FAMOUS CITADEL CLOSED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21130, 12 March 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

FAMOUS CITADEL CLOSED.

UNION JACK HAULED DOWN.

FLYING FOR 183 YEARS.

stirring events recalled.

A chapter of British North American history was closed recently, when the Union Jack was hauled down from th<» Halifax citadel, where it had flown sine* 1749, 011 a fortress that had throughout withstood the invader's attack, says the Herald's Vancouver correspondent. The Halifax citadel officially ceased to exist when the Nova Scotia Company of the Royal Canadian regiment marched out of the garrison. A formidable fortress, a Gibraltar for those soldiers of another age to whom was entrusted, in succession, the duty of safeguarding British North America for Sovereign and Empire, passes into history. i-Yom the citadel, since the city was founded in 1749, thousands of British soldiers have looked down on Halifax and its harbour. There United Empire Loyalists turned for succour to the Hag they loved. A British frigate limped tip the harbour in 1812, after engaging singlehanded, an American squadron. A year later, H.M.S. Shannon proudly brought in her prize, the Chesapeake. scuppers had " run red in battle. To Halifax citadel " mother England sent her red-coats whenever trouble loomed in North America. To and from all the wars in the intervening years, troops went and came. lo its very sates came the horrors of war when the ammunition ship, Mt. Blanc, blew up in Halifax Harbour in 1917. Many eminent; soldiers of the British Army served in the citadel with their regiments. Perhaps the greatest was Sir John Moore, Commander-in-Chief in the Peninsula War. In the house in

which he lodged, & tablet of commemo»"aticm rests to-day.' In all its long and honorable history, there was, perhaps, no more significant episode than when Canada took over from Great Britain the care of the fortress in 1906. Outwardly, all was peace and goodwill between the Governments of the Motherland and the senior Dominion. One felt the need of economy of troops and funds and wished to withdraw her garrison at Halifax; the other felt that Canada's sons should guard her shores. The British troops at Halifax felt differently. They were bitter at the thought that they were to be disbanded as a company of the Royal Gajjrision Artillery and scattered, in small details, reinforcing drafts to parts of the Empire where life was not so pleasant as at Halifax, the prize overseas station of the British Army. Public opinion fanned the troops' bitterness. It was widely felt that Canada was taking on more responsibility than she could bear. Officers and men of

the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery had moved into their new quarters. They were received with marked coolness, not only by tho troops, but by the people of Halifax. Suddenly, as officers wore conferring, the storm broke. A huge bonfire blazed on tho parade ground, fed by tables, chairs and every article of furniture the soldiers could seize. From every window in the citadel, pots, pans, basins, pails hurtled through tho air to crash, on tho solid pavement of the parade ground. With such expressions of their disapproval, the last, British Army Garrison embarked for Home. Halifax liasi known them no more.