R.S.A. ADMIRATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 116, 19 May 1942, Page 3

R.S.A. ADMIRATION

AUSTRALIA'S FORCES

Complaint made in a letter received from the hon. secretary of the Australian Imperial Forces Ex-Service-men's Association concerning a speech by the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) at a recent gathering of the Royal Society of St. George was referred to at a meeting of the Wellington R.S.A. executive last nigiit. The W.R.S.A. president (Colonel C. H. Weston, K.C.) said that the association, as such, was not concerned with the matters complained of, but felt that all valued the comradeship built up with the A.I.F. in the last war and hoped that that feeling of fellowship would continue with the 2nd A.I.F.

Colonel Weston moved: "That this association expresses its good will and admiration for the fighting forces of Australia and its confidence that they will today fully maintain the military traditions established on the battlefields of Gallipoli, France, and Palestine."

Mr. Hislop, who is vice-president of the association, said that he gladly seconded the motion. It was fully in accord with his statement made in the Press on May 6 in response to a similar letter sent •to him by the A.I.F. He was happy to repeat what he had then stated. "My criticism." he said, "was directed not at the Australian people or the A.I.F. but at these whose attitude displayed gross ingratitude to the splendid people of Britain and their great leader."