TRAFAL'GAR DAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19980, 23 December 1926, Page 15

TRAFAL'GAR DAY.

CELEBRATIONS IN LONDON

TRIBUTES AT NELSON'S COLUMN. NEW ZEALAND WREATHS. (From Odb Own correspondent.) LONDON, October 23, Nelson’s Column was the great centre of attraction on Trafalgar Day. Here, as usual, the branches of the Navy League throughout the Empire, the companies of many of his Majesty’s ships, regiments of the Line, and others sent their floral tributes to the memory of Lord Nelson. New Zealand branches of the Navy League were, as usual, well represented. Tho great columT was hung with laurel garlands, and at each corner of the plinth were groups of tall shrubs. Around the base of the column were the wreaths. Pride of place in the centre of the south face was given to the trophy from the headquarters of the Navy League. This was a very large circle of bronze chrysanthemums surrounding a plane surface made of laurel leaves with sprays of oak. Superimposed on this in small white chrysanthe mums were an anchor and tho words: “Keep watch.” Surmounting the circle was a crown of white and bronze chrysanthemums. Immediately on the left of this central piece was a contribution from New Zea land bearing the inscription: “A tribute from the Government and people of the Dominion of New Zealand in veneration of tho noble name of Nelson.” This was a wreath Sft in diameter with a border of tightly-woven deep pink chrysanthemums surmounted with a large, loosely-con-structed bouquet of choice blooms in varying tones of pink p,nd mauve. Heather, roses* tiger lilies, and fern sprays went to make up tho bouquet. Other tributes along this > face of the monument were a model of a sailing ship made up of white chrysanthemums from H.M.S. Hood; a bouquet of white chrysanthemums and lilies from the Wanganui Collage branch of the league; a very large wreath of bronze chrysanthemums, tiger lilies, ad yellow roses from Canada: a magnificent tribute from the Government, princes, and people of India, consisting of white chrysanthemums with border of bronze chrysanthemums, with a star worked in golden yellow chrysanthemums within the circle; and a large bronze wreath from Newfoundland with the head of a deer worked in green leaves on a plain surface of white flowers. One of the most beautiful wreaths on this face was that from the Canterbury branch of the league. It stood almost 6ft in height, and consisted of large golden chrysanthemums on a base of asparagus ferns. On tho eastern side of the base were tributes from his Majesty’s ships Revenge, Royal Sovereign, Lowestoft, and Agamemnon. The most attractive centrepiece was an anchor 7ft in height from the Naval Barracks at Portsmouth, composed of pure white chrysanthemums and pure white lilies on a background of ferns. NATIVE FLOWERS IN ICE. The centre-piece on the northern side of the monument was the wreath of native flowers and foliage embedded in_ a block cf ice. These flowers were picked in Wellington in July, and came from the Wellington branch of the leao-ue. Unfortunately, the ice was rather cloudy and the form and colour of the native plants, berries, and flowers were somewhat obscured. Hawke’s Bay sent a small wreath of green foliage surmounted by a bouquet of bronze chry santhemums, and the Otago branch a circle of pink chrysanthemums closely woven, surmounted by a bouquet of tiger lilies and asparagus ferns. A 6ft wreath from the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham held pride of place on tho western face, and flanking this were tributes from his Majesty’s ships Emerald, Bonbow, Emperor of India, Effingham,. Ratnilles, Curacoa, Repulse, Warspite, Frobisher, Delhi, Barham, and Cardiff. Displayed on the southern and principal face of the column were the flags which gave the famous message: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” NAVY LEAGUE’S MESSAGE. The Navy League issued the following message on Trafalgar Day:— “It is 121 years to-day, October .21, since Nelson put the crown upon his career by the. most trimphant victory ever won at sea. For long years after the Battle of Trafalgar even experts were puzzled to explain how tho enemies of Britain had been overthrown; so that it was not out of admiration for his naval skill, his supreme tactical ability, that Nelson’s countrymen a century ago uncovered their heads at the mention of his name and offered to his memory an almost idolatrous veneration. They honoured him for the gospel which he proclaimed, the gospel of sclf-sacrifice. Drake had chastised the world-conquerors of the 16th century, 'broken their domination. and humbled their pride. Blake, a century later, like a judge in Israel, had purged a nation stricken to the earth by domestic strife, and taught those who played for their own hand to put their country first. Nelson, with a sea-power more tremendous than that of Drake or Blake, demonstrated for all time how that power was to be employed. “The world groaned under the ambition of tho great Napoleon. The Continental philosophers taught that' the old creeds were dead, that man was master of his fate, and had merely to stretch out his hand and seize what he coveted. The old order had perished; and an unscrupulous adventurer, wading through rivers of blood, was throned above prostrate millions. All early institutions had humbled themselves belore the Corsican save the British Navy alone; and out of the west came the ships of Nelson waiting off Cape Trafalgar the signal that was to tell them what the moment required, ‘England expects that every man will do his duty.’ THE HERITAGE OF THE NAVY. “Tho simplicity of the message needs the accompaniment of tho Napoleonic thunder, if its tone is to bo properly understood. After the storms of passion, hatred, violence, and seli-will—the stiil small voice. Duty ! ‘Stern daughter of the voice of God.’ This was the heritage of the Navy for 100 years after Nelson’s death —to employ a power greater than any Napoleon himself could wield in subduing the world’s disorders; with stormy seas for a resting place, neglect and misrepresentation as incentives to fresh effort, and death in a sudden and unexpected shape as the final recompense. “For a century and more the word ot Nelson hallowed the function and office of the British Fleet. But in the days of a war more tremendous than tho Napoleonic the insidious propaganda of this country’s enemies has undermined the teaching of Nelson; and, convincing the rest ot the world, has all but convinced our people, too, that the British Navy is a war machine, and, in 1926, an anachronism. ‘My lords,’ said Nelson, on one of his rare visits to the l Upper House, T have in different countries seen much of the miseries ot wars. I am, therefore, in my inmost soul, a man of peace. Yet 1 would not, for tho sake of peace, however fortunate, consent to sacrifice one jot of England's honour.’ “In tho days of Drake, when England was still straggling for recognition, all her merchantmen (and she had few'ships that were not merchantmen) were armed to the teeth. By means of armed merchantmen England became a first-class Power. In the days of Blake, when this country, in food and raw materials, was still self-supporting, the Commonwealth, confronted with a seapower of world-wide magnitude, differentiated between unarmed ocean-carriers (or merchantmen) and armed ocean police vessels (or battleships). T consider,’ said Nelson, ‘the protection of our trade tho most essential service that can be performed.’ “READY, AYE READY.” “How our Fleet should bo made up is a matter for the experts; and wise folk will recognise that fact. But what all must understand, if the safety of this country is to be assured, is the philosophy that underlay Sir Charles Napier’s slogan. ‘Ready, aye ready.’ In Drake’s clay the merchantman could defend herself, now she is assail,able to dangers that Drake never knew; dangers from the air above, dangers from enemies submerged below. “In Blake’s day, this country was selfsupporting; now 300 merchant ships are required every week to provide us with food and raw materials, and the annual value of our sea-borne trade is £1,359,907,029. In an epoch of acute financial stringency, every possible concession must be made to the economist. Even insurance premiums, we are told, must be curtailed. But the reduction of the British navy in time of peace below the margin fixed by the Commissioners of Admiralty has the same justification as the reduction of a constabulary I force below the margin fixed by_the_ Commissioners of Police. Our position in the world to-day without a navy of any sort may he pictured by those wfec can im-

agine what a general strike would be like without the guardians of law and order. ‘I want peace,’ said Nelson, ‘which is only to be had through (I trust) our still invincible navy.’ “This utterance, which was made at the cessation of hostilities which followed the Baltic campaign of 1801, should, in the opinion of the Navy League, be religiously taken to heart in these days when visionaries'and doctrinaires build up their palatial and illusory edifice of peace; while, on the confines of civilisation, the Brtiah sailor, at the call of duty, lays down his life that the great arterial rivers of China may be open, free from outrage and intimidation, to the merchantmen of all the nations of the world.” SERVICE OF THANKSGIVING. A service of commemoration and thanksgiving was held at St. Margaret’s, Westminster. The church was crowded. In the front seats were a number of lads in sailor dress, including 100 cadets from H.M.S. Worcester and 50 boys from the T.S. Arethusa, and members of the Navy League Naval Units and Sea Cadet Corps. Special prayers were recited for the King, the Royal Family, and the fleet. Prebendary A. W. Gough, vicar of Brompton, said they had met to celebrate the 121st anniversary of a great victory. Nelson was not a lover of war. He did not suppose that many soldiers or sailors had ever been fond of war. But, at times, we had to fight, and we must have men to save the country like Nelson. To-day we still hold the gates of the sea, and we must not lose our Imperial spirit. That spirit was in the Navy League. God had blessed the world with the British navy, which had cleared the seas of piracy, provided coaling stations for the ships of all nations, and done other things to show its power. If the League of Nations wanted to secure the peace of the world they should desire that the power of the British Navy be maintained at great strength. This was the only country that could afford to love peace and never enter into any great war until it was assailed. A “FLAG” DAY. Like most New Zealanders, Lady Parr has always taken a very keen interest in the Navy League. She has been elected a member of the executive here, and on Trafalgar Day she took part in the collection of funds for the league. Lady Parr had a number of helpers, whose beat was along the Strand. Among them were Mrs Humphrey Haines, Dr Kathleen Todd, the Misses M. and S. Todd, Miss P. Gumbleton, Miss E. Maguire, Miss B. M. Nichols, Miss M. A. Petchell, Misses M. and G. Redwood, the Misses S. and B. Sutton, the Misses Gilmer (2), the Misses Roberton (2), Miss Joan Tully, and Miss Jones.