LEGION OF THE PAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20112, 24 November 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

LEGION OF THE PAST.

HALF-CENTURY'S CAMPAIGNS.

CORPS OF OLD VETERANS.

COMMISSIONAIRES' CORPS. GREAT ARRAY OF RIBBONS. A new legion has been listed. Unlike Kipling's lost one, it carries colours and crest. It has n, colonel, adjutant, orderly room—all the trappings of .a regiment of the Lino. Its headquarters are Vancouver and tho Corps of Commissionaires, as it is known, supplies uniformed personnel to exhibitions, theatres, hotels and any public or privato organisations requiring its services. At tho Canada-Pacific Exhibition, recently held in Vancouver, tho corps staffed many of tho responsible posts.

Few of 20,000 who pasfeed through ono turnstile were awaro that tho man who sold them tickets was an ex-Brigadier of tho British Army who saw service in Mesopotamia, in tho Jordan Valley, and on tho Canal, as well as in Flanders. In tho Fort Garry's ho licked into shape Billy Bishop and Billy Barker, each of whom won tho V.C. in tho air.

There was a great assortment of ribbons in the corps orderly room at the exhibition. Ono or two of them had the most mature veterans thinking hard, till an elderly man, noting a plain blue, and blue and whito stripe, remarked:—" Hello, Tel-el-Kebir."

" Not Tel-el-Kebir, Alexandria," replied tho wearer.

From Splon Kop to Mons.

" I sco tho Khodive star, but my knowledge of the bombardment of Alexandria, in tho early eighties, is a little hazy. llow came yon ''Royal Marines; thero was only one soldier in tho whole British Army that got tho med.il for Alexandria." That was Kitchener. Ho was on special intelligence duty on the flagship." " Mac," who operated a turnstile for duration at the main entrance at Hastings Street, had an imposing array that linked Spion Kop with Mons. Ho had another that defied identification. " Kiel Rebellion," ho answered. " North-West Mounted Police It's, forty-five years since I first started looking for troublo." Riel Rebellion, tho " Mounties," the South African War, Capo Police, Australia, tho Great War—a turnstile at tho Vancouver Exhibition! Surely " tho ends of tho earth were his portion." West Coast of Africa. One man had cnougli experience in the remote and little known corners of Ilis Majesty's Dominions to start Rider Haggard all over again. 110 was on the Exhibition's flying squad—" Liaison Service," ho called it. Seriously wounded in tho South African War, ho was seconded from tho Suffolk Regiment for duty on tho West Coast, under tho Colonial Office, recruiting and training native soldiers. Thero were ten servants to carry him and ten to wait on him, said the veteran. Each servant averaged two wives iiid each wife two children. When lie moved up country, " for a little disturbance at Coomassie," his entourage numbered over a hundred. The " Coast " was now hardly, touched by a white man, yet ho found tho Ashanti natives a most delightful and contented community. A couple of ponce got a marriage certificate from tho High Commissioner. Thero was no domestic strife. If a wife was not satisfactory a visit to tho High Commissioner recalled tiio pennies and tho certificate. " The White Man's Grave." " I see Mr. J H. Thomas calls it tho 1 White Man's Grave.' I stuck it for seven years and never had a day's illness. I got a 21-vears' service pension out of that little lot." " How did you do for food?" asked a Yorkshireman—Cliitral, 1897. " Same as tho natives. Bananas, pineapples, pawpaw, sweet potatoes, Ashanti fowl eggs, and bacon from England. What moro could a man want?"

" Major, take an eve to those kids getting over the fence"behind tiie grandstand, will you ?''* called tho Superintendent of tho Exhibition, Captain " Jock " Mathicsoii, 16lli Scottish. And tho man who refused to hear the West Coast termed " The White Man's Gravo " went his way disciplining tho " gate-crashers " at tho Vancouver Fair.