NAVY LEAGUE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 27, 26 October 1917, Page 8

NAVY LEAGUE

ANNUAL MEETING OF WELLINGTON BRANCH

The Wellington branch of tho Navy League held its annual meeting in the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. The Mayor, Mr.' J. P. Luke, C.M.G., presided over an attendance which consisted chiefly of ladies.

Tho Mayor congratulated the lcagua upon the position it now held, and spoke very highly of the work tho Wellington branch had done at the time of the Jutland Battle. Practically all the money the league had obtained had been a net result, and had been handed over to the cause in which it had been collected. His Worship offered his congratulations also •to Mrs. Hall-Thompson and the ladies upon the formation of the Women's Auxiliary. Ho moved the adoption of the annual report and balancesheet (already published). Mr. C. E. Smith, in seconding tho motion expressed disappointment at tiio smallness of the attendance. He endorsed the remarks of the chairman about the women's auxiliary, and emphasised tho desirableness of carrying out as much patriotic educational work as possible among the children, at the schools. 3lr._ Palmer said that the school membership now was only about one-fourth or one-fifth of what it used to be. In 1906, in Wellington, it iyas 1800, while this year it was only about <00. The following officers were elected:— Patron, His Excellency the Governor-Gen-eral ;. president, the Mayor of Wellington; vice-presidents, the Right Hon. W. 1?. Massey, P.C., 'the Right Hon. Sir J. G. Ward, tho Hon. W. Frnser, the Hon. A. M. Myers, Sir John Findlay, the Hon. J. G. W. Aitken, Sir Walter Buchanan, Mr. .T. B. Harcourt, Mr. J. P, Firth, Mr. T. jr. Wilford, M.P., Mr. G. Shirtcliffe, and the chairman of the Wellington Harbour Hoard; executive committee, Mr. J. B. Harcourt (chairman), Mr. A. Atkins, Mr. C. B. Morison,. Mr. C. B. Smith. Mr. R. Darroch, Mr. A. I\ Wiren, Mr. C. W. Palmer, Mr. Barry Keesing, Colonel G. F. C. Campbell, Mr. W. Foster, M.A.; secretary, Mr. R. W. Shallcrass; treasurer, Mr. R. Darroch. The appointment of lady members to the executive was left to the Ladies' Auxiliary. Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P., addressed the meeting upon the British Navy. He commenced with the quotation: "And you . . ~ whoso limbs were made in England, show us here mettle of your pasture: let us swear that you w;ere worth your breeding—which I doubt not." Ho said that these words of Shakespeare were eloquent of the feelings of. the men who went to man our ships to-day. The lesson to be learned today, he said, was the avoidance of apathy: eternal vigilance v;as the price of liberty. The navy was a luxury to Germany and a necessity to Great Britain. Mr. Wilford spoke of the great progress the British Navy had made, and of the successes which it and the navies of Britain's Allies had achieved. He referred also to the'mercantile marine and what it had done. "The Navy of to-day," concluded the speaker, "is the lifebuoy of peace set to save, and it will be found when the history of this war is written that the Navy will be regarded in the light of the lamp of history as the paramount factor in the issues of the war." The meeting passed a vote of thanks to Mr. Wilford for his address.