WELLINGTON MOUNTEDS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19131, 28 September 1936, Page 6

WELLINGTON MOUNTEDS

SUCCESSFUL REUNION MANY VISITORS PRESENT TRIBUTE TO COMMANDER . A total of 135 veterans of the Wellington Mounted Rifle .Regiment, gathered from Poverty Bay, the East Coast, Opotiki, WairOa, and other parts further afield, took part in the annual reunion promoted by the Cisborne unit association, ami hold in Le Grand Cafe on Saturday nig'lit. Lieut. R. 8. Pcrrett was in the chair, and anions the visitors were Colonel •'. H. White, Palmerston Xoi'th, Colonel A. S. Wilder, Waipukurau, .Major C. E. Clifton, l'orangnhau. Major J. O. Seott, Wairoa, and Captain Gordon Williams, Waipukurau. The gathering 'was purely a regimental reunion, and no guests other than (hose associated with the Wellingtons in their service abroad were present. One veteran from Wangamri was among the "Diggers" who spent :i happy evening with song and story, the speechesTseing brief and to the point, and many excellent anecdotes of service days being retailed. One of the most successful features was a "true-story" .competition, in which story-tellers vied with enthusiasm in recalling incidents of the regiment's unofficial history in Egypt, Gallipoli, and with the Desert Column in the Palestine campaign. In the course of the evening, mention was made of the proposal to secure a suitable portrait of General Sir Andrew' Russell, late commander of the N.JJ.TS.F., for presentation to the Xational Art Gallery. It was pointed out that the call for subscriptions had been responded to well, hut that many men who had not been in touch with a money-order office had not 'been able to add their .contributions. The chairman proposed that those present should combine their subscriptions to the shilling fund, and this suggestion was taken iip with enthusiasm; £5 10s being raised in a. few minutes from I those present.

Reference was made fo the inability of Brigadier-General W. Meldrum to attend the gathering. It had been hoped that private and public business would not prevent his attendance, the chairman stated, but that hope had not been realised. A visit from the former commander of the Wellington Mounted- Rifle Regiment would be counted by all as a treat in store, he added.