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King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3373, 3 October 1931, Page 5

Recounting his experiences as. a delegate to the recent World Christian Endeavour Convention in Berlin, at a rally of members of Christchurch societies on Monday evening, The Rev. E. W. Batts, of Ashburton, spoke of the remarkable change that has taken place in the relations between Germany and Britain. He travelled to Berlin with a party of 90 British delegates, and at 2 a.m. on August 4 they were crossing the border from Holland to Germany. Spontaneously the members of the party knelt in prayer as they recalled the fateful events of August 4, 1914, and they had a feeling of great thankfulness that they were travelling to Germany, not with swords and with hate in their hearts, but with love for the German people. At the closing meeting of the convention there was another remarkable happening which left a great impression with him. The flags of the nations represented were on each side of the main platform, and during the singing of the final hymn these were picked up by young men and waved with feelings of great joy. But the significant fact was that, although the incident was quite unrehearsed, it was a German who waved the Union Jack and an Englishman who waved the German flag.