GISBORNE WAS THERE!

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19371, 8 July 1937, Page 4

GISBORNE WAS THERE!

CORONATION PARADE TWO SEAMEN IN QUOTA ENT IT U,SI ASM UN BOUNDED Tourists from Gisborne, watching the Coronation procession through London’s streets on May 12, had good reason to be satistied with the representation of their district in the official contingent from New Zealand, for no fewer than five of their townsmen were included among the uniformed service quotas from this Dominion.

Of the five, three were Staff-Ser-geant-Major L. R. Stichbury, Company Sergeant-Major 11. R. Heiford, and Corporal A. 11. Matthews, who were selected as members of the military unit sent from New Zealand. The other two were Seamen L. S. O’Flaherty and T. M. Bradley, sons of well-known Gisborne families, Who were members of the naval contingent sent up from H.M.S. Leander at Portsmouth to take part in the procession.

All had friends in the crowds of New Zealanders who witnessed the procession from various vantagepoints, and to them the experience of marching through the streets of the Empire metropolis was far from lonely, for here and there were knots of their countrymen who for the occasion abandoned the traditional reserve associated with the home of the “Silent Division,” and identified themselves by vigorous cheering and shouts of “Kia Ora, New Zealand.”

Personal Greetings

Here and there, too, were those who recognised individual members of the contingents, and who mingled with the cheering their personal greetings to their acquaintances in the procession.

Discussing some of the experiences of the contingent, Staff SergeantMajor L. R. Stichbury remarked to a pressman to-day that no description could do justice to the warmth of enthusiasm displayed by the millions of spectators of the Coronation parade. The cheering was not reserved for the more spectacular features of the procession, even.

Naturally the appearance of members of the Royal family and of the great leaders of the British people evoked extraordinary demonstrations, but as minor contributors to the spectacle of Coronation Day, the contingents from overseas received a wonderfully gracious and enthusiastic reception from the crowds lining the route. The New Zealanders were not least warmly cheered as they marched.

The experience of the Dominion contingent in this connection fully bore out all that its members had heard of tlie warm corner the people at Home had kept in their hearts for the troops from the furthest Empire outpost. The legacy of the war years was reaped in part by the troops who represented New Zealand at the Coronation: and it-was a point of honour: among the contingenters, young and old, to maintain the wonderful reputation which the New Zealand Expeditionary Force had, without 1 know--ing it. registered in Britain during the Great War.

In official and in private circles at Home, the men of the contingent found their uniforms and distinctive badges the passport to a peculiarly cordial reception. People spoke of the manner in which the men of this Dominion had conducted themselves when last the New Zealand uniform had been seen in the streets of London; and there were many who assured the visitors that the N.Z.E.F. had been the most highly-regarded of all the overseas troops who had fought in the Great War.

The same partiality for men from this Dominion seemed to make itself felt in the behaviour of the crowds in the streets, whenever the New Zealand uniform was recognised, as for instance on the day the Contingent landed in London and marched through the metropolis from St. Paneras station and down the Strand. This was the only occasion, up to that time, that the London Police headquarters had been able to permit a march through London by a visiting contingent, and apart from the natural interest of the spectators in an unusual event associated with the Coronation, there was a display ol ! enthusiasm for which the men were quite unprepared.

Welcoming Throngs

The police arrangements for the march were remarkably efficient, for the New Zealand contingent strode for four miles through London without a single halt owing to traffic congestion. Time after time, the dense mass of traffic seemed bound to hold up the march, but always, at the right moment and with a minimum of interference with normal business, the? way was opened before the contingent.. headed bv the Grenadier Guards Band, and surrounded on all sides by cheering ana welcoming throngs. That march, with its cordial exhibition of goodwill towards the New Zealanders, was the forerunner of a series of similar expressions. Aparl from the excellent reception given to the contingent on Coronation Day, said Sergeant-Major Stichbury, there were many functions at which the troops were given places of honour, and it became necessary to engage private assistance to deal with the enormous volume of correspondence and invitations which poured into the New Zealand contingent headquarters at Pirbright. It was usually necessary, roo, to split the men into groups, in order that various offers of hospitality for the same day should not be overlooked. The visit of the contingent to Edinburgh is one of the events that will stand out in the memory of the New Zealanders, for there the crowds massed the streets in thousands to welcome the visitors. It was like London on Coronation Day, almost, for the whole of Edinburgh seemed to have tunfed out, and the little group of 50 men from “down under” became the centre of an enormous mass of people, all intent upon showing the heartiest cordiality. Official arrangements for the entertainment of the visitors were efficient and extensive, but it was the personal interest in the contingent shown by everyone, no matte* of what class, that made an indelible impression on the troops. One of the incidents of this excursion was the contact between the contingent and the Gordon Highlanders, at the latter’s barracks, where the New Zealanders were treated to a typical Scots entertainment of an informal character. . .. .. v