ADDRESS OF WELCOME. FELICITOUS SPEECH BY THE ADMIRAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 31

ADDRESS OF WELCOME. FELICITOUS SPEECH BY THE ADMIRAL.

TE-IBUTE TO THE BRITISH NAVY. SYDNEY, August 21. The -Lord Mayor presented ; Admiral ©perry wit-h an illuminated address of . ."welcome from the city. Admiral Sperry, in. reply, said-: "Let HUB say that at daylight yesterday we found- more^ people than we- ever sawassembled (»t the cliffs around, and, when "we thought that the supply of" people was exhausted^ we saw on the downs more and? more till it seemed- as if there^ must be- 1,000,000' people giving us a welcome. Such, a greeting could not but impress one.. It must have been something more ithan mere curiosity, and the- people must nave had- come deeper meaning than sympathy and feeling between English-speak-ing peonle:'' After thanking Lord Northcote and the federal Government ,for the- glorious welcome,, Admiral- .Sperry, said.:- "Nothing could- have been: mare gratefaL to us than toe, remarks of the distinguished AdmiralGovernor oi this- State in welcoming usas •a- sailor. We Learned from the glorious traditions, of the British navy to hope/ that our people under the- shadow of the fleet must rest secure without undue and; burdensome military expenses. Nothing can cross in the face of the fleet as long as the flag floats over it, and if they did cross they could not maintain their position. We hope, as in the days •when gallant admirals maintained their position in winds and weather, sickness and shipwreck, in the storms of the Channel and off the coast of- Toulon, and watched overseas, that great fleets might not combine against you. We hope now, and very happily not in war but in peace, ""■to 1 learn that same lesson of the concentration and of the development of a STmm-erariea.l fleet, complete iiL all its parts, information, supplies, and personnel, and our lesson ha 6 come from the glorious traditions of the British navy.