"NO FINER MODELS"

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 4, 5 July 1922, Page 2

"NO FINER MODELS"

HIGH FRENCH TRIBUTE ,T0 NEW ; ZEALAND SOLDIERS AN EXAMPLE FOR FRANCE. A stirring appeal for them to live up to the traditions established by the NewZealand Division in Franco, if ever they should be called upon to do so, was made by Mr. F. H. BakeweH, M. A., Chief Inspector of Schools, in the course of his lecture to the sth Battery, NewZealand Artillery, at the Community Club last night. The subject of his lecture was "Characteristics and Traditions of the British Race in War," a report of which appears elsewhere. "Now," said Mr. Bakewell, "what I want to impress" on you Territorials, is this: That in virtue of your, finer climate, your more generous environment, and your freer and higher standard of living, there is-none of these qualities which have so distinguished the British nation in war that you do not possess in the highest degree. When the Main Body of the" New Zealand Expeditionary' Force was marching. through the streets of Wellington, an Imperial officer said to me: 'Of course those men will not be put in the firing line. They will be emplpyed in garrison duty and in keeping up lines of communication.' Well, lam npfc a military' man, and couldn't argue with him, but for nearly forty years^l have been teaching generations of New' Zealand boys, have been ultimately associated with them, seeing them every week almost at their work and games, studying their characters, reading their very thoughts and minds as laid bare in the thousands of little compositions that they write for me every year, and when I talk about young New Zealand I know what I am talking about, and I knew the stuff those boys were made of and the spirit that was in them, and could have told that officer that if they had tried to keep our men out of the firing line,""in three months they, would have started a campaign of their own, and carried it through, i too. But, as I said at the beginning of this lecture, my intention was not to say so much about ■what we thought of ourselves as about what others thought of us. ADDRESS TO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE. "Shortly after the conclusion of the war a'great function took place in Paris. Thousands of young recruits who had joined the colours ; of the regiments quartered in Paris were assembled for the purpose of taking the oath of military service to the Republic. The officer in command of the garrison, a distinguished general, was there to speak to them on loyalty and patriotism and duty to their country. In drawing illustrations and examples for such an appeal to young French soldiers, just.think of what a magnificent field the general had at his disposal—the most brilliant military history of the world—Joan of Arc, Turenne, the glories of the Grand Monarch, Napoleon,. Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena—and, if these were not enough, surely the spirit of France had shone forth from a hundred fields in the great .struggle that, had only just ended. But he made no: mention of these.'•* 'Young soldiers of the Republic,' he said, 'before I begin my address I wish to read to you, an army order recently issued by headquarters,' and this is what he read out:— Paris, 29th November, 1919. , Army Orders. The President of the Council qf the Ministry of War mentions the, name' of the following British officer: Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, has led a splendid division to countless victories. Its exploits have not been equalled, and its reputation was such; that on the arrival of the division on the Somme battlefield during the most critical days of March, 1918, the flight of the inhabitants immediately ceased. The division covered itself with fresh glory during the battles of the Ancre, at the Sambre, at Puesceux au Mont, Bapaume, Orevecoeur, arid Le Quesnoy. Given and by order of the President of the Council of the Ministry of War. J (Signed) BOEKER, v Colonel. AdjutanWJeneral of the Cabinet. I "NO FINER MODELS AS SOLDIERS." I " 'Now, I.ask you.,' the General went ton, 'to Jake notice of one fact, that on the arrival on the , battlefield of these soldiers the flight of the inhabitants immediately ceased. It was indeed one of the most critical periods of the war. The line had been broken, th© enemy was pressing through to anticipated victory, and the unfortunate people of the countryside were fleeing in terror from the horrors of the Boche invasion, Figure to yourselves what it all meant. The road crowded with the fugitives, old men, despairing and weeping women and children, bearing with them such few household treasures as they could drag along. Then the arrival of troop-trains with reinforcements—-company after com. ip-any of khaki men. are detrained and ! hurried into the firing line. "Qui sont cc gens?" (Who are these men?) the people asked, and then it was the flight was stayed. The officer who was directing the evacuation sent his aide-de-camp to inquire the reason. He came back.' "General," ho said, "the people say that they are. not going any further, that these are the soldiers from New Zealand, 'et tout va Wen,' and all's well. They will soon be back in their homes—infact, they are getting ready to return now." Yes, such was the reputation of these men for valour and manhood and conduct, that your war-stricken countrymen knew .that they could confide their goods and their chattels, their lives, and the honour of . their women to their safe keeping. I can hold up' to you no finer model as soldiers than was shown by. the men that .a little nation in a far-off J island of the Pacific sent to the aid1 of j Franco in her hour of t>eril.' j UNDER NEW ZEALAND PRO- ! TECTION. "Now, Territorials'," said Mr. Bake- ] well, "that is th© opinion that the firsu military .nation in the world has of the 'New Zealand soldiers. That is the reputation that has boen handed into your safe keeping. lam not now digging up something out of history .hundreds of years old. . Tliis is a story of yesterday. Tho men who did this were. your own flesh and Mood—his brother, and his, and Ms—some of them are here to-night. I have talked with men who were there, and they have told-me how these people streamed after them like a crowd going up to tho Athletic Park. In the Jays to . conio there "will bo much said and written of the prowess of on men, but to my mind there will lie no finer tribute than the-picture of those French people returning to their homen and. safety under tho. protection of the men from the Land of the Fern Leaf. THOUSAND MILLIONS'OF : "ASIATICS. ■' '•' ] "One thing before I finish. Don't think that I am trying to glorify war or to advocate militarism. No one more earnestly'hopes that the horrors of war have ceased for ever.. Billy tavaii if the Loasiue of Nations docs all that it hopes .(« tin. iid you l.hink I hat it will rt-c'fiive lus with empty 'hands? We must still

hs ready and prepared. The old saying, 'If you want peace, you must be prepared for war,', will still hold good. However wo may • answer for our own peaceful intentions, who is going to answer ,for the thousand million Asiatics cooped up in their narrow territory? I have already told you how I have talked to generations of boys, just as I have talked to you to-night, about pride of race, and patriotism, and self-sacrifice, and duty to their country—have gone over with them tho poetry and pieces in their reading books telling of what our nation has done—you know the pieces well enough, 'The Torch of Life'— 'There's a deathless hush in the close to-night, ten to make and the match to win—the voice of the schoolboy rallying the ranks, the flinging of the torch to those coming behind—that torch that our men at Gallipoli, and Messines, and Passchendale, and a score of other battles on the Somme have flung to you. I have gone over with them the speech of Henry V. to his soldiers ; before Harfleur and Agincourt, where ho calls them men

Whose blood is fit from fathers of war proof, Fathers, that like to many Alexanders, have in these parts From morn till evening fought and sheathed their swords for lack of argument. "THESE ARE THE SOLDIERS FROM NEW ZEALAND." "I have shown them what it all meant—that Henry was recalling to his men the deeds of their fathers at Poictiers and Cressy, and how the same could have been said of their own sons in the reign of a later Henry, and of their sons' descendants hundreds of years after on the battlefields of Marlborough and Wellington. I can see those boys now with their bright, eager faces,. row after row of them in Mount Cook and Te Aro, and Clyde-quay, and Newtown, and scores of other schools in this district. Did I over think for a minnte that, hundreds, thousands of those splendid lads —New Zealand's best and bravest—would lay down their lives for the Empire on those very battlefields? Could any sane man ever wish for such frightful sacrifice again? People talk so confidently of the future, but how many can really tell? Even now, menacing forces may be at work beneath the surface which may call upon us to make as great sacrifices in the future as we have had to do in the past—who can say? One thing I can say, because I know, if ever such terrible ■ times do come again and some tremendous day arrives when you'men sitting here, or those who como after you, have to march to take your place on a stricken field, tho same question will be heard, 'Qjui sont cc gens?' Who aro these fellows —who are these coming here? And I know, too, that tho answer will be the same as it was with the inhabitants of that French village on the Somnie: 'These are tho soldiers from New Zealand,' 'et tout va bien,' and all's well." (Prolonged applause.)