“A SPLENDID TRIBUTE"

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 985, 30 May 1930, Page 16

“A SPLENDID TRIBUTE"

LORD BLEDISLOE PRAISES WAR MEMORIAL

AUCKLAND CONGRATULATED ‘‘There is no more worthy, artistic or generous tribute to the dead in any part of the world than the magnificent memorial which stands upon tho hill overlooking your city. I congratulate tho people on this splendid tribute, which may bo seen and admired by visitors from all parts of the world.” These words were spoken bv the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe” at a social held by the Auckland branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association at the Scots Hall last evening - . Ills Excellency said that be had travelled in many parts of the world, but never bad lie seen a more beautiful memorial to those who had fallen, than that which has been erected by the peoole of Auckland. “The spirit of comradeship and goodwill evinced during - the war is still being carried on by the men who have returned,” continued his Excellency, “and those characteristics shown by tho British race during that period are as essential in peace times as in war.” By the co-operation of tho returned men into organisations such as that, he said, they were doing much to help their less fortunate comrades and thus relieve the tension of unemployment. Lord Bledisloe, who was a prominent member of the Coalition Government and Controller of Sugar during the war, briefly described the methods adopted by the Government to combat the serious food crisis which ar*ose. Restrictions were placed on certain commodities, and this, combined with judicious economy, was responsible for averting a national calamity. To such an extent did the nation economise that members of Parliament appeared in the House in soft or celluloid collars in order to save starch. Germany, his Excellency asserted, would have been forced to capitulate a year sooner than she did had she not taken the precaution of cultivating potatoes and breeding pigs extensively —-thereby providing herself with essential, energising foods. She would never have provoked war had she not thought that she could starve the Allies into submission by smashing their overseas supplies. Germany, Lord Bledisloe concluded, reckoned without the British marine service. Major-General Sir George Richardson, chairman of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, extended a cordial welcome to their Excellencies. He went on to say that the men who had returned had formed themselves into tho association so as not to forget the spirit of comradeship, to help their unfortunate companions, and to perpetuate the memories of those left 1 behind. They would always remember the part played by his Excellency, for in spit© of disaster and calamity, tho British troops were always efficiently fed and clothed.