"LAST POST."

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 168, 9 April 1908, Page 3

"LAST POST."

' : A MILITARY, FUNERAL. The members of the Post and Telegraph' Hides honoured their I 'lata comrade,' Private Murdoch Gillies, who met his death under most distressing , circumstances at Lower . Hutt, on Sunday jast, ■ by. .escorting his remains fronrtho Government Railway Station to the Queen's "Wharf yesterday afternoon. By, the courtesy of the Defcnce Department, a gun-carriage, horstd, and a detachment of, th'o r 'Royal New".Zealand Artillery, under Corporal' Woyburno, were detailed'to ■ attend for tho funeral. . '. Tho detachment froirt tho Post 'and Telegraph Rifl'es numbered fifty-two, under' Captain C. B. Harton and Lieutenant"' Collins. Captain lisson, of tho City Rifles, and Lioutenant Roache, Wellington Guards, both cxoflioors .of tho company, and Stalf-Sergeant-Major Colclough, of tiie District Staff, wero also presemt. Tho Battalion Band, under Bandmaster Dean, was detailed to accompany the escort. aftor:s o'clock tho case containing tho coffin' arrived by road from tho Hutt: The coffin was "taken 'oiit ? ' placed on tho guncarriage, and-covered with tho.Union Jack, tho. wreaths being arranged on tho top. ' Tho order'of tho procession was as follows: ' —Firing-party (Post and Telegraph Rifles),' Battalion Band, the gun-carriage, Post; and . Teldgraph Riilesj Royal New Zealand Artillery, relatives and friends of, deceased. Among those who attended' were Messrs. D. Robertson, Secretary of tho-Post and Tolegraph Department, and Mr. W. R. Morris, Assistant Secretary. Tho roll of. tho drain sounded mournfully out, and to tho .well-known funeral march; "Tho Garland- bf Flowers," tho procession moved slowly off. A largo crowd had gathered to witness tlio final scene; On arrival at the wharf, the coffin was taken from tho gun-carriago, and six/men wore detailed as bearers from tlio wharf gates to tho Maori, which was lying at tho ; outer tee. . The .procession, continued'slowly, along tho wharf, and at tho ship's side tho coffin was rc-cased, tlio slings placed in posi- ; tion, and as it ros? up into tho air, and oyer tho rail, tho clear notes of a bugler rang out in tho still air "Last Post!" It was tho company's farewell- to their comrade.