NEW ZEALANDERS' DINNER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18994, 16 April 1925, Page 10

NEW ZEALANDERS' DINNER.

GATHERING AT CAMBRIDGE. ALL BLACKS HONOURED. [fROSt OCR • ORS' CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON. Mar. 10. The Heitiki (New Zealanders') Club at Cambridge University held its annual dinner at the University Arms Hotel on February 28. The gathering, as is invariably the cas? with these happy functions, was a marked success. The guests of the club were Sir James .Allen (hon. president), Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M. (lion, vice-president), and Mr. C. J. Wray (English representative of the New Zealand Rugby Union). The chairman, Mr. N. Williams (Wanganui and Jesus College) proposed "New Zealand," and coupled with the toast, the name of Sir James Allen.

Sir James Allen, who was greeted with cheers, said that it was always a pleasure to come back to Cambridge, his old university, and associate with young New Zealamlers whoso whole life, with all its possibilities, lay before them. He hoped sincerely that most, of them would go back to New Zealand and give their country the benefit of their experiences. If they stayed in England, he hoped they would reflect upon their country glory as great as that which the brilliaut career of Sir Ernest Rutherford, their honoured gust, had secured for it. (Cheers.) The toast of "The All Blacks" was proposed bv Mr. H. S. 11. Gilmer (Wanganm and Jesus College). He expressed the opinion that the All Blacks were a striking proof of the maxim that attack is tho best method of defence.

In replying to the toast, Mr. (,'. J. Wray, who received a very hearty welcome, paid a tribute to Mr. C. G. Porter, the New Zealand captain, who had proved himself a splendid sport in the best sense of the word. Sir Ernest Rutherford made an eloquent and impressive speech in replying to the toast of his health, which was heartily honoured. He stated that it was a long time since he had lived in New Zealand, and he was looking forward to returning there soon to see how his country progressed, and to see again his father, who was now 86, and his mother, aged 83, both nf whom were still very active in spite of their age, and thus tvpical of tho early colonists of New Zealand.

Sir Ernest slated that he was always glad to meet New Zealanders. He referred in eulogistic terms to the research in wireless in which Mr. M. F. Harnett was collaborating with Professor Appleton. He felt that these scientists were on the way to a discovery which had occupied the attention of the scientific world for years. All New Zealanders, Sir Ernest continued, should have a reasonable opinion of themselves, but he hoped that they would make due allowances for conditions existing in the comparatively ancient civilisation of England. It was very easy to be overcritical and so to miss the best that the Old Land could offer. It would bo better not to come to England at all than to go back with the mistaken idea that she had nothing to teach New Zealand. In new countries, said Sir Ernest, especially on the other side of the world, there was inevitably a certain provincial feeling, and ho hoped that New Zealanders at Cambridge would always preserve a due sense of proportion. Probably two-thirds of the intellectual life of the country was concentrated in the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and it behoved all New Zealanders to take back something of it to their own country. The more he lived in England, Sir Ernest continued, the more he appreciated the great qualities of Englishmen. They were a nation of sportsmen, and it was a privilege to live among them. (Cheers.) Mr. A. J. Harrop (Waitaki and Caius College) paid a tribute to the All Blacks from his personal experience of travelling with thern, and he proposed the health of Mr. S. F. Wilson, the New Zealand delegate to the Imperial Rugby Conference. Mr. Wilson, he said, had done a wonderful amount of work in ensuring the success of the tour. The toast was drunk with enthusiasm.