NEW ZEALAND WREATH

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 47, 24 August 1939, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND WREATH

WAR MEMORIAL IN FRANCE

! On the occasion of a visit of fifty-- ; five members of the New Zealand ! Women's Institutes who were bearing , a wreath, consisting of flowers from ! the gardens of many New Zealand i homes, to be laid on the monument, ! people from all over the province gath-1 i ered at the New Zealand War Memori ial, which stands between Longueval ; and Flers, in France, by the Somme battlefields, states an exchange. , The wreath bore the inscription: 1 The Women's Institutes of New I Zealand. ! In loving memory of New Zealand 1 Soldiers. We bring these flowers . . . ; f-om home. j The wreath had been made by two i: members of the Shannon Women's Institute and had arrived in perfect | irder. It was shown in the window of i New Zealand House, London, for some i days and attracted much notice. > THE RECEPTION. ! On arrival the party was received i; by Monsieur Joly, president of the j i Anciens Combattants of the district, i and the Deputy-Mayor of Longueval, I the Mayors of Flers and Friscourt, > the cure, the directors of the schools, ' and the chief of the Sapeurs-pompiers. j On each side of the path to the : Monument stood uniformed members ] ; of the various service, bearing large I ; national flags, a salute being sounded jas the leader of the party, Miss j Brenda Bell, Palmerston, Otago, asj sisted by Mrs. Managh, Halcombe (the ' oldest member of the group), passed. Miss Bell thanked the Mayors and people for their reception, adding that the thirty thousand members of the New Zealand Women's Institutes were eagerly awaiting news of the ceremony and that she was instructed to | offer the gratitude of New Zealand i women for all that the people of France had done for New Zealand soldiers during the war. A welcome was extended by the Deputy-Mayor of Longueval, speaking for the Mayor, who awaited the party at the Town Hall. Recalling that the memorial had been mveiled by the Hon. Sir Francis Bell in 1922, the i Deputy-Mayor said that this occasion I served to show how closely the people of France and New Zealand were united. GIFTS PRESENTED. A little girl, Michele Maillard, who J had won the prize fen* the best essay ' 1 on New Zealand, recited a poem in j j honour of the dead. Many sheaves of; I flowers were then laid on the monuj.l ment from the different authorities I and societies named, including the Civil Authority, Anciens Combattants, I Sapeurs-pompiers, and the schools. j The party adjourned to the Mairie, j i where the Mayor spoke and the essay prizes were presented. Two small children presented a bouquet of wild flowers to Miss Bell, handing a card | inscribed: "Sur les plaines Longue| ' valaises nous les avons cuillies pour | vo'us." (On the plains around Longueval we plucked these for you.) Cases of New Zealand apples were handed to the cure for distribution to the schools, and two little Kowhaij I trees, given by the curator of the Dunedin Botanic Gardens, were presented to the Mayors of Longueval and Flers. Before leaving, Miss Bell gave a short talk on New Zealand, illustrated with slides lent by the ! New Zealand Government.