NEW COLOURS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17882, 1 October 1923, Page 6

NEW COLOURS.

FOR CANTERBURY REGIMENT.

CONSECRATED AND PRESENTED

■ The ceremony of consecrating and presenting the new colours of the Ist Battalion of the Canterbury Regiment took place on Saturday afternoon at a parade held on Cranmer square. There was a small attendance of the public The battalion paraded under Licut.Colonel J. Murphy, and fifteen officers and 275 other ranks were on parade. The Ith Cadet Battalion, Canterbury Regiment, paraded also, and was under Major J. L. Saunders until that officer took part in the ceremony, when Captain Wcstmncott took over: fifteen officers paraded and 549 other ranks. The parade was called to attention for. the general- salute when Colonel It. Young, "Colonel-Commandant Southern District, Colonel G. J. Smith, Major It. A. Row, iind Major J. L. Saunders arrived on the parade ground. After the troops had been inspected, they were formed into a hollow 6quare, The ceremony of. consecrating the colours was conducted by the Rev. H. Ndson Wright, vicar of St. John's. The ceremony, though brief, was very inipre.-sivc. Colonel G. J. Smith, who is honorary colonel of the regiment, presented the colours, and addressed the parade. He said th it it was due no doubt to his past connexion with the regiment that Ihe honour had been conferred on him to take part in the ceremony, and to speak a few words. He briefly outlined the history of the colours, and said that j when lie took command of the regiment he found that the old colours, which were presented by the ladies of Canterbury in 1864, were pretty well worn, out. He had enlisted the assistance of General Sir Alexander Godley, who took the design of the new colours Home, and it was approved, with some little alterations, by the War Office and his Majesty the King. When work on the colours Was al>out to be started, Lady Godley visited the manufacturers arid put in tlio first stitch. It would be" seen that there was • a connexion between' the new colours and the old volunteer days. The colours reached New Zealand in 1914, but before they could be consecrated and presented the Great War broke out and the ceremony lukl been postponed. Referring to the history of the regiment, Colonel Smith said that it was formed in 1860, ami was the senior infantry company in the. Dominion. -It had a very great honour in having his Majesty the Kins as Colonel-in-Chief. The regiment had always stood high for discipline nnd efficiency, and it was largely due to that state of discipline and efficiency in the Territorial force that the Main Bduy of the N.Z.E.F. was able to mobilise- so quickly, ■ and was ready for embarkation within four weeks of the outbreak of the war. On the colours was inscribed, "South Africa," some of the members of the regiment having fought in that war; but it was not till the Great War that the regiment took its place as. a fighting unit. He- referred to the regiment's service at the Suez Canal, then at Gallipoli, and finally on the Western front in France. On the Western battle front, Colonel Smith said, the regiment took part in nearly, all the great buttles, and whenever it fought it fought well and earned very high praise from the. great generals who were directing the operations. It was invidious to mention names, yet ho might be permitted to mention the name' of the late Lieut.-Colonel Douglas Macbean Stewart:. those who had known him, knew him as a keen soldier nnd -a staunch friend.- He had called attention to the history, of the regiment because he wanted them' to realise the company they were in. Very shortly, he hoped, they would have the right to inscribe- on the colours'the honours gained in the Great War, Ho presented the colours to them with the full assurance that they would prove themselves worthy. soldiers and good citizens, ano. would follow the example of those who had gone before them. They all most devoutly Imped that war would-be kept far from them; but they read their newspapers, and they could not blind their eyes to tho unsettled state of the world. If, unfortunately, war should come, then he felt sure that the men of this regiment would 6how | the same devotion to duty, the same loyalty to the King, and the same determination to do all that lay in their power, as those who. had «one before them had done. Ho appreciated the j honour done'him in.asking him to present tli© colours, and wished the regiment every success. The parade tjhen rc-fon>\od in line, and the colour-sergeants, with the eol- . ours, took their places. The general salute concluded the ceremony, nnd the troops' returned to the King Edward' Barracks, where they were dismissed.