LONDON'S RECEPTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 158, 6 July 1937, Page 12

LONDON'S RECEPTION.

Affectionate Messages From Lady Jellicoe.

(By Telegraph—O, - Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. "We knew that we had to uphold the high standard eet by the Xew Zealand soldiers during the Great War, and I feel that we did not let them down," said Mr. K. T. Tirikatene, M.P., who went with the Coronation contingent as a private. "The trip to England did not affect our men at all; we arrived at London on a perfect day and in the pink of condition. The reception that London .gave Uβ was wonderful. There wae a greater crowd to welcome us than turned out for any of the contingents to arrive later." Mr. Tirikatene was impressed with the way in which the crowd of seven or eight million people was handled on Coronation Day. There was, he said, hot a hitch in the organisation. He aleo referred enthusiastically to the hospitality shown the contingent by United States non-coinmieeioned officers at Panama. "Out of their own pockets they treated us to a royal time," he said. The New Zealanders were taken for a 165-mile drive round Panama and the canal zone, eight motor buses, with a non-commissioned officer as guide in each, being used. In the evening the contingent was entertained at a dance. In Scotland, the vusitore were treated with a kindness which they would always rememtjer. They were entertained by the Lord Provost and the city councillors. "Major T. Simpsom, who served as a medical major in the Great War, and who is now stationed in Edinburgh, specially asked that hie regards be conveyed to New Zealand ex-soldiers," said Mr. Tirikatene. At the Oversea* Club Mr. Tirikatene had the pleasure of meeting Lady Jellicoe, who sent messages of affectionate regard to the New Zealand people.