NAMES AND PLACES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 39, 21 March 1940, Page 2

NAMES AND PLACES

Air Officers for Overseas Group-Captain L. M. Isitt, who will leave shortly for Canada as the representative of the New Zealand Government on the supervisory board of the Empire air training. scheme, is a som of.the late Hon. Leonard Isitt, of Christchurch. He left New Zealand in 1915 as.a sergeant in the Rifle Brigade and was wounded in:the battle of Somme. In 1916 Group-Captain Isitt joined the Royal Air Force and saw service in France. After the war he took a special course in flying, and returned to New Zealand to join the New Zealand Staff Corps: for -air duties. In. 1923,. when. the Royal New Zealand Air Force was formed, he was appointed to the staff. He has held most of the important appointments in the New Zealand Air Force and in 1938 became GroupCaptain. Recently, when Group-Captain Saunders went to Canada, Group-Cap-tain Isitt became temporary Chief of Air Staff. He is 48 years of age and has two daughters. Group-Captain T. M. Wilkes, C.B.E., M.C., Controller of Civil Aviation, is to become liaison officer in Australia for the New Zealand Army and Air Force. He will be succeeded in New Zealand by Flight-Lieut. J. M. lBuckeridge. Group-Captain Wilkes was a member of the New Zealand Staff Corps when the last war broke out and when he went overseas became Staff Captain to the 2nd Infantry Brigade and later Brigade Major. Later he joined the Royal Air Force and in 1920 he became G.S.O. Air Services and Secretary to the New Zealand Air Board. In 1925 he became Director of Air Services and in 1929 liaison officer in London, returning to the Dominion in 1931. He has been Controller of Civil Aviation since 1937. Labour M.P. Flies to Moscow Sir Stafford Cripps, K.C., who has been making unofficial trips by airplane to China and Russia, is the youngest son of Lord Parmoor (leader of the House of Lords from 1929 to 1931) and one of the stormy petrels of the British Labour movement. Recently he was expelled from the party because of his desire for a united front with the Liberals, but he has since applied for reinstatement. Sir Stafford has been a member of Parliament for East Bristol since 1931. He was educated at Winchester (the famous public school to which all members of the Asquith family are sent) and at University College, London. In 1913 he set up in practice as Barrister-at-law, Middle Temple. When the last war broke out he went to France with the Red Cross, returning to England a year later to become assistant superintendent of important national works at Queen’s Ferry. From 1930 to 1931 he was Solicitor General. He is the author of several books on Socialism and is editor of Cripps on Compensation and Cripps on Church and Clergy. Lady Cripps is the daughter of a naval

officer. They have one son and three daughters. No official significance is attached to Sir Stafford’s trips to Russia and China, but his report will probably be interesting to members of the British War Cabinet. Legal Assistance for Soldiers Every Tuesday and Thursday evening representatives).of the Wellington Law Society go out to Trentham Camp to assist men who wish to make their wills. And usually there are queues waiting to ask for legal advice, which is

free. The Public Trust Office has a small office in the camp, and free service is available to the soldiers who wish to take advantage of its services. Many soldiers are under the impression however that they must make a will in camp, but this is not so. They may use the services of their own private lawyers. Some Distinguished Rankers Private Standish Vereker, the 27-year-old son and heir of Lord Gort, who has been serving in the ranks of the British Army, has been selected to go into the Officers’ Cadet Training Corps. At the end of four months of intense study he will receive his commissionif he passes the necessary examination. Viscount St. Davids, a 22-year-old private in an English regiment, volunteered to become batman to a chaplain. In addition to cleaning the chaplain’s gear and boots, Private St. Davids must also drive his car,

Swimming Bath for Men in Egypt Because all fresh water in the river and cana!s of Egypt is contaminated, the New Zealand Government has given authority to General Freyberg, V.C., to go ahead with the construction of a swimming bath for the men of the 2nd New Zealand Division. This bath, which will be of generous proportions, is being constructed at the New Zealand Base Camp. Mention of it was made by General Freyberg in his recent broadcast address. Europeans do not swim in the Nile River or in the " sweet water" canals in Egypt. All such water contains a microbe

which burrows into the skin and causes endless trouble. During the last war New Zealand soldiers were warned against the danger and swam only in the sea or the Suez Canal and its lakes. Apart from the opportunity for exercise in the new bath, it is expected that swimming sports will be held there from time to time as part of the competitive sports events which will be a part of the Division’s general training. Australian Leader Major-General Sir Curil Brudenell White, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., who has been appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Australian Military Forces, held that high post from 1920 to 1923. He has been superintendent for Australia of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., and a member of the Commonwealth Council of Defence. General White served in the South

African War and during the last war with the Australian Forces. He gained his D.S.O., was mentioned in despatches for his services on Gallipoli, and was awarded the C.B. Later he distinguished himself in other spheres of the campaign, and in addition to many British orders and decorations he was awarded the following: Gold Order of Merit, Montenegro; Croix de Guerre, Belgium; Croix de Guerre, France; Order of the Rising Sun, Japan; First-Class Order of Aviz, Portugal. General White was born in Ireland and migrated to Australia as a boy. He married a daughter of Walter Davidson, of Coliban Park, Victoria, and has two sons and two daughters. Preparations in Canada The organisation of the Empire Air Training Scheme in Canada is rapidly forging ahead. Sixty-seven training schools are being established and staffed. Many new airdromes are being planned to augment those already in existence at Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Emergency landing grounds are placed every 50 to 60 miles. Two great assembling factories have been erected at Montreal and Toronto. Ontario’s famous mental hospital, one of the finest in the world, has been converted into a technical training centre for 3,000 men. In this vast scheme New Zealand’s interests will be watched by Group-Captain L. M. Isitt, who has left to take up his duties there as the representative of the New Zealand Government. The Reason Why An English paper of repute gives the following reason for the apparent coldness of Italy towards Germany: Last August Count Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister, saw Hitler at Berchtesgaden and warned him against an invasion of Poland. "Warum?" (Why?) demanded the Feuhrer. Count Ciano replied that both he and the-Duce believed that Britain and France would fight. "You ass,’ replied Hitler. "You son of an ass." Italo-German relations suffered as a result of that outburst. Diplomat’s Career Mr. Sumner Welles, Assistant Secretary of State for the United States, whose tour of the warring countries of Europe will produce an interesting report to the President of the United States, is not new to diplomacy. He was secretary of the United States Embassy in Tokio from 1915-1917, and in Buenos Aires from 1917 to 1919. During the two following years he was concerned with the Latin-American Affairs Division, and in 1922 went as commissioner to the Dominican Republic. He was the personal representative of the United States President when the United States offered to mediate in the Honduras revolt, and a member of the Dawes Financial Mission to Dominica in 1929. In-1933 he was appointed United States Ambassador to Cuba, and ‘in 1936 he attended the conference for the Maintenance of Peace at Beunos Aires.