A " NIGHT-OUT. SIXTH CONTINGENT'S HE-UNION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1908, Page 2

A " NIGHT-OUT. SIXTH CONTINGENT'S HE-UNION.

The feast is spread, ,and a fragment of New Zealand's sixth contingent fifty units— has come, up to participate in the convivialities on this the' seventh anniversary of the day the troOp left -or the front. ' ■ > Last night was tho "fourth re-union; last night fortunate members were foregathered to fight their battles ovor again, and not without a little pardonable embellishment- Here- at ease, alon<* ths tables they make merry and clink" glasses many times over that race behind Plumer to Petersburg, ■ across tjie uncharted veldt, and rugged rands, whose- shadows and boulder-iioUows hold Dutch_ "snipers," . sniping -spitefully. Here in the^glsam-of brimming glasses and sweat things that maketh glad the hean of man -they jested hugely with appropriate reminiscences about bully beef and biscuit, and the many meals they did not have. Big, hefty,- deep-chested menr-if the company of the sixth contingent -may be judged by the , remnant here last night; if other companies !niay be.judged also by the same standard, then, indeed, the Imperial authorities hajl every reason for the|r' confidence. in ,the colonials wlion the pinch canie. > , • From all parts of the- Dominion, as far as Wanganui, as far down as Christchurch, representatives of this "contingent made it their particular .business ,to be present at this- annual re-union, and play again their little waisgames learned on tho school groundv.of war. And the sixth is very jiroud-'of- 1 itself ; for tho way it bof» its responsibilities at Caledon River, in the forced .march to Petersburg^ and when on one unlucky day the advance 1 was suddeiuysur-r6undc-d, and overpowered 'by an 'outnumbering cloud .of Boers; ' Tonguos unloosed aro recalling ','n*>ar things" of snapping rifles and blind marches in j the darkness, or "swapping" ' horso j storks with such detail as- to strain a I delicate imagination. . But a respectful^ silence hushes the din of tongues when tho toast "Fallen comrades" is given. I For the quick here at homo remember i the dead yrho aro .far from hpma — i eighteen comrades who fell in. this service of the flag,, and a gcoxo rncr-c, that returned to their country , to , die, in the main, hard .deaths j in, ths 'industrial war. Tho "roll of the, hououre,d' v 'dead" is given- name by name,', and . cyes^ nnd voices taka oil meet tympathy' H<jre ;t khaki clad figure .remembers a. stricken comrade; there^another has a sa^'tmemory of a. sad s^ory, but ' &te'«d(ly the tido swing 3 ,back, and.oach tells his neighbour how good it is to f be hece ! So the festivity rolls on -the very cran tenor of its way. . Ex-Captain Mostyn Jones has charge for the evening, , and the gathering - is ■• no 'more than- boisler- | cusly joyful. They have toasted tho King with a great noue, the.', Army and Navy generously, with a deafening wai- , ■cry as a grand finale.. They have, poured libations to JKing and country, friend ■and foe, ny all patriotism and, good comradeship. Each man in the .company has gripped hands with esu-fr other pan for old-times' -sake, and the na.tiu« and volume of the salutations- are inspiriting. • Chairs are swupg, round, making little select circles,-. circuniscr,ibing small kororos, .when the' thunderous past is conjured up ntike,d arid- unashamed. ■ ' i , VV I,'1 ,' And so the night movesi- Andja'bove 'the clatter. of tho tGwmfooirad,Cgr, from a pair of shining upstairs, 'windows comes the music of' a roaring chorus, with a rattle of hands to -follow it hot foot. .The sixth have had their .annual "night out/ " ( ' '