ITALIAN HOSPITALITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22195, 23 August 1935, Page 13

ITALIAN HOSPITALITY

BRITISH TROOPS RESCUED TAUPO RESIDENT'S EXPERIENCE Grateful memories of Italian hospitality to over 2000 British troops who survived when the steamer Transylvania was torpedoed off the west coast of Italy on May 4, 1917, are retained by one of those rescued, Mr. John G. May, of Taupo. In a letter to the New Zealand Herald, Mr. May states that, in spite of the present Abyssinian crisis and the tendency to anti-Italian feeling among British people, lie is unable to forget Italy and her people for their spontaneous kindhess. "On the morning of May 4, 1917, the Transylvania, carrying 2500 British troops, including units of New Zealanders and Australians, was without warning torpedoed, with a loss of 460 lives," Mr. May states in his letter. "Almost immediately on receipt of news of the disaster at Savona, the nearest port, tugboats were despatched to the scene, and within four hours or so, in a clioppv sea, they had picked up from the open boats every survivor and landed them safely upon the quays of the little township. And what a picture to greet us! The whole population was there cheering us and thrusting upon us clothes, eatables and steaming drinks." The authorities cleared the opera house to accommodate the unexpected guests, hut very few were allowed to take advantage of the civic offer, as the people solved the problem in their own kind-hearted way bv throwing open their houses. The troops were clothed, fed and housed by the people, who found nothing a trouble. For the three days spent at Savona, all places of entertainment were opened free to the troops, and the dead, including the gallant Captain Bowdcn, R.N.R., were accorded a military funeral. "When the troops left Savona, each man was laden with gifts, and hundreds of hospitable Italians were at the station waving Union Jacks. The soldiers who had been so graciously treated had memories of Italians as a kind and hospitable people, not unlike i the British." J