MILITARY FUNERAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17039, 25 June 1917, Page 6

MILITARY FUNERAL

DR H. A. de LAUTOUR. i The mortal remains of the late Brigadier6urf~on Lieutenant-colonel H. A. de Lautour were brought to Dunedin from Invercargill' on Saturday and interred in the Anderson Bay Cemetery yesterday afternoon with military honours, in tho presence of a large attendance. Promptly at 2.30 o'clock tho procession, which included 201 military men, moved off from the Kensington Drill Hall, the coffin being mounted on a gun carriage , drawn by seven horses and draped with the Union Jack, crowning, which were a large number of floral tributes and tho deceased's military accoutrement. The cortege was headed by the 4th Otago Regiment Band, with a strength of 26 members, under Lieutenant George; then camo the military, the parade state being: Headquarters Staff 10, N.Z. ■ Permanent Staff 8, sth Mounted Rifles (Otago Hussars) 3, B Battery N.Z.F.A. 43, No. 1 section 4th Otago Regiment 28, No. 2 section 4th Otago Regiment 43, Aormy Service Corps 4, No. 2 Company Field Ambulance 29, and the medical officers, totalling 6. After these came three mourning coaches, which conveyed the nearest relatives of deceased. The route taken was along King Edward road and Prince Albert road, thence past Tahuna Park, via the Tomahawk road. At.intervals on route the band played "The Dead March." On arrival at the cemetery the remains were borne to their last resting placo by Colonels Falconer, Guthrie, Barnett, Jamieson, Majors Newlands, Evans, and Captains Allen and Bone, who officiated as pall bearers. The Rev. Y. G. Bryan King officiated at the graveside, and at the conclusion of tho ceremony the firing party discharged three volleye, and an impressive ceremony was concluded by the sounding of "The. Last Post." The military officers of high rank present were Colonel Nicolls, Colonel Smyth, Colonel Chalmers, Colonel Fredric, Colonel M'Ara, Colonel Snowball, Majors Hickey, Moller, and Fleming, and Captain Mycis.

APPRECIATION BY A COMRADE. "The Last Post" sounded true and clear yesterday afternoon at the Anderson Bay Cemetery to the memory of one of our oldest volunteer officers —Lieutenant-colonel Harry A. de Lautonr. His demise will recall many memories to the officers and men who served with him from 1875 and onwards. There were few camps in the earlier days at which Sur.geon-captain, and later Surgeon-major, de Lautour was not present. Ho was distinguished for his enthusiasm on all questions appertaining to the welfare and advancement of the force. Nothing was too much trouble '■ for him to undertake, and he was an authority on all questions of dress, etiquette, and discipline. His various uniforms were always the best and of the latest Imperial pattern, and he did much to educate officers of thp earlier days in the necessity for smartness and soldierly bearing. He compiled and had printed "for distribution at his own expense several useful pamphlets dealing with his own branch of the service, and these were much appreciated by all ranks. His inventive faculties were of no mean order, and many readers of the Otago Daily Tiines will recall the useful umbrella tent designed by him, and which was a featurp at all Easter camps. There are few officers who in their day devoted more time and money to the advancement of volunteering than the subject of this appreciation. He had nine sons, to whom he sometimes jokingly referred as his ," gun detachment," and few families have hotter served the Empire both in the South African and the present war. Unfortunately, in recent years the colonel had some differences of opinion with the Defence Department, but his old friends rejoice that these were recently reconciled, arid that at the time of his death he was again in uniform and engaged in the work that had always been dear to his heart.