THE NEW ZEALAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16213, 14 April 1913, Page 6

THE NEW ZEALAND.

Now that the battleship Now Zealand is in our own waters—has “come home,” as it was expressed in Wellington on Saturday—we can foel more closely the sense of proud possession and realise moro fully the duty of hearty co-operation. The capital city has given a warm, generous welcome to the great vessel and to her officers and men, undamped, at any rato in its cordiality and sincerity, by the samples of Wellington weather whioh obtruded on the occasion, and the welcome has been echoed-and re-eohoed in every city and town and hamlet in the dominion. The New Zealand has long been a familiar figure to the people who like to call her their own, not merely because thoy have watched her grow, as it were, from the seed of Imperial enthusiasm to the full tree of Imperial purpose; but mainly because they think of her as a concrete expression of their devotion to the country of*their forefathers and of their adhesion to all that is best in the ideals for which that country stands. There is no jingoism in tho self-reliant spirit that i« abroad in New Zealand. Its people are malting sacrifices, and will continue to make sacrifices, not for the glorification of tho Empiro in war and conquest, but for tho maintenance of peace if possible,' for the protection'of their country if necessary, and for tho promotion of tho welfare of humanity in any event. The rejoicing in connection with the visit of tho Now Zealand will bo long drawn out, but it will never lack, tho spirit of wide, comprehensive comradeship and high resolve that was displayed at Wellington on Saturday. New Zealanders will respond whole-heartedly and confidently to the tact and goodwill that have prompted tho visit, and will give of their best to tho men that are manning “ their ship,” but when the time comes for her to leave these shores they will wish her “ Godspeed ” in the service of the Empiro even moro fervently, if a little less boisterously, than they have given her welcome to tho land of her conception.