QUICK DISPERSAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26232, 16 August 1946, Page 6

QUICK DISPERSAL

RETURN OF VICTORY CONTINGENT

SOME VISITED CONTINENT Some'members of the New Zealand contingent which visited London for the Victory Parade managed to spread as far afield as Germany and France, an officer who took part in the parade told a Daily Times reporter yesterday. A small party of members of the contingent arrived in Dunedin by the through express yesterday afternoon on their return home, and others went to Invercargill. The remainder of those who returned by the Maunganui have broken their journey at Wellington, or at intermediate stations in the South Island. The officer interviewed had been stationed in England for some years during the war, and he said that he did not notice a great deal of difference in London now as compared with his previous visit. The New Zealand contingent had been camped in a “ canvastown " in the Kensington Gardens, he said, and although some of the tents leaked, the hospitality extended to all ranks had more than recompensed for any slight discomforts. Training had finished about noon during the three weeks in which the contingent was preparing for the parade, after which the troops were treated to free tickets for entertainments qi all descriptions, but mostly picture theatres and plays. As for the parade itself, the officer said that those taking part in it saw little more than their immediate surroundings, but the New Zealanders had been particularly impressed by the huge crowd that had gathered. After the parade, the members of the New Zealand contingent made the most of their free warrants to travel to all parts of the United Kingdom, and were given a great reception wherever they went. The accommodation on the Maunganui was excellent, although rather crowded, the officer concluded. Leave was restricted to 36 hours on the journey to England, and to 24 hours on the way home, and the New Zealand troops had not been permitted to land at Suez on the latter voyage on account of the recent disturbances there. The contingent was not given leave at Gibraltar.