IMPRESSIVE SCENES

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12247, 19 September 1925, Page 5

IMPRESSIVE SCENES

FUNERAL OF THE LATE MAJOR-GENERAL MELVILL THOUSANDS LINE CITY STREETS STRIKING TRIBUTE TO MEMORY OF GALLANT SOLDIER With all the impressive pageantry of full military funeral honours, the mortal remains of the late Major-General C. W. Melvill, C. 8., C.M.G., D. 5.0., General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Military Forces, who died on Tuesday last,, were yesterday laid to rest in the Military Cemetery at Karori, the funeral being the largest and most impressive ever accorded to a military officer in New Zealand. Close on 3000 troops took part, and two salutes of thirteen guns, the honour paid to a commanding officer, were fired during the course of the impressive ceremony.

The circumstances surrounding the death of the late General Melvill, which cut off in his prime one of New Zealand’s ablest and most worthy soldiers, had deeply impressed and shocked . the community, and in Wellington yesterday all classes united in paying a spontaneous tribute to his memory. The magnificent collection of floral emblems from all parts of the Dominion, many from old comrades of France and Gallipoli, spoke eloquently of the esteem in which the late General Melvill was held, but on even more impressive tribute was paid by the crowds who lined the route of march, waiting patiently for more than an hour under weather conditions which were not, more especially towards noon, by any means pleasant* and who stood with bared heads bowed in a last farewell as the flag-draped gun-carriage moved slowly past. Along the whole route, ffom St. Paul’s Pro-j Cathedral in Mulgrave street to the cemetery, via Mulgrave street, Aitken street,' Molesworth street, Lambton quay, Willis street, Ghuznee street, The Terrace, Mount street. Upland road, and Karori road, the people had congregated. In Lambton quay and Willis street the sidewalks were filled with a solid block of citizens, and at every vantage point along the route groups had assembled. Outside the Pro-Cathedral a crowd of several hundreds, and at the cemetery gates another great crowd, had assembled, who reverently followed the cortege to the graveside. THE FUNERAL SERVICE The funeral service in St. Paul’s, which was taken by Bishop Sprott and Archdeacon Johnson, was deeply impressive, but brief as befitted a soldier’s funeral. Khaki predominated in the large congregation of mourners within the sacred edifice—the principal offioers of the New Zealand Permanent Foroes, comrndes of the late commander,, mostly during the years of the Great War. who mourned a personal friend as well as a respected commander. The flag-draped coffin, surmounted by the late officer’s cap and sword, was borne into the church by a party of eight senior n.e.o.’a of the New Zealand Permanent Staff, under the command of Lieutenant J. Thomson. The fjall-bearers were: — Major-General Sir A. Robin, K.0.M.G.. C.B. (late G.O.C. N.Z. Forces). Colonel-Commandant R. Young, C. 8., C.M.G., D.S.O. (Southern Command). Colonel-Commandant H. R. Poflter, C.M.G. (Central Command). Colonel-Commandant O. G. Powles, C.M.G., D.S.O. (Central Command). Colonel W. L. H. Burgess, C. 8., C. D.S.O. (Chief of the General Staff). Commander R. Butcher, C.M.G., M.V.0., R.N. (Naval Secretary, representing the Commodore commanding the New Zealand Siation). Solemnly intoned in the hush that rested on the congregation as the bearers moved np the aisle came the words, “We come into the world with nothing, and it is certain that we can take nothing away.” The coffin was reverently deposited before the altar, and to the strains of the organ the ceremony proceeded. Among those present at the service were Major L. P. Haviland (representing His Excellency the Governor-Gen-eral), the Prime Minister (the Hon. J. G. Coates), the Minister for Defence (the Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes), the Hon. Sir James Parr, the Hon. R. F. Bollard, the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, the Hon. W. Nosworthy, Sir Walter Carncross (Speaker of the Legislative Council), Colonel G. F. O. Campbell, Colonel J. J. Esson, C.M.G., Colonel O. J. Reakes, C.8.E., Lieut.Colonels H. E. Pilkington, C.B.E. (Quartermaster-General), R. P. Smythe, D. (Adjutant-General), M. M. Gard’ner, D.S.O. (Director of Artillery), H. M. Griffen (Director of Financial Service), J. H. Whyte, D. 5.0., D.C.M., F. £?ymon, C.M.G., D. 5.0., I. T. Standish, C.M.G., D. 5.0., N. S. Falla, C. D. 5.0., R. St. J. Beere, D. H. E. Avery, C.M.G., D. 5.0., D. J. Gibbs. D. 5.0.. Jv A. Cowles, G. T. Hall, C.M.G., C.8.E., E. 'J. Hulbert, D. 5.0., J. Pow. D. 5.0., and T. A. Hunter, C.8.E., Majors T. J. King, E. Puttick, D. 5.0., and S. G. Sandie, Captains T. M. Wilkes, M.C., J. Rockstrow, Sir Joseph Ward, the Hon. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, Sir John Luke, Drs. Robert and Duncan Stout, the Hon. W. E. Collins, Hon. Mark Cohen, Messrs A. Gray, K.C., C. P. Skerrett, K.C., C. A. L. Treadwell, W. A. Kennedy, F. G. Matthews, W. J. Blundell, 11. A. Loughnan, J. A. Nash, M. W. H. Field, M.P., E. E. Muir, A. E. Fowler, A. T. Markman, J. W. Macdonald, V. H. Reed, M.P., Major de B Brandon, P. Verscbaffelt, J. Hislop, Frank Thomson (Private Secretary to the Prime Minister), Major H. H. Brown (Sergeant-at-Arins), Councillors M. F. Luckie, R. A. Wright, M.P., and W. H. Bennett (representing the City Council), JT. O’Shea, Rev. Canon A. W. H. Compton, Rev. D. C. Bates, Rev. H. Van Staveren, Lieut.-Colonel G. Mitchell D.S.O. (representing the Wellington Harbour Board), W. Perry, and many other officers and representative citizens. The Consular Corps of Wellington was represented by the Dean, Mr N. L. Lowrie (Consul-General for U. and Mr Frank Dyer (Consul for Greece, the hon. secretary of the corps). THE PROCESSION Outside tlie church the gun carriage which was to perform the last melancholy duty for the deceased was drawn up, flanked by the firing party. In two lines the cadets of the Wellington Bab talion lined the route which the fuueral was to take, and massed behind were the ranks of those who had gathered ■**} take their part, unimportant though & was in the obsequies. As the coffir. was borne to the open air a low order brought the firing party, who during tho ceremony in the church had stood with reversed arms, to attention. “Eyes left!” and the gunners sat rigidly at attention, and then as tho troops presented arms the coffin was wlaccd in position. With tho slow and idenin step of tho “Slow March” the

firing party moved into plaoe in front of the gun carriage. Solemnly the thirteen guns of the salute rang out from Point Jerningham, and then there was a halt. It seemed ae if it were dreaded to commence the last march. Then from a single bugle was sounded a low note. A muffled roll on the drums, and the Artillery Band broke into the solemn measure of the “Dead March in Saul.” It finished, and slowly, reluctantly, the cortege moved off.. The order of the procession was as follows: — Boys’ Institute Band. Squadron, 6th M.R., 6 officers and 80 all ranks. sth Battery, N.Z.A., 5 officers and 84 other ranks. 15th Battery, N.Z.A., 3 officers and 40 other ranks. 10th Battery, N.Z.A., 4 officers, and 100 other ranks. Central Depot Engineers, 2 offioers and 68 other ranks. Detachment N.Z.' Corps of Signals) 20 officers and 103 other' ranks, • Area Band, 26, all ranks. Ist Battalion, Wellington Regimdht, 23 officers and 210 other ranks. Ist Battalion, H.B. Regiment,- 22 officers and 480 other ranks. . Central Depot, N.-Z. A.S.C., 4 offiSbrs and 63 other ranks. Central Depot, N.Z.M.G., 1 officer and 45 other ranks. j. Artillery Band, 1 officer and 23 other ranks. Gun-carriage and pall-hearers. . Bearers (warrant officers, N.Z, Permanent Forces). Charger. Family mourners (in cars). Two lorries bearing floral tributes. Naval and military officers (on foot) in order of seniority, juniors leading. Ministers of the Crown. Representatives, N.Z. Rifle Brigade (on foot). ... Returned soldiers (on foot). Other mourners (on foot). Other mourners (in cars). Cadets (previously lining the route), 15 officers and 631 other ranks. AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE The scene as the prooession moved up Lambton quay was a particularly impressive one. Rank after rank, the Territorial regiment, boys on the threshold of manhood, marched slowly with reversed arms. Following the coffin came marching steadily with the remembered swing of their servioe days, the veterans of the Great War, showing plainly in their settled bearing the ten years which have passed since they marched through the same street on their way to. the front, and bearing on their breasts the medals' commemorab ing their service. Marching first came the members of the old Rifle Brigade, the Fourth Battalion of which was the late General Melvill’s first command in New Zealand foroes, men who had fought with him at Armentieres, the Somme, and Messines, and paid now a personal tribute to an officer whose merits they had seen tried in the stern reality of war. Nothing so impressive as that march has ever previously been seen in Wellington—it was as it were a link stretched out across the years to the days o* the Great War. and brought home to the thousands who watched it. the reality of the services which the deceased had rendered to his country in the days when the fate of the world hung in the balance. AT THE CEMETERY As the head of the escort reached the cemetery, they formed in two ranks, lining each side of the road, the Wellington Regiment nearest the gates, then the First Hawke’s Bay Regiment, followed by the A.S.C. Standing shoulder to shoulder they formed two solid walls of khaki winding down the tortuous route to the tunnel entrance over half a mile away, and through that lane, the men standing with reversed arms, the cortege passed slowly into the cemetery, and wound its way to the soldiers’ plot. Outside the gateway there was a halt while the coffin was taken up by the bearers. Then the cortege moved inside the space reserved for those honoured dead who served in the . Great War. No fitter place could have been chosen than the site of the grave. It stands immediately opposite the gates of the cemetery, ;nd facing the concentric circles of simple woodon crosses which mark the resting-places of those comrades who had gone before. . He lies as they would have him lie, occupying in death, the position they gladly gave him in life. On the low bank above the grave the ranks of staff-officers took their stand, with, in the open pathway beside the grave the mourners and the parade or ex-servicemen. In words of eloquent simplicity, Canon Fielden Taylor, an old Gallipoli comrade of the deceased, who conducted the service at the graveside, delivered a brief address. ‘A soldier was not afraid to die,” he said. “All that he asked was that he might be given time to do something which would perpetuate his memory. As we review the life of the late general,” he proceeded, “we can thank God, as he did, that he had done something for his country. No one in Now Zealand has served his country and his King more fully nor more nobly. Soldierß and sailors serve their country perhaps better than any others. They are prepared to lay down their lives for tneir fellows at all times. God send that when we in turn come to die, we can also say that we have done not as he has done—that we can saywe have cheered some heart, comforted the sorrowing, and left the world a little brighter than we found it. The casket was lowered into *he grave, the firing-party presented arms, and outside the cemetery the battery of four eighteen-pounders under Captain Farr, M.C., fixed a salute of tmrteen guns at ten-second intervals. Then came the last imi*essive note in the military funeral, the “Last Post, played by Staff-Sergeant Baker, As the poignant notes of the magnificent call floated out on the air, the offioers present stood at tho salute—-their last acknowledgment of their departed leader. Then the bugle-call changed to the cheery a*tes of tho Keviolle,