"THEM COLONIALS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13160, 25 April 1906, Page 6

"THEM COLONIALS."

Of the men of the Australian Naval Reserve who receive their training on the British Squadron, the officers of the ships speak, as a rule, in complimentary terms, but perhaps t.he opinion of the Imperial sailors, who do not hold commissions, if it could be thoroughly canvassed, would be found to be not so favourable. Anyhow, there was a fine scorn about the manner in which several of the regular naval men spoke in the Sydney Divorce Court recently about their brother tars of Australia. An Imperial petty officer was the co-respondent in a suit . brought by a Sohraon drill instructor against his' wife, and the petitioner's chief witness was a young member of tbe Australian, Naval Reserve, while on the other side half-a-dozen English bluejackets were called to support the story of the co-respondent s innocence. " Did you see anyone with the respondent';" a private of the Royal Naval Marine was asked, the reference being to an occasion on which the parties were all over at Garden Island. " Yes," replied the marine, in a tone which conveyed a great deal more than the mere words implied, "one of them colonial?." "Who - :" queried the judge. "One of the men of this here new Australian Navy," explained the witness. "We call them Australians here," suaaested Mr. Windeycr. The co-respondent also described til?, incident. " The petitioner," he said, " went up the ladder like a shut, out of a gun, and called a bloke that was on the jetty, one of them colonials, to come over to him." And the snrc-r there was in the word "colonials!" My the way, the .lack Tar of which the Divorce Court witnesses were specimens, is 'much 100 businesslike to waste his time by saying "Woolloomooloo" when lie wants to indicate that place. " Down the. 'Loo " is the way he hits it off colloquially.