OLD CONTEMPTIBLES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 214, 10 September 1935, Page 10

OLD CONTEMPTIBLES.

PARADE IN WEWtINGTON. Wellington members of the Old Contemptibles' Association held a church parade" and memorial service on Sunday. About 40 "Old Contemptibles," headed by the pipe and military bands of the Wellington Regiment, marched from Stout Street to the National War Memorial Carillon, where wreaths were laid and the branch's padre, the Rev. Fielden Taylor, conducted a brief service. A large crowd attended at the carillon. Carried in the parade were the branch's new colours, presented by the chairman and his wife. Mr. R. C Hollis; chairman of the Wellington branch of the association, was in charge of the. parade, and with him at the head of the Old Contemptibles marched Matron h. Bennett, a Q.A.R. nurse who went out to the war in the very early days. Those who took part in the service at the carillon included M. Armand Nihotte, the Belgian Consul, M. F. M. Bouillet, representing the French Consul, the Hon. C. E. Macmillan, Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Cbrrigan, M.8.E., T.D., president of the- Wellington branch of the association, Mr. S. McDonald, president of the New Zealand association, and Mr. F. H. Bass, representing the trustees of the memorial. The Minister of Justice (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) sent an apology. . I At the carillon Colonel Corrigan, attended by Messrs. McDonald and Hollis, laid a wreath from the Wellington branch and one from the French Consul. In his address tlie Rev. Fielden Taylor said it was a great thing to meet to remember those of the "Old Contemptibles" who had died. The "Old Contemptibles," he thought, were well named. There were two things about them that inspired him—their camaraderie and their tremendous perseverarice. More of these two qualities were wanted to-day than ever before and he appealed to his listeners 'to carry on the torch that had been held so nobly by the men of the association in the days of the war.