ON THE WARSHIPS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 305, 26 December 1928, Page 3

ON THE WARSHIPS.

BLUEJACKETS DINE WELL.

LIBERAL LEAVE GRANTED.

With the traditional bunch of greenery zt each truck the warships over at lJevonport bore an outward and visible sign that the jolly Christmas season is one of the few occasions when King's Kegulations and Admiralty Instructions permit a little titivating. How the old custom started no one seems to know, but it must be decidedly ancient—such a verging on the frivolous could never have occurred or penetrated Whitehall within the last hundred years or so. It is a picturesque little touch, however, and so human that one hopes the Navy will continue to keep it up. In the Old Country a wreath of holly is the correct thing to use, but in Auckland a branch of pohutukawa seems to be the favourite wear— and very appropriate it is too. Divine service was held in the big Harbour Board shed in the Naval Yard, the building being effectively decorated for the occasion, the service being taken by the senior chaplain and the missioner. Dinner aboard the ships, the Dunedin, Diomede, Veronica, Laburnum and Philomel, was very different from the customary lower deck fare. Mess tables were brightly decorated, the scarlet blossoms of the pohutukawa again being prominent, and poultry and the traditional pudding, with something to wash them down, were stowed away in quantities that would turn the dyspeptic landsman green with envy. According to custom, the commander of each ship, accompanied by several officers, paid a visit to each messroom and wished the men the compliments of the season.

There is a considerable number of New Zealanders among the crews, and scores of the men from the Old Country have made friends here, so liberal leave was granted, and early yesterday the remaining men got shore leave, with the result that in the afternoon the yard was rather deserted.