DOMINION AND BELGIUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18760, 14 July 1924, Page 10

DOMINION AND BELGIUM.

LUNCHEON At WEMBLEY. [FROM dUB OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON. May 23. A delegation of some 20 Belgian wool merchants and bankers, conducted by Mons. J. P. H. Mertens, the New Zealand Trade Representative in Antwerp, visited the New Zealand Pavilion to-day and was received by Sir James Allen and Mr. A. Crabb, secretary to the High Commissioner's Department, and Mr. A. F. Roberts. An hour was spent in inspecting the exhibits and then a film of the thermal wonders of Wairakei was exhibited in the New Zealand cinema. This proved of great interest, several of the party having visited New Zealand at, various times. The Belgian Ambassador, Baron Moncheur, the Belgian Consal, Mons. Toilet, and the delegation were entertained at luncheon in the reception room. Sir James Allen, in proposing the health of the Belgian Ambassador and the guests, said that New Zealand was grateful to the Belgians because they had permitted their dead to live in their territory in peace and security. Moreover, they had allowed New Zealand to erect two memorials which represented to the Belgian nation something at least of that far-off country. The memorial at Gravenstafel would be for all time a memento of the demand made upon the New Zealanders %vho carried out a feat of arms almost impossible. They tried and they left their dead there in hundreds aijcl ; thousands. "May I say," Sir James continued, "these are ties which will bind us for all time. . These things cannot be forgotten." • *