SUBLIME CHEERFULNESS

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 133, 2 December 1915, Page 6

SUBLIME CHEERFULNESS

PREMIER'S TRIBUTE TO NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS.

The ability of the New Zealand soldier to rise superior to discomforts and to retain an unbroken cheerfulness whatever happens, inspired the Prime Minister to a eulogy of the man in khaki yesterday. Mr. Massey was

speaking at the opening of the Johnsonville Flower Show, and had said that, whatever efforts the people of New Zealand made to raise money for the relief of the wounded, they could not do more than the men deserved. Two qualities of "our" soldiers, by which he specially meant those who had gone from New Zealand, had specially struck him, he said. One was their extraordinary courage, which had surprised .the people not only of New Zealand, but of every part of the Empire. The other was their unfailing cheerfulness. He had seen these men under the most disagreeable circumstances. He saw them in that exceedingly bad weather of last June and early July, when disease broke out, and hundreds of men were laid aside—when the doctors suspected a disease people were almost afraid to name —yet at that time these men were as cheerful as it was possible for men to be. There was not a murmur or a complaint. He saw them, too, when the camp had to be broken up suddenly, and tho men were sent away to Palmerstou. again in bad weather. Next day "everything was right and cheerful," as far as the men were concerned. When they said good-bye to their own people and went away, their cheerfulness was still supreme, though they knew that man)' would never return, and that many who did would be maimed for life. These m»n had done credit to everyone in the community. They h.id made history.

In conclusion. Mr. Massey referred to the duty of all in the Empire to help bring the war to a victorious end. Mistakes had been made, as they were in every war. But when it happened, as must be admitted, that British warships were sometimes beaten, it should be remembered that they always won once in every war, and that was in the final battla. (Applause.)