CLEO THE VAMP SAYS GOOD-BYE TO H.M.S. DUNEDIN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18000, 10 November 1926, Page 9

CLEO THE VAMP SAYS GOOD-BYE TO H.M.S. DUNEDIN.

GIFT OF OFFICERS AND MEN TO “ MISS CANTERBURY.” (Special to the “Star.") AUCKLAND. November 10. When little “ Miss Canterbury ” arrived at Auckland this morning she was carrying a little tortoiseshell kitten, the little mascot of 11.M.5. Dunedin, which the officers and men of that vessel presented to the qu6sn of southern beauty when she visited the ship yesterday afternoon. “ Cleopatra ” is the name, and it is recognised as a beauty itself in the feline world. The little mascot was regarded amongst the men of the Dunedin as' something of a vamp. Many times pretty girls had asked L they might have Cleopatra, and lnany times Cleopatra had attracted the admiring glances of beautiful feminine visitors, but Cleopatra remained the pet of the officers and men of the Dunedin, for sailors are jealous of their mascots. Then came little “ Miss Canterbury, the sixteen-vear-old lassie with that southern smile to which ail New Zealand has now succumbed. “Isn’t she a darling?’’ remarked Mavis, when she set eyes on Cleopatra, whose attention was held at the moment by a fast diminishing bowl of milk. ‘ Oh, how’ I love her,” and " Miss Canterbury ” and Cleopatra were from that moment the best of pals. They toured the ship together; they listened to the torpedo instructor’s involved harangues, they heard the blood chilling explanation of the ship’s doctor concerning the use of the many instruments that filled his oaken chest, and when “ Miss Canterbury ” stepped down the gangway after her inspection of the Dunedin Cleopatra was her “ That little beauty from Canterbury's fallen in love with Cleo,” the cook whispered naively to a petty officer. “ * Miss Canterbury,’ sir, has become very much attached to the ship’s mascot.” the petty officer told a superior, and soon the news had spread throughout the ship, and robust seamen with oily hands and well groomed officers with gold braided tunics assembled on the deck to say good-bye to Cleo. “ Yes. she’s yours,” an officer whispered kindly to little Mavis. “ Look after her, miss. I guess she’s the only sweetheart we fellows ever had.”

And Cleopatra, the vamp of the Dunedin, loft the hold of the battleship for the luxurious boudoir of little Mavis, the beauty of the south.