COL. HAULTAIN'S SPEECH TO THE N.S.W. CONTINGENT.

Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 10, 11 July 1885, Page 1 (Supplement)

COL. HAULTAIN'S SPEECH TO THE N.S.W. CONTINGENT.

The Hon. Colonel Haultain, representing New Zealand, addressed the Contingent in the following words —*- Colonel Pichardson and Officers and Members of the New South Wales Contingent, — I have a very pleasing and gratifying duty to perform, and if 1 fail to prove to you the hearty sympathy and admiration of your fellow-colonists on the other side of the water, set it down to my deficiencies, and not to anything lacking on their part, for lean assure you that there is not one of them who does not admire, if not envy, the proud position you occupy to-day. I am deputed by tl>e Government of New Zealand to say to you that they regard with pride the action of New South Wales in sending a Contingent of their forces to the seat of war, and feel that this action and your conduct during the campaign, which has elicited the high praise of every officer under whom you have served, have reflected honour and credit on all the colonies of the Australasian Group ; and I am here on behalf of the people of New Zealand to welcome you home again, and to join in doing you honour, on your return from a voluntary and most important service rendered to the Empire in what you believe to have been a time of need — a service that entailed, beyond the ordinary chances of war, dangers and difficulties of an unusual character in a tropical , and sickly region, where the lives of many gallant Englishmen have been sacrificed, and where blood has been flowing like waterj I think I may, as a very old soldier, who has had much' i to do with colonial forces, and know their volue and many soldierly qualifications, congratulate you on having stood side by side in the»battle-field with some of the proudest regiments of her Majesty's army, from whom you have had the opportunity of learning those lessons which make up the thoroughly efficient soldier. Equal to them in courage — for courage is the heritage of our race, and wherever Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen are to be found, there are bravo men ready to take up arms in defence of their own homes, and gallant officers td'lead them — and .ivady also, as you have shown, to serve in distant regions if needed by the Mother Country. Fqual to them in perfect endurance of privation and toil — for where can be found a hardier set of men than the settlors of these colonies 1 Equal to them in unfailing loyalty to our Sovereign, and in obedience to the officers placed over them, perhaps only falling short in that true discipline ■which makes perfect the British soldier — discipline which is the abandonment of self and the surrender of the mind and will to the spirit of the commander, which is only to be acquired by long training or by service in the field. I recollect that the President of Harvard College, at the close of the civil war, told .the students whom he was addressing that ib had taken the American nation four years of the bitterest experience to realise its true value and necessity. < )f the great importance of this qualification you have had the opportunity of learning much from the famous corps with whom you have been serving, and you will haye 1 known how it saved from defeat and destruction the force that but a fow dayß before you landed had been startled by' the 1 sudden furious onslaught of Arabs at Hasheen. You have been taught this 1 important "lesson, and you have the advantage of tried and disciplined' officers to command you. And if again called upon,- as I think yon may be, to defend your own shores, or to' swell the ranks of an Imperial army in other countries, the New South Wales Contingent should stand at the head of all colonial levies; and claim the distiefcion of being " Nulli Secundus" — second to no troops' in the' world. " ' WHAT TO TEACH GIRLS. ' Give youi' daughters a thorough education. Teach them^to cook' and prepare the food of the hougehQld. Teach them to wash, to iron, to .darn! stockings, to sew on buttons,' to make their own dresses. Teach 'them' tp f make, bread, and that a good kitchen lessens the doctor's account. Teach them that he only lays ( up money ■whose expenses are less than his income, and that all grow poor whohave to spend more than they receive Teach them that a calico dress, paid for, 'fits better than a silken one' unpaid for Teach them that a full, healthy face displays greater lustre than fifty consumptive beautieß. Teach them to purchase, and see. that the account corresponds with the purchase. Teach them good common sense, self-trust, self-help, and indusr try. "Teach them that an honest mechanic, in his working dress,' is a better object to esteem than a dozen haughty finely dressed idlers. Teach them gardening and the pleasures of nature. Teach them, if you can afford it, music, painting, &c, but consider them as secondary objects only. Teach them that a walk is more salutary than a ride in a carriage. Teach them to reject, with disdain, all appearance, and to use only " Yes " cr "No" in good earnest. — From a.sermon from Mgr. Capel.