TROOPS DESPATCHED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16039, 4 October 1915, Page 7

TROOPS DESPATCHED.

SECOND MAORI FORCE. TRENTHAM RIFLE BRIGADE. ADVANCE PARTY LEAVES. < IB! TELEGRAPH— CORRESPONDENT.) Wellington, Sunday. The second Maori contingent, 560 strong, having completed its training at Narrow Neck camp, left Auckland on Friday, September 17, and arrived in Wellington on the morning of September 18. The men were taken directly aboard the troopship which was awaiting them at the wharf. Early in the afternoon, the Maoris marched through the streets of Wellington to the Town Hall, where His Excellency the Governor (the Earl of Liverpool), the Prime Minister (the Right Hen. W. F. .Massey), and other members of the Cabinet bade them farewell. The enthusiastic scenes in Auckland and Wellington, when the Maoris, trained, equipped, even to helmets and " shorts,' 5 and looking smart and soldierlike, inarched through the streets on their way to railway and steamer, and the proceedings at the Wellington Town Hall, have already been described. Late on the Saturday afternoon, the Town Hall was given over to the Maoris and their relatives and personal friends, and the young soldiers, probably for the last time for many, months, were entertained with hakas, dances and quaint native ceremonies.

On the troopship with the Maoris there were placed an advance party of two officers and 100 men of the Trenthara * u -Brigade and a number of members of the mounted rifle and infantry sections °' the sixth reinforcement draft, who had, for various reasons, been left behind. In addition, there were five officers of the New Zealand Medical Corps, details of the New Zealand Ambulance Corps, three nurses, and various other details bound for the New Zealand base » Egypt. Most of .these troops took part in the march through the Wellington streets to the Town Hall, after which they returned to the wharf. The Maoris were marched aboard early in the evening, and soon afterwards the troopship ment out into the stream and anchored. There were many affectinc scenes, just before the shin left. The Maoris are a more emotional people than the British— at any rate; they do not conceal their feelings so well. If the Maoris wish to ween they weep, and there is no compromise about it. The Maori mothers, sisters and wives—and there appeared to be more wives, with little children, than might have been expected—gave evidence of their grief in the characteristic Maori way, although judged by native standards, they faced a tragic parting very bravely. Compared with the women, the men were more stoical.

The transport lay out in the stream all night. She sailed soon after daylight and when, on the Sunday morning late risers were looking for her in the harbour, she was already away beyond Terawhiti, well started on her voyaee to the older, shell-torn lands on the other side of the world.