Filled Role as Mayor

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 49, 26 February 1941, Page 6

Filled Role as Mayor

New Zealand Sergeant In Cyrenaican Town

ORDER RESTORED IN TROUBLED COMMUNITY (From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. in the Middle Eaet.) CAIRO, Feb. 24. Not king for a day but mayor for five, a Wellington staff-sergeant of the New Zealand Feild Park Engineers was the central figure in an extraordinary aud amusing episode in the final stages of the British occupation of Cyrenaica. Leading a small advance party from the company into the town of Appy lonia alter the fighting troope parsed hurriedly tiirougn and ocyou Lie sergeant found himself into the role of protector and aduuni trator, with the duties of doctor midwife thrown in for good measure. The townspeople who were mostly of Italian, Turkish, Greek and French extraction and living in fear of disorders, had established themselves in caves. When the sergeant, accornpanied by a iauce-corporai and a sapper, entered the town, they met an earnest plea for aid in restoring normal community life, ty o the three New ■ Zealanders took over patrolling the V streets and helping distressed, families, M and by the afternoon of the second day, most of the people had moved back v into their homes and businesses. Installed in the palatial house of the former Governor, the New Zealanders called a meeting, at which & city council was elected by the choice of the leading member of each racial group. The sergeant in turn was elected mayor and took over the keys of the bank, municipal offices and assize branch. He called for a neighbouring Arab chieftain and was promised his co-operation in maintaining law and order. Every hour saw a further return to normalcy. The mayoral responsibilities did not end with police duty, currency control and general supervision. Ua the third day the New Zealand mayor, after dressing shrapnel wounds sustained by an uni rt'«uan, was invited to join the celebration and christening of a newborn baby and, moreover, wm asked to name i't after a Dominion statesman. Next day the baby, Michael Joseph Ebico, gave the Mayor real trouble. It kept crying and would not feed, so the anxious parents again called the aergean#, who, “after much perspiring and hard thinking,” did the right thing and won profuse thanks. On the arrival of the Australian administrative party a few days ago, the New Zealanders loft Appoionia with mixed feelings, amid handshakes, kisses, salaams and cheers. The presents, which were literally showered, included a beautiful silk municipal flag, which is now gracing the company orderly room. A carnival scene on the Eivcl Nile provided a fresh example of the flavour of novelty with which the intensive training of the N.Z.E.F. has been spiced. In a full day’s water sports, the troops cheered representative teams to victory through a series of races in which army bridging equipment was used exclusively. The culminating period of bridging training by day ami night, this unique regatta introduced a competitive element as a means of perfecting skill and confidence in handling reconnaissance and assault boats designed for the transportation of troope across waterways. Having held eliminuting trials to select the teams, the units gave an interesting and instruct tive programme of events, which were based on the regular operations for I which the craft are intended. For instance, the main event, which was an assault boat relay race, might have been a demonstration of infantry sections crossing a river to go into action on the far bank. The regatta officials used a felucca as a flagship, while the riverbank auu aandspit formed a grandstand for the spectators. The boat crews showed an excell&nt standard of watermanship, but one provided unscheduled entertainment when it collided with a native sailor in the muddy Nile water. Various brands of New Zealand beer, tobacco and cigarettes have been put on sale to the N.Z.E.F. troops for the first time lately. All the products have been extremely popular and rationing has been necessitated to ensure the widest distribution of the precent consignments.