THE WAY TO THE WAR

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 3230, 22 June 1928, Page 2

THE WAY TO THE WAR

NAPIER BOY'S ADVENTURE

STOKER TO PLYING PILOT

A former pupil of the Napier Boys' High School who, as a lad of 17 years, worked his passage^ to Australia as a trimmer in a steamer, in order to effect his enlistment -for war service, and who ultimately fought in France in various capacities, returned to New Zealand the other day from Sydney, after 14 years' absence. His name is Eric Henry Battershill, but he is now known to his business associates and friends in Sydney as Eric Dare. In 1914, in the days of radio pioneering in New Zealand, he was an enthusiastic wireless amateur with a set capable of receiving and sending messages, but his neglect to register the apparatus resulted in his appearance before a magistrate in what the newspapers termed '*ari interesting case." The schoolboy wireless amateur was convicted and ordered to "come up for sentence when called upon." DEPARTURE AS COAL TRIMMER. When the war broke* out young Bat- | tershill was one of the keenest to enlist in the Expeditionary Forces, but repeated application for a place in the electrical branch was without result. He was too young, he was told, and thjere was a degree of suspicion about his wireless activities after his conviction. Eventually he interviewed the Minister of Internal Affairs of the day, but was informed that in view of a suspicion that he might have been "communicating with the enemy" he could not be allowed to leave the Dominion. Undeterred, the youth joined. - the steamer Maheno as a coal trimmer. When the Maheno reached Albany he learned that it was likely to proceed to foreign parts, which would not aid him in his resolve to get to the front, so he deserted by the simple process of swimming ashore, landing with about 30/- as his worldly wealth. Eventually he went to Sydney, where he realised his ambition in part by being sent td the war with the first Australian motor transport section. SERVICE IN MANY CAPACITIES. In England Battershill continued his studies in electricity and wireless and gained "The Front," where he servqtl in many capacities, including those of wireless operator, despatch rider, intelligence officer, and with .lie Australian Flying Squadron as a fighting pilot. "I* finished ; with the army of occupation in Cologne,4 he concluded this portion of his narrative. After the war. the young Now Zealander worked in a number of the great English electrical works. On the voyage back to Australia in 1920 he and another flying officer organised entertainments and a jazz band, and upon arrival at Sydney decided to try their luck in partnership as organisers of houses of entertainment. "Leslie and Dare," was agreed upon as the twin nomenclature and in a toss up Battershill Avon "Dare," and as Eric Dare he has been known since. The venture, however, was only a means to "an end until he could re-enter the field of electricity. DIFFICULTIES OF NAME The launching of Sydney's original radio broadcasting journal was his next venture and now he has become sales promotion manager of a Sydney firm, the business of which brings him back for a short period. "I am going to find the name of Eric Dare very awkward now thpt I am returning to the Dominion," he said on board the Aorangi. "You see, I could not very well abandon it in Sydney because all my business associates and clients knew me by it; but in New Zealand it is different. I have many friends in Hawke's Bay and elsewhere and they, of course, know me only as Eric Battershill."