JAPANESE SQUADRON

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 153, 29 June 1916, Page 8

JAPANESE SQUADRON

PROGRAMME OF ENTERTAIN-

MENTS.

During their stay in Wellington the officers and men with the Japanese training squadron will be well looked after. Various - entertainments are being arranged for their benefit, and no efforts will be spared to impress a welcome on the minds of our Eastern Allies. On arrival here the usual official calls will be made by His Excellency the Governor, the Prime Minister (Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey), and the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke). Admiral Matsumura will also pay official calls in the city. Later a civic reception will be accorded the Admiral and officers at the Town Hall.

As many trams as can be spared in the mornings will be placed at the disposal of the men of the fleet, who will be . taken _to the various places of interest in the city- The men will also be entertained in batches at the Town Hall. As previously-stated in The Post, the squadron consists of two ships the H.I.J.M.S. Iwate (9796 tons) and Azuma (10,118 tons'). The flagship is the Iwate. The squadron is under Rear-Admiral Mutsumura, and here is a brief pen-pic-ture of him, together with some details of his career, taken from the Sydney Morning Herald:—"Of all of the Japan- [ ese officers: the Admiral, having discard-, ed his epaulettes and his medals, was the I least conspicuous. For that reason only. In all other respects he impressed one the most. He is 50 years of age; and if he looks it, we need not wonder. His hair is dark grey, and his moustache is j all grey: and there is that in his dark brown eyes and on all the features of his face which tells of the things he has been through. During the Russo-Japan-ese war he took part in the'battles of Port Arthur (as second in command of H.M.S. Azuma), and of Tsu-shima (as second in command of Admiral Togo's flagship, the Mikasa). He points with pride now to .a photograph of the great Japanese Admiral, signed by Togo, hanging in his cabin on the Iwate/ and he points out the marks left by Russian shells on the Iwate." The Admiral and officers have been invited by the management of the J. C. Williamson Company to witness the performance of " Mother Goose " to-morrow evening. The civic reception .will take place in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall at 11 a.m. on Saturday.