MR. COATES’S EULOGY

Evening Star, Issue 19779, 1 February 1928, Page 5

MR. COATES’S EULOGY

[Per United Press Association.,! WELLINGTON, January 31. In u tribute to Lord Haig, Mr Coates says he was the Beau Snbreur of the British Army, one of the dashing cavalry officers of the Boer Mar, who distinguished themselves no less in tne stubborn siege fighting of the Great War. Perhaps his greatest service in the war was the feeling of confidence he inspired and the loyal and tactful manner in which he co-operatod with the French Army in the darkest Cays of reverse. Lord Haig's greatest irdeal was the smashing attack r.l the Germans in the spring of 191 S; but the British armies which ue commanded were able to recover Iroin th> blow and strike back with their_ whole foice. The association of the No.v Zealanders with Lord Haig was Histone. They made their first appearance on the western front in the early days of the Somme offensive, and in those operations gained the unreserved confidence of the Commander-in-Chief. After that he did not hesitate to give them the post of honor in the day of supreme trial. The tragedy of Pmsscliendale, in which the New Zealanders suffered their heaviest losses, expressed the confidence that Lord Haig felt in them as troops who would do what was asked of them. Lord Haig would go down in history not only as a fine soldier, but also as one who, amidst untold irritations and distractions, always preserved his bonhomie with his colleagues of whatever nation and kept his eye _ fixed njth high hope upon ultimate victory. His greatest claim to the respect and admiration of the British people was his unfaltering loyalty to the welfare or the plain “Tommy.” This persisted after the war, for until his death he filled with the greatest enthusiasm and success the post of president of the British Legion of Ex-servicemen, and lost no opportunitity of advocating the rights ot ex-servicemen and paying honor to his more humble comrades of the war.