A STRIKING TRIBUTE

Patea Mail, Volume XLVI, 10 September 1923, Page 3

A STRIKING TRIBUTE

,TO NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS

Lord Milner paid a striking tribute to the New Zealand soldiers when unveiling a memorial to those who fell at Le Qucsnoy during the late war. Speaking in a linn and impressive manner, Lord Milner said;— a,‘The memorial which X have just unveikd, and on which you have placed these wreaths, commemorates a very gallant action, the last of a long scries of such actions In which the New Zealand Division was engaged in the dosing campaign of the Great War. Prom the end of March, 1918, when the Now Zealanders were rushed up, to fill a gap between the 4th and stJi Corps, and stopped that gap, until the beginning of November, when a long series of triumphs was crowned by the capture of Lc Qucsnoy, the New Zealand Division was almost constantly in the thick of the fighting. They had very heavy losses, though not so heavy as those which they inflicted on the enemy. - in the titanic struggle in which millions of men were engaged on both sides and individual acts of heroism, were reckoned by the thousand, the achievements of a single unit wore apt to >bc- lost" sight of. They filled but a little space in the vast picture, but among those who had tho opportunity of following the details of the fight there is -but one opinion as to the part played by the New Zealanders in the nine months’ battle which ended the war. It is true it was not their first nor their only service to the Allied cause. .

Here the noise of an aeroplane circling low overhead drowned the speaker's voice for a space, and he- was heard to continue;—‘'But it was in the last and greatest stage of the whole struggle, when the soldicr-likc qualities which they had shown from the first had been perfected-by experience, that they rendered the most conspicuous scrivcc. It is true they were more fortunate than many British divisions, because of always being up to full strength. Therefore, quantitatively as well as qualitatively, they never suffered any decline, but maintained their even excellence to the very end. “A great soldier, now unhappily lost to us, who commanded the 4th Corps, to which the New Zealand Division at that time belonged, has placed it on record that they were unsurpassed in the final series of attacks 'which led to the enemy suing for peace; and the Commandcr-in-Chief of the British Armies has said of them: ‘No division of the British Army in France over gained a finer reputation alike for gallantry of attack in battle and excellence of behaviour out of the 1 line. Their record docs honour to the land from which they came and the Empire for which they fought.’ “When Lord Haig says that, what more can a civilian like myself say, or what more ought he to try to say? On the military side, certainly nothing; but there is one other aspect of tho question which must not be forgotten. The splendid deeds of the Now Zealand soldiers in the field wore only typical of the wonderful spirit which the whole people of New Zealand showed during the greatest crisis whic hi\s over befallen the British Empire. Just think of it! Here was a population of little more than one million souls, at tho furthest end of the world —a population in all external effects as little affected by the conflict'as any people under the sun. In their inmost nature none were more deeply stirred. -So, not only did they send an ore than 100,000 men and women right across the globe to take an active part in the war, but the whole people at home bent all their energies and were prepared to make every sacrifice to ensure the success of the great crusade. EVEN GREAT BRITAIN DID NOT DO MORE. “In proportion to its resources, no pfort of the Empire, not even Groat Britain itself, did more for the common cause. Nowhere did the fire of .Imperial patriotism burn with a brighter or a steadier flame, and I, for one, believe that it always will be so, and that there is no member of tho British family of nations which has the strength and unity of the whole- more at heart than the people of New Zealand—(applause)—or who can be counted upon at all times to serve it with more unselfish devotion.

“Lastly, let me say how glad I am that this celebration is linked with the ceremony of our French friends and allies —(applause)—a somewhat different but not unrelated ceremony in which we, too, arc privileged to take part. Their common sufferings and sacrifices during the Great War have bound together the French nation and all the members of the British family with bonds the most strong and the most enduring—(applause)—which no differences of opinion such as must arise from time to lime, even among the, best of friends, can sorioqsly impair, much loss destroy. (Applause.) But human memory is short; we all live too much in the present. Therefore, there is need of an occasion like this to remind us of how only five years ago we all felt and fought alike, and in that unity of spirit we found our salvation.” (Applause.)