OUR FIGHTING FORCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 212, 12 October 1914, Page 8

OUR FIGHTING FORCE.

SPLENDID MARCHING. TWENTY MILES IN A GALE. AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY. (Sun Special.) , WELLINGTON, October 12. Petone has been honoured above all other towns in the Dominion, for through its main street on Saturday passed the finest fighting force which has .ever been gathered together in these Islands. To those who witnessed the sight it must remain an undying, and a magnificent memory to the end of their days, and, if it were needed, there could be no finer proof that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force which, in : a few short months hence, will be at death grips with the enemy which is threatening the very life of the Empire, is a splendid body of men, splendidly horsed and'splendidly equipped. In the stirring days of the Maori wars many great columns of fighting men must have travelled along some New Zealand roads. .Their numbers may have exceeded those of yes-j terday 's parade, but not one of them could" have > faced these bonny boys in khaki in the field for five minutes. Great soldiers they were, and fine/were their achievements. Inscribed on their golours were the names of many of the great battles- which built up the Empire, Salamanca, Waterloo, Inkerman, Alma, and a dozen other names which spell in letters of gold the glory of the British arms. But the Snider is not the Lee-Enfield, the clumsy muzzleloading field piece is not the wonderful 18-pounder of to-day, and a cartload of bully beef was much less comforting and filling than the travelling kitchen which accompanies every unit of our compact Dominion's little army., The lion's cub which lives in the Britain of the south is a hefty cub. The Preparations. Early on Saturday morning the whole of the troops at present stationed in Wellington were astir, preparing for the most exacting route march for which they have yet been called upon to undertake. From Seatoun, Miramar, and Lyall Bay came the mounted men of the South Island. The troopships at the wharves supplied three regiments of infantry, and from the Alexandra Barracks came the Headquarters Staff, the brains of the force. They assembled at Thorndon, and with more than the punctuality of the railway time-table, the long column at 10 o 'clock swung out along the Hutt Road. A howling northerly gale was blowing, and the sky was the colour of lead. Blasts of wind, against which a' man could barely stand, came straight at the faces of the marching troops, and dust and stones flew at them with the speed of bullets. So great was the * force of the wind that men's faces were cut by the swirling stones, but not one flinched. With resolute heart and determined spirit the soldiers of the Dominion slogged through the storm. It was magnificent—and yet it was hot war. First of all came the Headquarters Staff. Colonel Chaytor (Adjutant-Gen-eral) rode ahead, General Sir Alexander Godley being absent through indisposition.. This "little group of officers lent the only liouch of colour "noticeable in the whole column, their scarlet gorgets standing out in sharp contrast to the drab khaki of the great body of the troops. Then came the mounted men, section after section, troop after troop, j squadron after squadron, regiment | after regiment. The clatter of the j hoofs " was music rejoicing to the heart. Just a year ago men stood on the same Hutt Road to raise a cheer for the thousand mounted special police I which had come in from the country to fight the battle of law and order against the; demagogues, who misled the forces of waterside labour into open defiance of the rules of society. They said: " Never again will this road see such a sight." But what changes does a-short twelve months see! Yesterday, before their eyes, -was a body of horsemen far outnumbering that force, every man openly armed and in his ranks, exstrikers and ex-specials riding side by side as comrades in an army to meet the common foe. War is a wonderful leveller, and in face of the menace which \ brings anxiety to every British heart, how small appears our own little in : terrial difference of opinion. Wiiid-Swept Troops. After the horsemen had passed came the infantry, and what a time they had! They were having a taste of the real thing. Worse conditions for marching could not be imagined, but the - men wetfe cheerful even if their limbs ached. Although their eyes were almost blinded by dust, their hearts were light. The bands blared merrily, and the pipes bore a message of glad cheer. When the column had no other music to march to —<-for the lungs even of bandsmen and pipers need a rest occasionally—the men sang. A regiment' would declare that '' It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary,'' and when this was finished those behind would strike up a chorus, intimating that '' There's a Man Over Here Wants Some Beer;" then would come a warcry, '' Who Are, Who Are, Who Are, We? We Are, We Are, Taranakee! " In this way the footmen kept up their spirits until they reached the Hutt Park, a good nine miles from the city. The Rendezvous. Here men from Wellington were joined by the Field Artillery Brigade, at present encamped there, and the North Island mounted men, who are at Trentham. The whole parade was massed in the centre of the racecourse, and man and horse enjoyed a well-earned rest and a much-enjoyed "snack." The last of them got into position about 1.30 pan., and three-quarters of an hour later the order to move off again was j given. 1 His Excellency the Governor and i Lady Liverpool had by this time arrived by motor ear, and there were also (present on the ground the Minister of | Defence (Hon. J. Allen) and the Post-master-General (Hon. R. Heaton Rhodes) —keen soldiers both—together with Colonel Robin and members of the New Zealand Staff Corps, who will have the direction of the Dominion's forces after the troops have left our shores. The Governor took up his position near the park gates to witness the march of the troops, and for more than a hour he stood there as the men poured past. Every conceivable arm of the service

was represented. New Zealand's quota of 8000 men is a small one when armies numbered in millions are engaged, but never did ar better-equipped force take the field. A Complete Parade. There was not a single detail unrepresented. The only thing missing was the long train of waggons which must accompany an army on the march, but the horses which will draw these j vehicles at the front were there. The waggons themselves are on the transports, and could not, of course,, be brought ashore for this one parade. But on the necks of the horses were placards, proclaiming in big letters what they represented. There were travelling kitchens, water carts, tool carts, baggage waggons, ammunition carts, field telegraph carts, and a dozen other varieties of vehicles represented. Had they been on, the march one wonders whether or not the column would still be on the road, so long would it have been. Just here it is interesting to record that the horses representing the ammunition and baggage columns of the artillery had no harness and the drivers rode bare-backed. A Stirring Sight. Leaving the Park the column crossed the Hutt River on the great high f erro-1 concrete bridge. It was a stirring sight, as man after man, horse after horse,' passed over the great arches. It was a ■ magnificent spectacle which would stir the blood of the veriest Quaker. The/ great pity is that so few people saw it. i If the authorities could have assembled all the anti-militarists of the Dominion —if there are any of the breed now left —and they had seen that muster of military strength, they should have forever kept silence. Entering Petone at the east end, the column passed right through the town, Jackson Street being lined on both sides by great crowds of enthusiastic onlookers. On came the soldiers in one solid, never-ending khaki, line. First came the mounted rifles, then the engineers, then the field artillery brigade —in itself > a sight for the gods—then the infantry and the medical corps, and half a' dozen ' units, numerically smaller, but every! one of the greatest importance to a | fully equipped force such as New Zea- j land should be proud to have been able to provide. | The Eeturri. ! Arrived at the Petone Railway Sta- j tion, the troops branched off to right or left, according to the situation of their' respective camps, the greater number setting out again on the tramp back to i Wellington, and with the wind blowing them this time they suffered- less discomfort". Tired as 'they .must have been, they made good time; and were back in the city by 6 p.m. Altogether it was a soul-moving day, and it must be remembered that the Auckland quota, nearly a fourth of the whole division, was not present. When New Zealand's, force takes the road in England or France it will make an impression which will redound to the everlasting credit of the Dominion, and the men who haA'e built up its army.