BACK FROM THE WAR.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1457, 28 March 1918, Page 38

BACK FROM THE WAR.

ENTHUSIASTIC WELCOME

Wellington was all excitement last week, the occasion being the arrival home of three drafts comprising over 2000 men who had seen active service in France. There were wild scenes of enthusiasm when the transports berthed at the Queen s wharf, and the meeting of returned soldiers with their relatives, many of whom had come from distant parts of New Zealand, was very touching. There was a large crowd, estimated at ten thousand, present to welcome the returned men.

In the absence of the Mayor. Councillor J. E. Fitzgerald, in welcoming the soldiers, capably expressed the sentiments of the citizens as follows: “In the unavoidable absence of his Worship the Mayor, and in the name of the citizens of Wellington, I extend to you the heartiest possible welcome to our city. There are, we know, in your ranks many men who were the first to realise the seriousness of the great struggle in which our Empire is engaged, and who realised that the very foundations of that Empire were imperilled, and it was the realisation of those great dangers, coupled with true patriotism, that inspired you to immediate and determined action —actions ennobling and edifying, and by those actions on and off the field of battle, by your dignity and determination and by your courage and fortitude you have not only proved to the! world that the seeds of patriotism sown in this young country have borne good fruit, but you have created a coveted place for New Zealand in the Councils of our Empire. Some of you soldiers have been absent from these shores for a' period of three years, all of you have been some 13 or 14 thousand miles away, and I can assure you that, despite that distance, we that were left behind have followed your exploits with the keenest interest, and recorded your sacrifices with intense sorrow, and knowing as we do that some of you left happy, cheerful ’firesides for the cold and cheerless camp, we, the citizens of Wellington welcome you home as chivalrous, natural, unaffected citizen soldiers fought and fell in the great cause ’’of; Liberty, Freedom and Justice.” The disembarkation of the men proceeded smoothly, and generally the arrangements appeared to work satisfactorily.