SOLDIER VISITOR

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18796, 18 November 1932, Page 5

SOLDIER VISITOR

NEW ZEALAND TROOPS ADMIRED. FOUGHT ALONGSIDE. A distinguished British Army officer, retired, passed through Wellington by , the Monowai, en route for Sydney. He Is General Sir Sydney Lawford, K.C.8., C. 8., who, with Lady Lawford and his little son, Peter, is on a world tour. Sir Sydney Lawford, whose regiment was the Royal Fusiliers, served in the South African war as a major, was promoted to colonel in 1912, became a brigade commander In 1913, and in the Great War commanded the 41st Division in France. “We were alongside the New Zealanders Jn France,” he told the Wellington Dominion: “I hold a great admiration for them as soldiers, and I have always wanted to see this

country. Unfortunately our stay Is a short one, but we may come back. I should like to sample the fishing.” Lady Lawford Is a daughter of Colonel F. W. Bunny, late of the Royal Berkshire Regiment, and a granddaughter of the late Genoral A. C. Bunny, of the Royal Artillery. Peter, aged 9 years, is a film star. Lady Lawford has had experience of London journalism. For a time she was a regular contributor to the Evening News, for which she wrote a nuinb.C' of articles and interviews. “Once 1 had to interview the Aga Khan," she said. “That was easy,

because I had known the Aga Khan for a number of years." Tho Moral Standard. “Before we left London the editor of the Evening News, who had heard

we intended to visit Tahiti and stay there for six months, asked me to write an article about that island. ‘Not too tropical an article,’ he said. In view of our experience of Tahiti that was rather amusing. . . Thereby hangs a tale, though both Sir Sydney and Lady Lawford preferred not to tell it. Both liked Tahiti as an island, but the moral standard, or lack of it, in Papeete caused them to change their minds about a prolonged stay. It was no place for Peter. “We enjoyed our short stay at Rarotonga, ’’ Lady Lawford said. “It was a Tahiti cleaned up.” After visiting Australia Sir Sydney and Lady Lawford, unless they return to New Zealand, will journey on to Ceylon, thence to England.