DEBT ACKNOWLEDGED

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6543, 13 November 1924, Page 5

DEBT ACKNOWLEDGED

r RETURNED MEN AND THEIR WIVES 1 ’ GUESTS OF BOROUGH COUNCIL \ Returned soldiers and their wives were the guests of the Borough Council at a social held in the Masonic Hall.on Tuesday evening. The Mayor (Mr Coulter), assisted by Mrs Gordon, presided, and though tKW-attendance was not large a firstclass programme was put on and all keenly enjoyed themselves. • '* The Mayor, in proposing the only toast of the evening, ;‘The Returned Men,” said that they ■all would have liked to see a larger attendance. As he looked at the small number present he felt that they had not learned as they should the lessons of the war. They remembered much but they had forgotten much. They remembered with pride and gratitude the sacrifices of the men who never came back and it was a great tribute to these men . that the people throughout the whole Empire should cease their activities ||jWbr two minutes at a certain time day, but somehow or other they ' . fiad hot learned, the great lessons of the war properly. The soldiers had ' flayed their part well, but those who had been unable to go to the war seemed £ o have- overlooked the fact that, for all time they had a duty to perform to the Empire; Those who Ttad been to the war might be pardoned for wanting to fdrgefc, but jit /.was a very bad thing for those who 4 v ! did not go to forget. Some thought / "that by assisting the returned soldiers in various ways, such as putting* them ! on the land, they prere doing all that. was necessary. That should be done, ; / but it was not sufficient, and unless •. they appreciated the, lessons of the war it had been fought to no purpose. # It seamed to him that self-interest alreigned supreme and' that they *ere drifting into something worse than; war.- He believed that in the forces that were making for righte- ' ousness and peace the British Empire►v was cine of the 'greatest, factors, but k if it was to play its part in future it would be necessary for Individuals to play their part and realise need ''.'j and the control of and passions, thus/ tnaking • an impossibility. Public men, > above aft, should recognise what was uj r the’Eiiifire. They aft recog-! i r ’' hised the need for continued watchful-/ {■/ ness and care on this part of the#’ leaders. Without these they were like- . ly to drift. The hopes that the Wo^: -would be Changed as a result of the : j not geen realised., It was ib right An one way that they should fbr-). some of the sadness atid some of the awful experiences, but they could it - not, they dared not forget the lessons j/of-that awful coriflict. If they did * ' they would pay the pric€(. lin looking f /around the- rooih he. could not but feel ( that they , were in grav£ danger of » forgetting, and he again wished to emphasise that while the soldiers may try to forget should not fori gat. Te Aroha Was an essential part •v of’ the British' Empire which included 1 many just such communities as their own, and he wished to take that opportunity for. impressing on the citiI zens their duty i p the ipterests o of the Empire. - Though number that night some good. to 'bs'erve that a fair numberw^ta^-. '/soldiers were present and tißPs|i§ Su/-ed them that the Borough Council - was ‘pleased to entertain "them. He hoped the gatherings would continue' for many years to come. He coupled . the toast with" the names of Major Gordon (Western Front) Captain cßush (EasternlFront). Major Gordon returned thanks, on behalf of the returned men,, for the way in which His Worship had proi posed the toast, and the enthusiasm wj^a-Which it had been honoured'. He •thanked the performers and the jßor- | ough Council for the entertainment iglven. - The returned men not only recognised the entertainment as an official act of hospitality, but as a triIbiitb to%he men who fought for the {jEHjon. ’ Major, Gordon spoke of the .day! whdn the . Armistice was signed and the feeling of relief among the men, and then told <Sf a few incidents shich'#p had occasion to remember. ‘After mentioning the fact that he bad a couple of photographs of a memorial and soldiers’ graves which he would like all to see, he said that &&& were no outstanding figures in war like Napoleon or Wellington, and one thing very gratifying tb him about the' memorials erected was that rank was not considered. The Major concluded by telling a humorous story about General Birdwood. P h y. General was very free and easy Lrith hiaWn and on one occasion he \; d bestowed what seemed to Vbe e thatvwas far too generous upon ‘Tf I had half a dozen

l\ke you,” he said, “I would take the Pepinsula in six weeks.” To this a soldier replied: “You will never take the Peninsula, sir, unless you take it with a camera.” He thanked the Council for their entertainment and said he hoped it would not be the last of the kind that would be held. Captain Bush said that when he first came to Te Aroha he received an invitation to come to such an evening as they were holding. He had been surprised to find that there was one local body in New Zealand that was taking so much trouble. He did not wish them to think that he had had a severe time during the war. His was really what was known as a “cushy” job. His own unit was incorporated in the British Army Brigade, and it was the New Zealand Mounted Brigade which Jjad the Wjorst of it, not because of the hard fighting* but because of the conditions of'living. There were times in Palestine when the New Zealanders lost more men from snake bites and other poisonous creatures than from actual fighting. In the New Zealand Mounted Brigade the officers and men wepe like pals. They'were just one big family. The main lesson they had learnt from the war was unsellshness. He told the story of how men fought with the thermometer sft 130 degrees for three days with only one, bottle of water, and how at the end of that time, when their lips were parched and swollen, they gave the remaining drops of water to their horses. It was that kind of men that they had in the Mounted Brigade. He had commanded a unit of men who were only natives, but they were the finest body of men it had ever been his lot to be thrown together with. Those who dontributed to the excellent concert programme were: Mrs Bush*, “Land of Hope and Glory,” “Before the Dawn,” and the “Banjo Song”; Mr Chadwick, recitation; “Spotty,” and encores; Woodroffe, song and encore; Mr WykeS, songs “Boys of the Old Brigade” “A Piece of Lace,” and “Smith, Jones, Robinson and Brown”; Mr Flatt, violin selections; Mr Nicholls, recitations; Mr Christensen, musical saw* A capital supper was served during an interval/