N.Z. MEN DID GREAT WORK IN VALLEY OF THE JORDAN

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17756, 28 January 1926, Page 12

N.Z. MEN DID GREAT WORK IN VALLEY OF THE JORDAN

VISCOUNT ALLENBY TALKS OF WARTIME DAYS ON BURNING SANDS. Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, January 27. Loud applause and cheers greeted Lord Atlenby as he rose to reply at the civifc receptiop to-day. “ I never felt how wide and how united is the British Empire till today,” he began. “My wife and I have travelled over 12,000 miles and to-day we find ourselves received as citizens of the Empire. I find myself amongst old friends. I want to thank j r ou in every way for the welcome you have extended to myself and also my wife. You cannot know how much T value the privilege of meeting again New Zealanders who helped in the war, and I value the services they rendered with the greatest given. It is probable that the New Zealanders in Palestine endured some of the most trying conditions of all who took part in the Great War. The heat and dust cannot be understood except by* - those who were there. The heat was terrible. This month the flies died, the next the men died. I believe that the pride of race and self-control of the New Zealanders in the Jordan Valley were almost without parallel.” (Applause.) Lord Allenby referred to the wonderful work of our troops on three occasions that they were sent into the Jordan Valley, and also to the first occasion when he made their acquaintance. On that occasion he was in- • specting the troops, and from what he could gather from the remarks of Colonel M’Carroll, the troops were inspecting him. “ I was quite in ignorance,” he said, ” that instead of being inspector I was being inspected, but I think the reports were not unfavourable.” (Laughter.) Referring again to the Jordan Valley, the visitor said that when the troops were withdrawn on two occasions, it was by his orders, but he felt confident that the men would have held the ground had such been desired. He had the greatest faith in the men and they in him. On the third occasion, in the autumn of 1918, the New Zealanders went over the top of the mountains once more. It was a brilliant performance and he did not think the men ever had received full recognition by the public at large. No better action was recorded during the waf than that of the New Zealanders on the mountains of Gilead. Since that war ended there had been many smaller wars in Europe, but he believed the action of the troops in Palestine and Syria had done much to make war on a large scale in the East impossible. “ I did not come out here to preach militarism,” continued the speaker, “ and none of those who had am*- experience of the last war will want to have it repeated. We came out of the fight in the only way we coxi’d have come out of it—as victors. When the Empire takes up a job she goes through with it. We plough a straight furrow and go straight on. Though we paid great sacrifices the result was worth it, not only for our own future but that of the whole world. If we had lost the future would have been too dreadful to contemplate. “ I hope wc never have another war, but should we be unable to avoid it I never want a better army under me than the New Zealanders I had in Palestine and Syria. It was a great triumph for us. Nothing has so consolidated our Empire, though the sacrifice was dear. Justice, liberty, truth and honour make the Empire, and wc are bound together by the mutual sympathies of dominion to dominion, and all the dominions to the Mother Country. (Applause.) “ When you get your huge countries occupied you will be a greater power and more wealthy than England is now, but you will stand bound together by the bonds of Empire, that feeling that we are of one family. (Applause.) Nought can touch us or, as the saying is, * Nought can make us rue if England to herself doth prove true.’ ‘‘l am not going to say I am an optimist. but I am convinced of the absolute validity of the Empire to which we belong.” proeeded Lord Allenby. “ When the Napoleonic war ended a hundred years ago we had bread, agrarian and other riots, all aftermaths of great wars. If we had them then we can expect to have them now. We cannot look for deliverance from all our troubles in a few minutes or a few years, but the spirit of Empire must go far to attain that end. (Applause.) “We must hitch our waggon to a star and go forward. Marvellous strides have been made in New Zealand. You are opening up a wilderness and I cannot conceive any check can make to this beautiful land. “ I am very certain that with the present understanding between England and her dominions we shall be bound together by the bond of common sympathy,” concluded Lord Allenby. “Tt gives me great pleasure to be here, thousands of miles from home, standing among friends and, shall I say, relations?”