DOMINION LEADERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1586, 14 March 1919, Page 9

DOMINION LEADERS.

ACTIVITIES ABROAD. LONDON, March 13. . Official.—The Rt. Hon. W. P. Mas- • sey was the guest of the Y.M.C.A. on > Monday night. He addressed about ( 2000 American soldiers who were en- | s tertained by the "Tuis" (New Zealand soldiers' concert party). ) Mr Masscy, who was most cordially ) received, referred to the manner in which the war had removed past ! friction between America and Great Britain, and had brought the two great English-speaking nations together in effective co-operation for the triumph of honour and liberty on the battlefields of France. He hoped they would never again be estranged, and that the existing good ! feeling and spirit of unity would be . maintained as aids to prosperous de- > velopment, and that the best interests 1 - of both would be kept above and | 1 beyond party politics, and that there . : would be no* political interference by t ) either nation in the domestic affairs 1 of the other. In this way the lessons | i of the war would have an influence | for permanent good on the life of i t each nation. i Both nations had fought with the I 1 gallant citizens of France for the highest ideals, and had won all. They i must now strive to be worthy of the : great "victory and thus secure the j victories of peace. i Both Ministers attended the New t Zealand Y.M.C.A. headquarters at j Paris on Tuesday, and were heartily ] welcomed by the soldiers on leave and bv the staff. , i The Ministers spoke of the splendid 5 reputation of the New Zealanders, / Doth as soldiers and as men who 1 everywhere had made good and great - the name and fame of New Zealand. A royal welcome awaited them. As regards the peace settlement, it e was impossible to speak definitely, 1 but the lessons of Prussian warfare emphasised the need of demanding t a full measure of reparation and indemnities for the nations upon whom the destructive war had been thrust. The New Zealand delegation, during the week-end, visited Rheims and Soissons, and saw the appalling, devastation and wanton destruction which Germany had deliberately done. Rheims and scores of villages are now desolate, deserted ruins, while the former fair vineyards are . grotesque cemeteries. I