A HEAVY NAVAL ENGAGEMENT

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21320, 13 November 1934, Page 18

A HEAVY NAVAL ENGAGEMENT

SEVERE HOSPITALITY OF MELBOURNE DIOMEDE'S CENTENARY * EXPERIENCES H after the passage of years everybody else forgets the Melbourne Centenary celebrations, the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy will re- ' member them, because for the 17 days H.M. ships Dunedin and Diomede were in Melbourne, officers and men were treated to more hospitality than they had ever imagined it was possible to be treated. They had 17 days of the most strenuous entertainment of their lives in a city which, from the authorities to the humblest private citizen, appeared to concentrate on nothing else but being kind to the navy. The Dunedin and the Diomede left Melbourne last Wednesday, and after a most unpleasant trip across the Tasman, the Diomede arrived in Lyttelton yesterday morning. Her commander, Captain Cosmo Graham, 8.N., and her second, Commander J. W. Farquhar, described their stay in Melbourne as the most severe attack of hospitality they have ever hact' "The attacks on the Western Front during 1918 were child's play by comparison," said Captain Graham, and to add point to his assertion he produced a sheaf of official invitations to the different functions held during his stay. The big bundle of papers represented merely the public functions. There were private entertainments day and night in such numbers that it was Impossible to go to more than a very small proportion of the whole of them. The citizens of Melbourne were so good to the ship that the commander had to adopt the expedient of naming certain Melbourne citizens Public Enemies No. 1,<2, 3, and so on, because their goodheartedness was a menace even to the fine traditions of the Navy in accepting hospitality. Freedom of the City Not only the officers, but every rating on the ship was treated with the very greatest goodwill. The sailors had a free run of the transport facilities of the city, and were welcomed without payment to cinemas, and to the hundreds of special entertainments arranged during their visit A dance was given for the men, and all agreed that it was the best party they had ever been to. Apart from its almost exhausting social engagements,- the ship was very busy, because it took part in the Navy Week arranged during the celebrations. Imperial ships, and ships from New Zealand, Australia, and India, and from America, Italy, and France were in port, and the British ships were constantly busy with demonstrations which tens of thousands of Melbourne people watched. There were exhibitions of all the more romantic occupations of a warship, such as gunnery and .torpedo firing, and there were also demonstrations of marines drill, , and of the thousand activities that go on in big ships of war. The exhibitions were, given on the jetty, and this allowed visitors to go on board the'ships. The Diomede, comparatively a small vessel, was handling its visitors as fast j as they could walk up the gangway. I They came at the rate of 50 every minute, and about 7000 went on board each day. The Sussex broke all records with 21,000 in one day. The two ships arrived at Sydney on September 21. and stayed there till October 6. They were royally treated, but received no inkling of the overwhelmingly good time they would have in Melbourne. They then went to Hobart for six days, and on then to Melbourne. The Dunedin and Dioi mede came across the Tasman in company, the Dunedin going this morning to Dunedin. The two ships will go to Wellington on Saturday to meet the Italian warship Armando Diaz, which was a guest in Melbourne with the two New Zealand ships. An Unpleasant Crossing The voyage across the Tasman was the reverse of pleasant. Storms were > reported all round the ship, but though they did not encounter any of the violent gales that other ships were battling through, there was constant rain, and a lumpy sea that kept the ships sloppy and uncomfortable the whole time. The weather off the New Zealand coast was so thick last evening that the ships lay off and waited for daylight. "We have never experienced such overwhelming hospitality as we were given in Melbourne," Captain Graham told a reporter of "The Press" yesterday. "The Victorians are the most charming lot of people and when we were through with the official entertainments, there were private dinners ' and dances for us every night The men were given a wonderful time, and were welcomed free on the trams and . railways, and even to the cinemas and other entertainments. When we left, the American warship Augusta played us out of harbour with 'Auld Lang Syne,' which we thought was a most graceful action." As the Captain and the Commander talked yesterday morning, one was able to form some idea of the welcome Australia gave them. There were dozens* of reminiscences, all of them merry, and all of them showing the ' amazing lengths to which the people of Melbourne went to see that their visitors were happy, lengths which taxed even the capacity of the Navy •on shore to enjoy itself. . "Good-bye, Darling." Just before the Diomede sailed, an Imposing cardboard box was presented to Captain Graham. He opened it to find inside a single arum lily with a card bearing the inscription, "Good-bye-darling." "I knew whom it came from," he said. "It was sent by three of the toughest citizens of Melbourne " At this moment the Captain caught sight on the wharf of one of the Diomede men sitting with a girl, their heads bent together in earnest conversation. Pointing through the door- \ way he said, "That epitomises Melbourne for the men. "We had a whale of a time. Australia was a country I had never seen before this trip, and had never particularly wanted to see, but now I feel I must go back and have another look at it. One thing I did learn," he added, "and that is the reason why nobody could possibly live to go through a second Cenetenary. No naval man could, anyway."