BOND OF FRIENDSHIP.

Wairarapa Age, 10 August 1929, Page 5

BOND OF FRIENDSHIP.

LINKS BETWEEN FRANCE AND NEW ZEALAND. ADDRESS BY COMMANDER OF TOURVILLE. WELLINGTON, August 9. Following is a translation by the French Consul of the French Commander’s speech at to-day's Government luncheon. Captain Abrail spoke in French, in replying to the toast. He said: 44 It is a great honour to the officers of the Tourville and myself to be to-day the guests of the Government and of the Parliament of New Zealand. Since we arrived in this country we have received so many proofs of sympathy and friendship that it is difficult for me to find the necessary words to express myself adequately, but several days ago, in travelling across the country from Auckland to Wairakei and Rotorua, I understood better than ever the causes of their friendship. Everywhere in the small towns, we saw monuments to the dead, memorials as you call them here. At Hamilton I saw a park where all the trees had been planted in memory of a soldier fallen on the field of battle in Europe. Yesterday, when paying my official visit to the Harbour Board, I shook the hand of a mother who had lost two sons in the Great War. I saw the tears in her eyes; tears like those of the French mothers mourning their sons dead pour le patrie. There you have it—the bond of friendship between New Zealand and France, a sentiment durable and profound. Gentlemen, I raise my glass in honour of the Government and of the Parliament of New Zealand. Long life to the British Empire.”—(P.A.)