DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 232, 1 October 1929, Page 10

DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER.

MAJOR C. S. SHARPE ARRIVES

MAY SETTLE IN NEW ZEALAND.

With eyes on New Zealand as a suitable country in which to retire, there arrived in Auckland this morning by the Ulimaroa from Sydney Major C. S. Sharpe, D.5.0., F.R.G.S., of Buckingham, England, and until recently of the York and Lancashire Regiment. He was accompanied by his step-daughter, and if he finds the Dominion to his liking his family will follow him out. Major Sharpe has been in the Imperial Army for over 27 years, and has seen service in the Boer War, India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Eaet and Central Africa and the Great War. He was on the Western front for three years, and after the signing of the armistice went to Germany with _ the army of occupation. He remained in the Rhineland for 3£ years. "The Germans were as friendly towards us as they were allowed to be, but we did not mix with them a great deal," stated the Major, discussing his experiences in Germany. "They appear to be sorry now that the army of occupation is being withdrawn. All the British troops will have left the Rhine by Christmas, however." Asked for his opinion of the New Zealand soldiers, Major Sharpe eaid he did not come in contact with them a great deal, but the British people and army officials had a tremendous admiration for them. Whenever they went to England on leave they were made very 1 welcome. Major Sharpe has paid visits to France since the Great War, and he said the French people had made wonderful progress with the work of restoring the devastated areas. It was difficult, he said, to pick out places where the fiercest fighting had been waged. The newness of the houses, however, told of widespread reconstruction, while the tree stumps that skirted the roads and tangled woods spoke of the damage done during the war.