RAILWAY COMPANY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20170, 13 February 1940, Page 6

RAILWAY COMPANY

GISBORNE SELECTION REPORTING AT BURNHAM YESTERDAY’S FAREWELL Relatives and friends of Gisborne volunteers for the New Zealand Railway Survey, Construction and Maintenance Company furnished a substantial gathering at tho Abercorn Hall yesterday to farewell the small draft which left by the 4 p.m. service car for Wairoa. The men are io report at Burnham camp to-morrow, and will train there prior to their embarkation for service overseas.

The thanks of the district for their offer of service were extended .to the men by the Mayor, Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., who referred to the special class of work for which the men had been selected, and to the desire of the Government that in the various arms of the active-service contingents the country should be represented by the best men available.

Volunteers of Experience

This draft he added, comprised volunteers of valuable experience in the type of work they would undertake overseas, and he expressed confidence that they would do credit to their district and to their country. The draft was also farewelled by Mr. G. Crawshaw on behalf of the executive of the Gisborne Returned Soldiers' Association, Mr. Crawshaw complimenting the members of the group on their acceptance of the obligations thrown upon all fit men by the war. He felt sure that they would find, in their army life, as many pleasant factors as had those who served in the Great War, and that despite the dangers and harslnps of active service, they would return with the conviction that comradeships formed under those conditions were among life's lasting satisfactions.

The dralt of railway company volunteers were accompanied by a Gisborne recruit called up at short notice to fill a vacancy in the ranks of the Second Echelon. This volunteer. who vdll join the Rifle Battalion at Trentham to-night, is:— Webber, Fred Joseph, married. 22 years, Gisborne, mechanic.