BACK EIGHT CENTURIES

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19816, 21 February 1936, Page 11

BACK EIGHT CENTURIES

ST. JOHN INVESTITURE. A TRADITIONAL CEREMONY. INSPECTION BY COL. SLEEMAN. A replica of the ceremony performed eight centuries ago in the investiture of knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem added impressiveness to proceedings in Hamilton last evening when, in the Bledisloe Hall the Order of Serving Brother was conferred upon the South Auckland district officers of the St. John Ambulance Brigade, Mr H. D. Cobb and Colonel F. W. W. Dawson, by the Chief Commissioner for the Brigade Overseas, Colonel J. L. Sleeman. Ranking next to the Victorian Order and conferred by His Majesty the King as the Sovereign Head of the Order of St. John, the award is among the highest decorations issued by the brigade and is awarded only for meritorious service. Both the recipients have seen many years active association with the movement in the Dominion. Not a detail of the ceremony digressed from the original investiture carried out 800 years before. Silent and rigid divisions of the brigade were as- I sembled in a hollow square. The flag of the Order, draped in black in j mourning for the late King, was held j before them. With the public stand- j ing with bared heads the Dean ofj Hamilton, the Very Rev. T. P. | Weatherhog, read a prayer that had , been reoited to knights and crusaders j eight centuries before. Brought for- j ward by the Chief Commissioner for | Auckland, Mr C. J. Tunks, the reci- j pients were announced as having been ; elevated by “His Most Gracious Majesty as Sovereign Head of the j Order to the rank of Serving Brothers ' of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John, Jerusalem.” Vows Accepted. Solemnly, they accepted the vows of the order, promising to devote themselves to “the Christian care of the sick and the injured, loyalty to their Sovereign and truth and fealty to the Order.” As the medals were pinned to their uniforms Colonel Sleeman recited the age-old congratulation: “We receive and welcome you as Serving Brothers. May God protect you.” Seventeen units the South Auckland district, numbering over 150 members, were on parade for Colonel Sleeman’s inspection, divisions as far nfield as Thames, Wailii, Tauranga and Otorohanga being strongly represented. Four nursing divisions were among those present. After an examination of one of the motor ambulance waggons in use at Hamilton, Colonel Sleeman carried out an Inspection of the divisions, shaking “hands with each member present. The parade was under lhe charge of Divisional Superintendent E. A. Houston, of Hamilton, while music was provided by the Wailcato Regimental and Hamilton Municipal Band. An impressive march past followed and the case equipment of the Frankton Junction 'Railway Division was inspected by the Chief Commissioner. At the" close of the inspection Colonel Sleeman said he had been impressed by the efficient and well drilled divisions which, best of all, displayed the true spirit of the St. John service. The parade was equal to any he had seen so far in his tour of the Dominions and he was pleased with the enthusiasm which was evident when units came from as far as Tauranga and Thames to take part. They were members of the most ancient order in the world, an order which to-day possessed an active membership of over 74,000 performing splendid work for the good of humanity throughout the world. Highest Standard of Efficiency. “In the Auckland province I have discovered the highest standard of efficiency and this district is unquestionably showing a lead to the whole of New Zealand,” the Chief Commissioner stated. “I must say that since I left England in October I have seen nothing which can compare with the case equipment of the Frankton Division, which shows that its members are not only performing their humanitarian duties, but that they are also entering into them with the zest and enthusiasm which had characterised the Order for 800 years.” Colonel Sleeman presented an additional five years’ service bar to Divisional Superintendent E. A. Houston, of Hamilton, and a Divisional Superintendent’s warrant to Mr C. Knox, of Otorohanga.