NEW ZEALANDERS IN LONDON ON CHRISTMAS DA Y.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1917, Page 10

NEW ZEALANDERS IN LONDON ON CHRISTMAS DA Y.

(From Our "Special Correspond*, nt > IjKXDON, December. 28. There was osiy one thing forg otten at the Xew Zevland ■ Hostel, Xi sseU Square, on Chrhrfsnas Dey —so said the boys—and that \vas mii/tletoe. i tDd that lack, I ween." Zealand bo, ye soon made good. JSwyhovr, the Host*. *' ■was, on Christmas Da J - .merely a clear- ■ ing house, whence were dispatched all and sundry in search of joility to TVeetminster Central Hall, ana the Mine happened at No. 11, Southai upton. Row premises which, however remained open in case, any etray "boy " had- not found his way to the centre of " Xe-a ' Zealand in London" Christmas feast. ■ Before following the revellen." there one might remark that to dat e the Hostel has provided 25,177 beds, and, 'with an accommodation of 225 per has on an average put up 299 mej..' Sales to the men of odds and ends of equipment, cigarettes, eoap, and the things that count .towards smartness in a soldiers get-up—and, en passant, it can be truly said that the New Zealand men stand out as invariably ■wellgroomed—were made to such an extent that the average number of customers per diem is GOO. With all this "v» et vient '■* of all sorts and conditions, it is a record that only one man has been arrested, and the testimony of authority ;e that the New Zealand men give less trouble than any of the forces. But —to the party. At Westminster Central Hall, the building which now occupies the site-of the Aquarium of early Victorian renown, nearly SOO people -were entertained to a real Christmas dinner, tea and a dance. If in the coming year we have to tighten our belts, on this day at least, ■we were able to lay a good foundation for a Tarar economy regime. Boast turkey and roast beef of Old England: plum pudding and mince pies, deseert ad lib., showed that our Xavy is all right, and the Dominions feeding us. The I Prime Minister, Mrs. and Miss iMaßsey, Sir Joseph Ward. (Lady Ward "was absent through illness). Sir Thomas Mackenzie and Miss Mackenzie, Sir James, Carroll, Lord Plunket and Lord Eanfurly, Air. I. W. Raymond. Mr. G. F. Gee, Mr. A. J. Fraser, Mr. Cecil Wray, the Misses Blanche and Muriel Davis, Eeece,-Churton, Dorothy Ware, Russell (Palmereton), Messrs. Thomson and Oakley Browne were amongst those present. After the loyal toast. Mr. Massey thanked the ladies of England for all they had done for New Zealanders ever since-they came to this country. It -would;never be forgotten on the other side of the "world. It was impossible to predict what -was going to happen Best year, but we were gaining all the tune, and there was no doubt that we should continue to gain. "We are to see this thing through," he added, __ and the Xew Zealanders are- not going to: be cheeked out of a victory by suggestions; wherever they may come from.?; i Sir Joseph Ward said that no outside interference was likely to influence the great central administrative authority, the British Government, in allowing any deflections from the -svih of the great masses of the people as well as those from the Dominions. They were prepared, however grave the -difficulties .were, and -whatever losses there might -*e~ an the future, to have a stoppage made for the purpose of allowing the enemy "to start again "when-they had had breathing time. An orchestra whiled away the time in the afternoon, and a number of solos Trere given, Crosriey was to have eung, wit-iras prevented from cominTea was served from 5 to 6.30-the piece de resistance" a big cake with rtt T" Ked , (dolrt tell the *ood Controller or the Sugar Board) on it. Dancing started between G and 7 and •was kept up till after ten fro2 e b^f le - affair WeDt With a s *iD? from beginning to end, and was 1 credit to the organising ability tn^L DaT " ho wol *ed Tinrem-ittin-Iv to leave nothing undone, and to ensure