"PLAYING THEIR PART

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 75, 26 September 1917, Page 2

"PLAYING THEIR PART

NEW ZEALANDERS ANDTHE WAS

The part which Now Zealanders have taken in the war was the subject of a lecture given in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall last night by Mr. Gerald Anderson, who has been a/w»r correspondent and is a returned soldier. There was a fairly large attendance, considering the big counter-attraction in the .main Town Hall. His Excellency; the Governor-General, the Earl of Liverpool, accompanied by the Countess of Liverpool, were present, and seated with, them were Mrs. and Miss Massey and the Mayor (Mr. J. E. Luke, C.M.G.), with Mrs. Luke. The lecturer, at the outset, dealt with ■the landing of the New Zealanders at Samoa, and gave a vivid word picture of the South Seas generally. He dealt with the exploits of the Emden and her destruction by H.M.A.S. Sydney. From hero the lecturer took his hearers to Egypt, And thence on to Mudros' and Gallipoli. He gave a thrilling description of the landing on/the Peninsula" and the hardships the Anzacs had to undergo. The battle of Hill 971 he described as the most notable in which the New Zealanders'had fought, and he also paid a, high tribute to the very valuable work done tiy the Navy in the Dardanelles' operations. Mr. Anderson asked his hearers, especially the younger ones not to judge, for a space of ten years whether or not' the, Dardanelles campaign had been a failure. He referred to the grave possibilities which would have attended the German possession ot the Persian Gulf. The operations in Mesopotamia wew described with interesting detail, and' from there, the audience was transported to far off German East Africa; the stM& of the fighting- in which region was given in racy style. Not the least interesting part of this phase of the lecture was-"that in which Mr. Anderson dealt with the wild animals mot and contended with by the British troops in their march across the waterless scrub. Referring to the operations on tho Western front, the lecturer described tho bafctlo of Flers; the first fortified place the New Zealanders were called upon to take. He spoke in glowing terms of the remarkable and scientific ■work of the artillery, and said that the victory of Flers was on© of ithe landmarks in the country's history. Speaking of gas he said that, in self-protection, the British had to "i follow the German example of ' using it, and what tho British were now ■giving the Germans was 105 per cent, more deadly than the latter had- ever used. ' Mr. Anderson also dealt with Zeppelin raids -in England and their effect, and expressed his firm belief that the new; great guns of the British were going to defeat tho enemy. In this connection he gave great praise Ifco the munition workers —especially the women—<>f England. The naval arm of the service was also the subject of reference by th* lecturer, who said that it was not tho Germans who had given us such delightful musio whom we were fighting, but we were fighting to kill the representation of Prussian militarism—the vampires of Europe—to preserve rigM ».nd liberty. The lecture was illustrated by a number of very "excellent slides, the lantern arrangements being in the capable hands of Mr. A. A. Whitelaw. One-fourth of tho prooee&s of the lecture are to be devoted to tho Mayor's* Patriotic Fund.