NAVAL PATROL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19349, 9 December 1924, Page 11

NAVAL PATROL.

SIXTH ANNUAL KEUN*k ] A COMPARISON WITH NELSON’S ? WORK. ; ' (Fbox Oua Own CobrespomdXst.) ■ LONDON, October 1 121. ;i It was hoped that Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick L. Field and Sir , Hubert Brand would bo among the .chief '■ '■ guests at the sixth annual dinner of the K.N.V.R. (Auxiliary Patrol Club). As.usual a number of promiment naval ofßcetSV. T €ge invited, but tho leaders of the Special Squadron were unable to be present. Admiral Mark Kerr was there, however,, and < Rear-Admiral C. P. R. Coode, Rear-Ad-miral Sir Godfrey Paine, aim General Sit Edward Bothune, whose name is welPknown in connection with the Boer War*. Tho ,~i company sat at tables designated after the . various bases where the members served during the war. Thus, there were men seated together who served at Harwich, J, at Mud roe, at Holyhead, at Southampton, in Egypt, the West Indies, and a number of other place?, familiar to those who ■ saw 1 >; - service with the Patrol. ’.j Commander Harry Vandervell, R-ly-A .R.# president, proposed the toast of the guests, included amongst whom were ex-officers f from various parts of Great Britain: ■" Ho ,5 said that the club started with 300 members, ■- and they naturally expected the number to dwindle. Instead of this the number of - members bad steadily increased until they T now had 652. Last year they had added another ll to their membership. This was the sixth annual reunion, but it was glw fifty-sixth monthly reunion they ha'mjheld. i The chairman mentioned the absents of Vice-Admiral Field, and referred the extraordinary success of the bruise the Special Squadron. “Something, however, -3 he added, “would have to bo done by some- , body, for there is growing up a .horrible custom of having a dissolution of - Pallia 1 .3 ment at the time of our dinner. I* T greatly reduces our top table,” :. . ■ j Admiral Mark Kerr, in replying, said That . ( the club had done what no other, similar club in the world had done. It hgd tmora than doubled its membership, and everyone y of its members was at sea during. the.war, u Thousands of years before the vegutwsinavai sflrvica began the Royal Naval Voluliteei' Reserve was started by men And women - disguised in paint and wood, who went to . sea paddling a log or a little coWbp4tnade ;j of basket work, to steal from their neigh- \ hours or their enemies. “You are.'descendants of these people,” added Admitm~£err, “and right well you carry on theitJtradJ- y tions. The Royal Navy gets its ideasifronv ,■. you. There is something extraordinary ;?■ abont os which makes us remain iAlwayg good friends. There is something Abou« y the great distances and the greatrdepth* t of the sea which is reflected in the <faffi*sctor y of the sailor. He cannot be meanr -.The Royal Naval Reserve is built up of a oportomen and gentlemen.” "'to A NELSON PRECEDENT,I

In -warfare communications wdftflSiOM,. ' vital. In a few days they would the anniversary Of Trafalgar, VeMs'few’ people knew that Nelson did th« • •.] R.N.V.E. had done during namely, maintained and guarded comm'ml-* , .i cations. Lord Nelson was in commaatf la * the Channel, and up the coart of vEfese* 1 >3 and Sussex, of small flotillas, ths work they did enabled the Battle £ falgar to be foaght. The RN-Y-’Kr did f. not got tho rewards and honours distributed among other classes. , ,w>pl« ; loved a stunt, and the people who stunted . ■ and advertised secured the prises. , Tha dally work of getting food and ssnpplies to our men at the front, and of cn-i suring the food supply of this .country# was done principally by, the men «#; tha , R.N.V.R. That work had never beep, re- - cognised as it should have been»-s<jßco<j *.[ Apropos of naval work In nidtDpwn parts, the Admiral told the story of, a ccrtain African king who was banished Jr an ■/ island with only five wives. Be appealed „■ to Queen Victoria, for he was deepljnhurt and Insulted. Thus he aldrcssed .tnft.lato ; Queen: “You yourself would notKftft? i have only five husbands.” “Her Majfesty,’* said Admiral Kerr, “who bad a sense o* : humour, sent word that the banished .king should have 12 wives, and as many>«>ior« J as he liked.” Lieutenant-colonel Sir Edward Bethnne, 1 In his reply, stated that as was to the yeomanry so was the anhiteur yachtsman to the Navy. He felt it a great honour to dine with gentlemen who dljff not ; , tpe-ik of the things they bad done. hWtoagli it was well known that they had 7 oily well done things.” Mr Valentine Ball (Master'of the-Kings Bench) mentioned Instances of the «£neei , tion of the law with the Navy, and «ite« the fact that Probate, Divorce, and' Ad- . mlralty were one tribunal. After O.JI, he said, it was not so remarkable th&t.la till buna I which had one day to consider a , collision between a battleship and a tramp should on the following day have ip con-i elder a collision between a 1 iun . band and a co-respondent—(Laughter.fr A naval atmosphere was given to the ; proceedings i>y "piping to dinner” and. the ;; subsequent sound of the “watches' flto a • ship’s bell Selections were given during ; the dinner by the band of Um K-KiV-B, , (London Division). 1