Arbutus, Arabis To Visit Waitangi

Northern Advocate, 14 January 1948, Page 2

Arbutus, Arabis To Visit Waitangi

AUCKLAND, Wed. (Sp.)—The corvette Arabis. which has been in reserve since the Hauraki Gu’.i' was cleared of mines 18 months ago, will be recommissioned shortly to join her sister ship the Arbutus on the station.

The corvette will be commanded by Commander L. P. Bourke, D.S.C.. and the other officers have yet to be appointed.

In company with the Arbutus and the harbour defence launch, the Arabis will visit Waitangi for the Navy's commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. The crews will be paraded for the hoisting of the Union Jack on the 110 ft flagstaff erected by the Navy in 1946.

BELLONA’S BAND A band of Marines from HMS Bcllona will attend the ceremony, with a guard from HIVINZS Tamaki, and the salute will be taken by Commodore G. W. G. Simpson, C.8.E.. R.N. On their return from Waitangi, the corvettes will visit Kawau, where one of the ships will act as the flagship of the Royal Yacht Squadron's regatta on February 7. Naval crews will also race from the Rangitoto beacon to'Kawau.

The Arabis is a corvette of the Flower class, displacing 925 tons. She was commissioned in Britain by the Royal New Zealand Navy and brought to the Dominion in 1944, after which she served in the Pacific with the 25th Anti-Submarine Minesweeping Flotilla. At the end of the war she was fitted out as a minesweeper and was senior officer’s ship for the final mine-clear-ing operations in the Auckland area.