ASSOCIATION WITH NAVY

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 25 September 1933, Page 4

ASSOCIATION WITH NAVY

HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND. PRIME MINISTER’S COMMENT. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Sept. 23. Proposing the toast of ‘‘His Majesty’s Australian Squadron” at the State luncheon to the visiting Australian naval officers, the Rt. Hon. G. \V. Forbes said he was sure that the practice the New Zealand and Australian navies had had would he of great benefit. New Zealand’s history had been bound up with the British Navy, with which the New Zealand Government always had been closely associated. It was New Zealand’s aim to keep in close association with Australia. “These are times in which we must all feel that we are part of the British Empire,” Mr. Forbes said, “and I have come back from England with the firm' conviction that we are all members of a great family.” Mr. Forbes remarked that the present was the first occasion on which they had had a lady member amongst them, and he wanted Mrs. McCombs to be assured she was very welcome. (Loud applause.) Responding, Rear-Admiral Dalglish thanked the Prime Minister and the people of New Zealand for the extraordinary hospitality extended. The practices had given the Australian Navy a wonderful opportunity, and he had been greatly impressed with the efficiency of the New Zealand division of the Royal Navy. He felt the officers and men of the navy were the greatest ambassadors of peace that could be imagined.