The Star. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1913. THE NEW ZEALAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10767, 13 May 1913, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1913. THE NEW ZEALAND.

For the next week or so the chief occupation pf the people of this part of New Zealand will be either seeing H.M.S. New Zealand. or /helping to make her officers and men feel as if they belonged here. That, at any rate, is the impression one gathers from the alarming schedule of appointments, entertainments and so forth drawn up in connection with the visit of the battle-cruiser. Of course other things will be done, but trade and commerce will receive less than their due measure of attention until the visit is at ail end. Happily, after the day's delay, the weather conditions hare not been unfavourable to-day, and if the demonstration at Lyttelton on the arrival of the New Zealand wa« not as big and elaborate as it might have been made in midsummer, at any rat® there was no mistaking its spirit. Curiosity concerning this first of the newer types of warships to visit Australasian waters doubtless took some people to the port, but the principal intention of the crowds on the excursion steamers and the wharves was to give to Captain Halsey and lxis officers and men a real British welcome. A tendency to formality commonly damps the ardour of civic receptions antl indoor ceremonies, but there was nothing formal about the tone of the open air greetings at the Port. It must be confessed, however, that the warship herself gave no encouragement to flippancy. She was too impressive in her great bulk, too obviously meant for business, to lend herself to jest. Doubtless the right note to strike on such an occasion is that of Byron "V\ ebber's ' Hands Across the Sea ": Witfi ships that signal sister-ships, we bridge the ocean's gulf; We're at odds in all the Senates till we bear *tke war-drums beat: Opposed at playtime, flock to flock, we re one against the wolf! One Greater English army and one Greater English fleet! We have graves to guard, and precious shrines. Wa sing one glorious song, We flv one flag, the Union Jack, beneath all England's skies. We're tho\ same on Lake Superior and the heights of Warragong, As we are by Shakespeare's Avon and where Noble Nelson lies! Hands across the sea! Feet on British ground! The Hotlierhood means Brotherhood the Greater England round! From the parent root, Sap and flower and fruit Grow the same, or mould or name— , Hands across the sea! It was of Webber's 6ong that Robert Buchanan wrote so enthusiastically. "I had no idea that any man living could now sound a note like that," he said. And very much the same sort of comment might have been Avritten about the movement that brought H.M.S. New Zealand into being. It struck a new note, but a note that will be repeated again and again in the years to come.