A PROUD RECORD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 26 November 1938, Page 9

A PROUD RECORD

AFGHANISTAN WAR VETERAN MR S. G. JONES VISITING NELSON BATTLE OF MAIWAND RECALLED Mr Samuel G. Jones, first Labour mein ber of Reading Town Council, who is iiovV liviiig iii retirement iu Petone, is oile of the few survivors of the battle of Maiw'ahd, which is commemorated by tile Foi-biiry Liou. Mr Jones, who is now in jhi'.- 80th year, arrived in Nelson to-day I by Cook Strait Airways to spend a holiday with his daughter, Mrs P. Woolf, of Redwood’s Vuliey. Mr Jones took part in the last Anzac Bay service at Pctone and was weuring the Afghan and Egyptian medals, the Khedive’s Star, and the medals of his latM son. At Lite present time he receives a pension from tne New Zealand Government. As a young soldier he was pfesent at the review in Windsor Great Park by Queen Victoria in 1877. During his service n India he was sent to Afghanistan, where lie took part in the Afghan War, and later served in the Egyptian War, 1882-83. AT QUEEN VICTORIA’S JUBILEE After leaving the Regular Army he joined the Ist Volunteer Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment and distinguished himself us a first-class shot. While he was with the icgiiuuut he was a member of Dm guuid of honour at the unveiling of tim lion in the Forbujy, was on duty at Queen Victoria’s Jubilee, 1887, at the review hold the same year in the Loug Valley, Aldershot, at the Diamond Jubilee, 1897, and at the funeral in 1901. About this time he became the first Labour member of the Reading Town Council, and is the only survivor to-day oi that body, which numbered 40. On the Council and also on the Board of Guardians, of which lie was also a member, he was constantly striving to obtain better conditions for the workers and those whose misfortune caused them to apply for relief. He emigrated to New Zealand about 1995. On the outbreak of tiie Great War he Volunteered but was rejected for health reasons, ill thfe meantime liis eldest Sort, who W«ls born on the eighth anniversary of Maiwahd, and Was giv'en the name of the famous battle, had joined his father’s old regiment— 2nd Battalion Royal Berks!'.ires—and was seilt to India. He was tirtie expired in 1914, but wa? retained and sent with the regiment Lu France, where he was killed in action in 1915. In 1935 Mr Jones offered his serviced to the Minister of Defence, or for any purpose whereby an old soldier could be of assistance to his country. The Minister acknowledged tho offer with grateful appreciation of the spirit with which it was prompted. Describing the Battle of Maiwand Mr Jones remarked that it was no defeat, as so often referred to, for the loss our men inflicted upon the enemy was so serious that it made the victory of General Roberts on the termination of Ids celebrated march from Cabul to Kandahar a comparatively easy one.