Christmastide

Hutt News, Volume 15, Issue 19, 8 October 1941, Page 5

Christmastide

MAJOR LAMPEN SPEAKS i . ; ■... The widely differing and unusual ways in which he has spent various Christmases of his life were related by Mftjcrr F. H. Lampen, D.5.0., When he recently addressed the Lower Hutt Branch of the W.D.F.U. "On one occasion," the Major, who was introduced by the branch president, Mrs. A. C. Stevenson, Said, "I Journeyed from Yokohama to Kobe. The train was attended by a little Japanese guard, whose sole function appeared ta be shutting the carriage' windows as we approached a tunnel and announcing 'tunnel coming,"* and opening them again with the illuminating remark 'tunnel finished' when we emerged' into daylight again." During another Christmas the Major, in company with another New Zealander, journeyed to a small tropic island on a "Hush-hush" mission. The boat on which they travelled left them the necessary equip l ment and sufficient supplies for three months. "We marched solemnly round our tiny island twice a daythe Major said, "admired the one and only tree, returned to our hut. At the end of three months a boat brought further supplies, but apart from that we didn't see anyone except our two selves." | "Even lonelier than the Christmas I spent on the island," the Major said, "was the one I spent in Wellington. I arrived on Christmas Eve to find the city deserted. I" didn't knoW a soul, so booked in at

a small hotel. On Christmas Day I walked to Kelburn, and, when resting on a park seat, I was joined by another man. He asked me for a match; we started to converse, and behold it transpired that he came from the same part of Cornwall as 1 did, and remembered me there quite well. Strangely enough, lie was staying at the same hotel as I was, so when we returned we drank to old Cornish places and people." The speaker went on to tell how he first came to New Zealand. He was in Osaka, Japan, when he, as one of ninety Press representatives, decided to protest against the Japanese authorities. The demonstration, as might be, expected, proved futile, and the participants were brought before the local magistrate. As the magistrate's general policy seemed to be to return the offenders to their own countries, the Major and one of his friends decided to say they came from New Zealand, as it

was the most remote place they could think of. To their consternation, however, the magistrate said that there was a boat sailing for New Zealand the following morn"And that," said the Major, "is how I first came to visit New Zealand." Major Lampen was accorded a hearty vote of* thanks, and presented with flowers for his wife. Members of this branch of the division continue to help at the A.N.A. Club, which receives half of the proceeds from the monthly bring and buy. Knitted garments for the men on the minesweepers and the men of the Mercantile Marine are handed in from time to time, and assistance is given with the iAdy Galway Guild.