AUGUST 8.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 80, 9 August 1923, Page 5

AUGUST 8.

themselves r&pected iu the various units thfbftghotit the Empire., They had reason to be puoud of themselves, and New Zealanders were'.proud erf the Force, which had proved itself to he capable of deeds unsurpassed for valour in the world's hi*-, jtory.. There was no doubt the scene was changing from tbte (Atlantic to the Pacific, and Australia and Singapore would,- come prominently lfrto history. The British, , i Empire had the glories of the past to remember, and he believed. they could look forward to even greater lustre and further, glories in the. future.—-(Ap-plause).

Lieutenant-Colonel Cox, responding, thanked the company for their reception'of the toast, and the mover for his. speech. He . said that, if there was oti© outstanding feature, it was the admiration' of one arm of the. Service ,for the others, and it applied, to all branches of the Service. 6efore 1914 various branches of, the Forces Were preferred-by the ' Territorials; and .the: Volunteer Forces. It was generally" acknowledged that th©k Artillery '.was- most desirable, tjieri eame ihe Mounted Rifle**

and the Rooties. It was 'a fine thing to know tnat all branches served! well togfetWr' with each - other. There was a great example of that spirit on A which campaign came before all others to New Zea-

landers. August, 8 was a. date that would always be held sacred by the New Zealand and Australian Force;?. Indeed,, there was .also the three days before and / after that date. As

some of those present would) know, they were very short of artillery at the first landing, and were short of

everything with the exception of small arms ammunition. Everyone could" look back with pVide on the deeds of the -Royal Navy, which was behind them all through the piece. It,gave the men ste supreme confidence arid which enabled them to beat- "Johnny Turk." They knew that the guns could.be brought bear on any spot on the Peninsiula. Lieutenant-Colonel Cox refers fed to the hot time they had in April on, Walker's shortly after landing,. when, it was seen that the Tuvks intended a big attacking movement. Their, objective was a hill known as Baby 700, and they marched in waves to.siwamp us, and in the words of their , Army Order Mto drive us into the sea." H.M.S. Queen was lying off the point, and a signal to her- soon brought: three shells; the first fell a bit short and unfortunately knocked a few of our own fellows, about, but : the others were the means of up°etting the Turkish attack by the end of the day. It was a great relief when they were hard pressed ,dnrihg those weeks to hear the sound of the Elizabeth's shells hurtling through the air on to the enemy's positions, and it also gave them renewed, confidence, enabling them to win through. Again, at jG-abe. Tepe, the support of three , destroyers was necessary in a movement which .an Australian officer and 100 men were en<ra<red in. They were able, to do the job andi get. away with .the ',loss of., only about dozen men. Jt. seemed almost incredible at the outset.

As to Disarmament, said the speaker, he ratheV agreed, with the proposer of the toast, and they should be prepared to defend their Empire. Some people seemed •-" t<i look upon the question of Defence from the point of £. a. d. He 'reminded them they could not measure the lives of men in money. At present in Britain there was; an agitation to give up Palestine and Mesopotamia on the score-of the expense, but all who viewed the position from a ..broad standpoint would agree that Palestine was in much the 'same plane &s regards the snfety of the Empire as Egypt had been. He beloved Palestine and .Egypt would maintain in the future that superiority that they desired in connection with the Air Forces. Air lines were being prerwed from one end of the Empire to the other and undoubtedly Egyot and .Palestine to India would be the main lines in the near future.

.Anything they had done in the War was ..with the object of helping th©'Empire and as a matter of duty. They had tremendous tmditions to lire up to and he.could say without undue egotism that they, had oreated new traditions, and iffitK the ©x-pe-ience of the late ,<3r>lonel Malone and others the traditions for centuries past in the British Army would \».l ably fulfilled. They had done their duty nobly and well.

Lieutenant-fJolonel Cox . congratu lated the Mayor and citizens of Stratforid on. instituting the function that day. Members of the Wellington Regiment were very pleased with th© Support accorded by th'and he thought they could feel proud of their endeavors to commemorate the late , Oohnel and August 8. They were of the memorial and the recoHs of th e Wellington Rerdmeut. H«d the late Colonel lived through the War, he too would' have been justly proud to carry on the work were now doing.—-(Applause). ; Captain Bremner also responded to the toast, touching on pre&ent day f,ct><-.•;.'.,. - n f tvar. "Disabled and Absent Comrades" wag proposed by Mr W. Power in an appropriate speech; "The Press" . by Mr A. R. Masters; "The Visitors'* by the Chairman, Lieutenant-Colonel Turn bull taking the opportunity of thanking all most Jance'-ely for their splendid reception throughout the whole day. At the. invitation of the Chairman, Mr Terence Malone, a,; son of the late Cblehel Malone, addressed the

gathering. He was received •with the heartiest! applause. He thanked i them for the very kind remarks that had been made respecting his father, and also the Memorial Committee for fi? *«* handsome m^moriaf.gaies'to his memory. He wai a good'father 1 to hi" family. and art outstanding 'phase of his, ir t 0 ; £&£. and .Country. "During the la«t ! twenty yearV 'of his life he made a Study of war, and intuitively recognised shat it was .hound Income, pis idea was that, Germany wpuW attack Britain, an^'he worked out his theories, on that,, but Germany, instead attacked France. However, &o study of tactics stood him in good steai wheh the Call came. In his early days in. Taranafe, he represented., the. province on the Rugby f otiball.; fiel-t. and' generally I took a. fi ;'{ deal, of interest an sport ; of all descriptions.' On. behalf of the memWs of the family, .'."ferry'* thanked,them .all for the very kind words'and'deeds expressed.to commemorate his lata father.—Applause,... ~,„ ; . . ■".- Thiring the evening, vocal items were given by Mes<sr s W. Ooombridfrey A.; H, E. Amess, P. Aitken, P. Coe, P. Skoglund, and others. (Vhet solos' were g"fven by Mr E. Kelly. , Beoitations were given by Colonel Tnmbull, V 4 G. E. Jago, N. H Mo«?s, and others. The function ended about one a.m. with the «in<nng of Auld Lang Bvhe. Th-ouchout there was a, splendid spirit of comradeship and camaraderie, in, evidence, and the evening proved to be very interesting and pnjoyable,,,.., && _____

SUCCESSFUL RE-UNION. DINNER AND SPEECHES. An enjoyable evening was spent in the supper room of the Stratford Town Hall on Wednesday under the auspices of the Returned Soldiers' Association, South African War Veterans' Association, and the Malone Memorial Committee. There was an attendance of about seventy of all ranks, the President of the Stratford branch of the R.S.A., Dr. W. P. P. Gordon occupying the chair. Apologies were received from Mr J. W. McMillan (pc S iJent So'ith African War Veterans), Archdeacon Evans (South African War Veterans), Major Rose, Lt.-Colonol Cunningham., Dr. Home, Mr Brian Malone, Colonel Weston, and the New Plymouth branch of the South African War Veterans. A bounteous repast provided by Smith's under the management of Mr W. Ferguson, was partaken of, the service being excellent. After the toast of "The King" (loyally drunk), "Fallen Comrade'" was acknowledged wtith due solemnity. "WELLINGTON" REGIMENT." Major J. B. Hine, in proposinf tho doast, eulogised tb>e work of the Regiment in the War. He said that the ceremony that had taken place in the aftc; noon on the unveiling of the memorial to the late \ LieutenantColonel Malone was evidence of the admiration and devotion with which the Regiment aim its leaders were hold by the people. He mentioned Gallipoli and the special date of Bth August; also tho recognition of the Mounted Brigade of ■the position that was found on succeeding the Infantry on that eventful day. Out of 700 of the latter who went i forward that clay, less than a score came out. We all deplored the loss of so. many good fellows. They had a duty to do, and they left an example and inspiration to those left behind. Their Commander had given; an example to them of How to Live and How ,to Die. The Regiment could} look with pride upon the records of their leaders and members, which would long live in the annate of Taranaki and 'the Wellington Disftriob not only as regarded Gallipoli bi<t all through the war. They carried! the Flag nobly throughout. He was sure the present members of tbje Regiment would strive to live up to those traditions.— (Applause).

RespcMif-S, \ Lieutenant-Colonel' Turnb: ill, ''behalf of th e Regi raen.t r thanked the company fori the hearty manner in which they had drunk the toast. He felt very,, pro (,id to have the privilege of replying. The anniversary of the death of the first Commander of the We'/ltngtfon Regiment, though sad, was a very proud day with them. To the people of Stratford ho would like to say, that the officers, non-coms,, and members of the Regimettt, reeogjnised the* great personality of Lieut.-Colonel Mulone, the like of whom very/ few Regiments had tne privilege of being associated with. All the members acknowledged that he bad rrade the Regiment. Although he \as with tlum for urn, 1 ? a brief yaar the work of the Regiment for the 4$ years of the War was* outstanding. They recognised they wore lucky in having & man like the late Colonel Maicno. in lii. s l#e of od years, their Commander had fitted himself by his training to take command of the Regioem. He k'the speaker), who had the privilege of commanding the Regiment for ten weeks at the end of tha v/er, kue»v this from his experience, and -would always acknowledge their l iate Co:umander's work for ihe RegiiOent, which had a record as gcwd as any in the Britibh Army. Of the things which the Regiment failed to do, ho could only say that it was uob altogether their fault, but fcnejf tried to do therir duty and offered uo> excuses. —(Applause). SOUTH AFRICAN WAR VETERANS. Mr E„ H. Young, in proposing the toast, referred to (.he ISoer War of 'Jo j years ago, and the ultimatum from I the Transvaal and the Gauge Free State, which brought about hostilities. Britain did not take it seriously at first, but subsequent events showed that she wakened up to the position. The call to arms was responded to by the Colonies magnifi-cently,-and New Zealand did hoi' duty nobly. Shy senjb ten contingents, who little realised that they were laying the foundation of the lighting spirit which made its presence felt in later years. They carried out the campaign in a manner that was now ancient history. Those men who returned now occupied positions of trust, and were -respected and esteemed by the other members of the community.—-(Applatase). Mr T. Richardson, and Mr E. Carryer (Deputy Mayor, in the absence of Mr J. W. McMillan) briefly' responded to the toast.

THE R.S.A. Mr P. Thomson, proposing the tonst of the Returned Soldiers Assotiatibn said tlio New Zealand Forces were composed of citizen unite, the members of which assembled from fir and near the centres and represented all classes of the people. They wore quite unknown to each other, hut after four years in the field, when they returned to their native land, ft was hut natural that they should

have some organisatiou to conserve their, interests and foster the com* radenhip axd good feeling that ha<i existed abroad. Tint was one of the reasons, ho believed, for the formation of the R.S.A. With the demobilisation of a citizen military force, the majority of members re-; turned to their bid places in the community, but in many cases these' positions were filled, or the wounded wee unable to t»ke their places. Provision had to be made for these circumstances ; n the way of pensions and assistance. During the last few years, the claim hai been, made that New SJealand had dona better for her returned soMiers than any other part of the Empire. At any rate it wa« nuire certain that tW provison m ide. liberal or otherwise as might be considered, was largely to tho splendid organisation of the R.S.A. Tt wa* the fact that hundreds of men had handed themselves together that had carried weight with }ho powers ihat be. That was another- justification for the R.S.A. coming into existence. He trusted it would still remain as a factor in their lives for a long time to come, and sdso br» fche means of creating such enjoyable/functions as that evening testified to. The Eighth of August Wfl«i a historic date, particularL associated with the late Colonel Malone, whom he was privileged to know personally and as a fellow practitioner, and all tha good things raid of him that day he sincerely endorsed. If the Colonel had been spared to retnrn home; no One would have helped forward the work of the Association . more thin he would have delighted to do. He would have carried <v?t; in ■ orms life as a returned soldier the some, high class of work he had. died'< in striviufr to-do during the war/There was no doubt that Colonel Bfalone had made a study of military tactics. It was a personal loss that he was not a memner nf the Association. The late Colonel desired to go to the Boer War., but was pi-evented by personal family reasons, and who*, the Great War opened .his opportunity came. Tn condrision. Mr Thomson wished the Association and ■ i ts members eveiy success.

Br. Cordon, in replying, said it was his firm conviction that the Government and ihe lhen who had returned from the war bid done the very best they could for their comrades. The New Zeahnderg had had a better run than other returned soldiers from any part of the Empire. It was right that they should acknowledge their gratitude to the people" of the country. The Bill a* present before Parliament would be found to be more generous in its terms to the returned men, with more consideration and financial assistance than anything in the past, and be considered the men had little to complain of jn that respecfo ' :i Some;- of --cpurset wolld never be .satisfied, while some wnild not get what they deserved and | others more than they should receive. But the average returned nvin had had a fair run, and was iSeing well treated. It was a* the ' result of the R.S.A. that the present legislation had gone through Parliament. He believed, however, that the day* was not far distant when (he Association would <iie a natural death, hut that should not be th& case wiAh thd reunions; as the years went by ? they would recognise*pHf| the reuniVms would increase in value and becoLti© mare enjoyable. H* appealed to the returned men to-assist ihe R.S.A. in every way and so help to help themselves. On behalf of the local branch of the R.S.A. h» : ' thanked Ahem for their support *bat ni^Jxt.

*AVY, 'AJMS, AIR FORCE Mr A. H. R. AiN?Bs proposed ihe toast in a capital p* said it was proper that iL** 'three Brms of the Service should be J° meil W gether in the toast hece formed the defence of the The Army by itself would be u. itig. The Great War had that the Navy must help the Ar biy* The Air Force acted as the'eyea of each. The talk of disarmament mn mere sent i men tahsm—(Dissect). Some people said "Let us be don© with war," but so long as human nature was what it is theie woulj tw war. The only thing fo r all to do was to be prepared for war. The British Were said to be a nation cf shop! keepers, but they also knew bomethii.'g about the business of war, and in tlw ; future as in the past men wouid aVise whose names would be looked Dac k upon with reverence for their record of glorious service, war brought out the best qualities of man. Though war was to be depreeued,

when it arose it still stirred all that was noblest in man. Tlie Army was well represented that evening, and in that connection Mr Amcsg stated that Great Britain would never ftave more than a citizen army, as opposed to a permanent force, and the would be trained to defend the Empire. That undoubtedly web th© best moans of hut they must be prepared to defend their Empire. Tlie Navy during the war had many deeds of heroism to its credit, not the least of which were recorded at the Jutland Battle. The Air Force had proved to 'be a fine valiant body, and the members had made