THE SPEECHES

Grey River Argus, 17 October 1936, Page 7

THE SPEECHES

Miss Batten’s Apt Address HER LONG-CHERISHED AMBITION. (Per press Association). AUCKLAND. October 16. “What a girl!" the heartfelt exclamation that bur't involuntarily from a woman on the dais. as Miss Batten climbed out of the cockpit, summarised the feedings of all. Tn a few moments, she had been greeted warmlv by friends, old and new, and laden with flowers. MAYOR’S SPEECH. "Follow citizens." said Mr Davis, "my first thought is that we should offer a prayer of thankfu’ness to Almighty nod for bringing out good girl safely back to Auckland." "M : ss Batten, on behalf of the citizens of Auckland), and of this mighty multitude." continued the Mayor, "may I welcome you to Auckland, and congratulate you on your wonderful ft’ght. But, Jean," said Mr Davis (with paterna 1 emphasis), "you are a very naughty and. really. T think you want a good spank’ng for giving us such a terribly anxious time hejre. We knew you could do it, but we did not want you to run the r'sk! We glory in what you have done, and we glory in your wonderful and magn : ficcnt pluck, dear. We congratulate you from the bottom of our hearts." MINISTER OE DEFENCE. "I epteeni it tio be a very great privi'ego indeed, that T shou'd have been asked by the Prime Minister to represent tlio, Government here to-day in extending to Jean Batten a warm welcome." said Mr Jones. M n'Ster of Defence. "I do so on behalf of my colleagues and of the people of New Zealand. W'c are all proud of our Jean. She is a Nqw Zeai’ander,. and she has, by these notable flights, distinguished herse’f. If you were to n«k anv young New Zealander who are the two greatest sports :n the wmld to-dav, they would sav Jean Batten and Jack Lovelock. You will agree w : th me, that they have certainIv brought credit to this Dominion of ours, and wo are proud that they are New Zeahand-born. I am g’ad to haw the opportunity of being present, and to extend to Jean Batten a warm welcome on behalf of the Government and people rtf’ Nehv Zealand. If you leave to achieve fresh wonderful flights, yon know yon have the best w’shos of the people of New Zealand for your future success."

Several others spoke, and the ‘Mayor then interposed to offer special eongratif’ations to Mr H. Batten on the °afe arrival of his daughter. The pc ole had sympathised w : th him in bis anxietv, whf'ch, happily, had piovc> unnecessary. "I now call upon the hero-no of the dav. Miss Batten.” said the Mayor. MISS BATTEN RESPONDS. "I do not kniow hn.w to say how pleased I was f.o-dnv to see New Zealand” were Mis- Batten’s first words. She spoke with modets confidence., a' if she were as- much at homo -n addressing the vast crowd through th n microphone ns 'n the cockpit of hoi neroplnnc. She revealed that she had that dav fu’fi-lod a long-cherished ambit'on. "Actually everr s'nee I had m v ver,- fir-t Uirrht ” she ''laid, "I had ’n m ; nd to I'nk Grn.nt BrDai'n and New 7- nl-i fl through the air. and s morphe »rro. when T commenced th' <- l r<rnn : snfmn of lb's vorv big an' l ■••ent.- fiight. I Wt n r 'tb'ng to chance. All meteorological data ava'frib over the wh'flo route were carefully collectefl. and rif 1 maps, to the- number of 72. Tim nerop’ane was overhauled and refitted Tn fact, the machine was made- ns prefect as it i« humanly possible to make any mechan ical device.”

"Actually,” Mm s Batten cont'nued "T ’oft Engfand on October 5. although I was not Irving to brent, the solo repord to Austral a. T wrinkle to break the men’s record, and nrr’ye in Australia jus' n little ov'u f?vn days af-to’ - lonv’no- London. Bv fnk ; ng mv flight from Darwin th< foFnwin'r dav I was nh’o. to fly from London to SvflnCv in the faste c t time ever aecomplfshed. "I decided in Sydney to have my

aeroplane ovr-'iihauled, and Io have :: shout resti. and to wait for favourable conditions before- continuing my flight. Actually, before I left England,, I did not think of the Tasman as a separate flight, but as one hop of a continuing flight. Nejw Zealand i-s the onpy important part of the 'Empire that has not yet been linked up with Great Britain by arr in a. direct flight. I was very happy to-day fe arrive in New Zealand—incidentally, nine and a-half hours after leaving Richmond aerodrome, thereby creating another record.

“To-day, I am just 16 flays and 21 hours out from England. Tn this flight. T was ablet to fly from England to Now Zealand in the fastest time ; n the history of the worl’d, and also to make the fastest time ever record -fl between the two dominions of Nev Zealand and Australia.

“I do nof. know 'how to express how plea'ied T am t’o see you all here to meet me. I think 1 can say that this is the verv greatest momept of mv life.”

When the applause that broke out -m the conclusion o 1 th'« speech had died away, ch'e/ers were again give’ for the lioro'no of the dav. and a special cheer for hoi- father. The sine 'ng of “For She’s :i Jolly Good Fol ’ow” broke out M'multano.nusly in flif Cerent narts of the great crowd, am 1 followed her as she was escorted t" f he clubhouse.