he has not done himself. "We in this island are now hearing the accumulated weight of the malice and tyranny of the enemy. We do not feel unequal to it. We are sure we shall prove ourselves not unequal to the task of once again being the champion and the liberator of Europe. We do not feel lonely when the sons of our great Dominions overseas—lands where they breed the finest fighting races—come back here, or come to other parts of the British Empire, there to bear their part in this great contention. Will Crown the Name “I wish you well. I wish you great good luck. May God protect you. I am sure you will crown the name of New Zealand with new honi ours, with a lustre which wilU not fade as the years pass by. “Of all the wars we have ever fought, none has been more honourable, more righteous, than this. None i has been more unsought by us. In none were we taken at greater disadvantage in our preparations. In none has greater weight been thrown upon us. From none shall we emerge with a greater sense of duty i done. • “May fortune rest upon your arms. . May you return home with victory j to your credit, having written pages I into the annals of the Imperial Army which will be turned over by future generations whenever they wish to j find a model for fine military con--1 cluct *”