Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28th., 1934 GENERAL GODLEY.

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 December 1934, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28th., 1934 GENERAL GODLEY.

N ot all the leaders of Empire troops in the Great War are remembered, to-day, with gratitude and affection, recent disclosures shattering, or weakening, reputations once placed high. As wartime secrets are revealed, it, is learned that grievous blunders were made, and that instead of. laudation, censure was deserved in some instances. One commander who has lost none of the laurels bestowed, is General Sir Alexander J. Godley, in charge of the New Zealand troops throughout the War, and commander-in-ch ief of the British Army on the Rhine from 1922 to 1924. General Godley, whether at Gallipoli, Egypt, or the Western Front, retained the confidence of the men under his charge, and it is not surprising that his present visit to the Dominion, has been eagerly awaited by many of his former comrades, who will give him a cordial welcome at every place he is able to

visit. General Godley, who is approaching his 68th birthday, has had an adventurous career. The son of a Colonel of the old 56th Regiment, he was educated at service colleges, joining the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in 1886. His first war experience was in South Africa, and he commanded the western defences at the famous siege of Mafeking, where he was Staff Officer to Baden Powell, and Plumer. He transferred to the Irish Guards in 1900, and on his return to England was appointed to various commands of mounted infantry. His promotion followed a normal course, and he became G.O.C. New Zealand Forces in 1910. receiving a K.C.M.G. The Great War gave him the opportunity of further proving his merits, and he subsequently received honours from his own and Allied countries. Altogether, his active

career is one which he may regard with pardonable pride, and he is deserving of the acclamation which the initial gathering at Invercargill bestowed upon him and his wife, who has also served the Empire’s cause. The former Chief’s visit should help to keep the Dominion in mind of what it owes to thosej of its men and women who did ( their part during 1914-1918, and who in many instances, are to-day, suffering because of their patriotism.

General Godley’s visit. by chance, coincides with that of tour of the country by certain antiwar delegates from Australia. None is more really anti-war than those who have experienced the horrors of actual conflict, and were the dei eision of war avoidance a question solely for the British Empire to decide, peace would be permanent. But it takes two, or more, to preserve peace, just as it takes two or more to make a quarrel. Anti-war delegates, when sincere and having no other object in view’, are wasting their time in urging New Zealanders to oppose war. Such delegates are preaching to the already converted, and if they persist in their mission, they lay themselves open to the suspicion that their “anti-war” is camouflage for extremist political action, which if practised, would be worse in eonse-

quences than the Great, War was. Foreign lands are more in need of “anti-war” crusaders, and none knows this more than anti-war delegates who carefully keep away from those areas where their services would be useful, if dangerous to themselves.