TROOPS INSPECTED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 125, 26 April 1940, Page 6

TROOPS INSPECTED

MAORI BATTALION. GENERAL DUIGAN’S praise \ “Remember you are New Zealanders. You will l>e received with open arms wherever you go It you behave as the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force did, you will come back with nothing but goodwill toward you from the peope you meet. Remember the good name of the Maori people, the good name of your own battalion.. I hid you goodoye and good luck. With these words Major-General J. E. Duigan, Chief of the General Staff, closed a short address to the Maori Battalion after he had inspected it this forenoon, accompanied by Colonel R. Row (Officer Commanding the District). The Trentham Military » Camp hand was in attendance, and the steadiness, precision and hearing oi the battalion showed that the keenness demonstrated by the troops ana the instruction they have received has brought about very satisfying results. •■I nave watt.led your progress right from the start, in the Army Training School before the battalion went into camp here, and also in the eleven weeks that the battalion lnts been under training,” said General Duigan, “You have made remarkable progress the same as with other units of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. , “There is still a lot to learn, and you will get time for that overseas, but I think that Lieut.-Colonel Dimmer, your commanding officer. Ins officers and non-commissioned officers, doserve the greatest credit for the energy and perseverance put to the task o training men who have never had any military training whatever, who have never had a rifle in their hands, General Duigan added. . , , “The members of the Maori Battalion come of a very chivalrous and brave race. You are taking away with vou the traditions of the Pioneer Battalion of the last war. I 'have no doubt that you will continue those traditions.” The speaker then bade good-bye to the battalion and wished tile men good luck. , A number of members of the genera public were present, including Colonel J. H. Whyte. Mr B. J. Jacobs (president of the Palmerston North branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association), Inspector H. Scott. Inspector of Police in charge of the district, and Mr IN. Blackmore, a member of the Patriotic Association.