EVENTFUL CAREER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22470, 14 July 1936, Page 11

EVENTFUL CAREER

SOLDIER FROM INDIA RETIREMENT IN DOMINION "They say this is ' God's Own Country ' so I might as well retire here as anywhere else," said Captain F. Mayo, a military officer from India, who, with his wife and grand-daughter arrived by the Wangauella yesterday. Captain Mayo said he would be joining his stepson, Mr. E. It. Richardson, of Ohaupo, and would probably take an interest in a dairy farm. Captain Mayo has had a particularly eventful career. For 30 years he commanded the troops of the Maharajah of Sirmoor in the Simla Hills, and prior to that spent 16 years in the Indian Army, being attached to the Bengal Sappers and Miners. During the Grtfat War, Captain Mayo saw considerable service in the East and with his Indian force took part in the resistance at Kut-Al-Aniara, Mesopotamia, between December 8, 1915, and April 29, 1916. Captain Mayo was captured by the Turks and held prisoner until the end of the war. Captain Mayo said that many of the reports emanating from India of an anti-British character were the result of statements and actions by a comparatively few political leaders. Of a population of over 300.000,000, about 275,000,000 were favourable to British rule. The pro-British feeling was particularly noticeable in the country districts, "where the agriculturists confidently relied on British justice.