FREYBERG'S TOUR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 164, 13 July 1943, Page 3

FREYBERG'S TOUR

MELBOURNE VISIT Good Comradeship Between N.Z.E.F. And A.I.F. N.Z. Press Association —Copyright Rec. 10.30 MELBOURNE, this day. Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C., arrived yesterday for a brief visit to Melbourne and was welcomed by high-ranking Australian officers. He was accompanied by Mr. A. C. Berendsen, New Zealand High Commissioner in Australia. General Freyberg attended a meeting of the Federal Cabinet at the invitation of the Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin. He also conferred with General Sir Thomas Blarney, Commander of the Allied Land Forces in the South-west Pacific. While in Melbourne, General Freyberg is the guest of the Governor, Sir Winstan Dugan, at Government House. New Anzac Generation In an interview, General Freyberg spoke of the comradeship between Australian and New Zealand troops, which, he said, began on Gallipoli. The spirit that made Australia and New Zealand one at Anzac was renewed in another generation to-day. "I would emphasise this," said General Freyberg. "They fight side by side to-day, not merely as allies and sister Dominions," but as brothers. We never 1 ooked on Generals Sir Iven MacKay and Sir Leslie Morshead as exclusively your leaders. We made them ours, and any New Zealander would have been proud to serve under them. We were glad to have * the Ninth Division alongside us whenever there was tough fighting to be done." Dominion's Faith When Menaced The Melbourne Herald, in an editorial on General Freyberg's visit, said: "New Zealand gave willingly of her few, and whatever wider strategical considerations there may have been, she demonstrated the profound depth of her faith by holding her finest troops in the Middle East while confronted with imminent menace at home. "Australians who fought beside New Zealanders in the desert envied them their opportunity of thrusting on towards Tunisia with the Eighth Army while the fortunes of war sent the A.I.F. to the jungles of New Guinea. But they and the New Zealand people can rejoice in the wellwon honours of the New Zealanders whose brave leader symbolises theirfighting qualities."