TROOPS REVIEWED.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 169, 22 August 1914, Page 10

TROOPS REVIEWED.

BY GENERAL GODLEY. PEAISE AND ADYICE. "I wish you all a very good voyage and will look forward to seeing you in a very short time. It may be in England, it may be in Belgium, it may be in France, and I hope, eventually, it will be in Berlin." (Cheers.) With these words Major-General Sir Alexander Godley this morning concluded his address to the members of the Canterbury section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The morning was damp and foggy, and at the outset it was difficult to pick out the troops at any distance. The fog lifted gradually and by 10 a.m. the air was fairly clear. The attendance of the public was not large, the hour and the weather militating against it. General Godley was accompanied by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. E. 11. Rhodes, Colonel Chaffey, Officer Commanding the Canterbury District, and Colonel Smith, commandant of the camp. Among those who l were-present were his Worship the Mayor (Mr 11. Holland), Bishop Julius and Bishop Grimes. There were roughly WOO men on parade—4GO mounted and JIOO infantry. The mounteds were drawn up in nquadron column and the infantry en masse while the preliminary inspection was carried out. The inarch past was car ricd out; in column of platoons, and an the men swung past the saluting base they presented a very smart and inspir ing spectacle. The march past over, the men were drawn up before! I,lnsaluting base in hollow square forma, tion while General Godley addreHsed them. THE MEN'S RESPONSiBIIJTI KS. "Officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the Canterbury contingent of the Expeditionary Force," he said, "I wish to say to you that this is the last time till we meet in Europe that I shall have the opportunity of seeing you, and I wish to let you know how very pleased I am with what I have seen to-day of the two regiments which have been formed in Canterbury for sorvice abroad. The regiment of Mounted Eifles is very well mounted on the whole and is a very serviceable body of men, and the Infantry Eegiment is all that I

could desire. ' I hope you will remember that you now represent the province of Canterbury, and not only the province of Canterbury, but of Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland, and that Canterbury and the other provinces look to you to uphold their honour and worthily represent them at the front. The contingents have been formed so that every district is represented. In the mounted riiles there is a squadron representing the first mounted regiment formed in the Dominion, the old Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry. That squadron has the honour of the old C.Y.C. in its hands, and as that squadron does when it goes on active service, so will the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry be judged, and they liavo a great tradition to keep up."" WILL BE WATCHED. The other squadrons, continued General Godley, were in a similar position — each had the honour ol! its regiment and district in its hands. In the infantry the first company was J'roni the First (Canterbury) Kegiment, which hi.s Majesty the King had honoured by becoming its Colonel-in-Chief. They should remember tliul; every man in the First; (Canterbury) Jtegimenb would be watching them. The name thing applied to the Hecond .Company, which represented the Hecond Kegiinenl of Canterbury infantry. Tint others representej.l the districts from whirti they came, ;uid he could not impress on Iheni too strongly how the people would be watching Mii'in, anil Dial they hud to make or mar the repul al .ionH ol' I lie regiments from which I hey chine, Wil li all the good will in I he world, willt till I lie training they had, and I lie desire lo see active ncr v ice, i I won Id he a II no good un less they made up their iniiidn I hey were going to lie well disciplined, lie did not mean by thiil the discipline that came from fear. lie meant i lie lietif Kind of discipline t lie sort lliey had every right to expect, from I he clans of men he saw before him, men who realised the necessity for discipline and subordination. On hoard the troopship, and when they got Home they might have to do tilings that were irltHome, and when on active service they might, have to undergo hardship: it was under hardship that they had the bent teat. They should always keep that in their minds. When they got Home they would be put beside regiments of the Regular British Army, and they would have to come up to the same standard. lie wished them

a good voyage and said once more —and said it because he meant it —that New Zealand and the province of Canterbury and the other provinces had every right to be proud of the men who were going to represent them, and he had not the slightest doubt from what he had seen and from what he knew of the soldierly spirit of Canterbury, but that the men before him would worthily uphold the honour of the regiments from which they came.