Jan, 19.
To go to the South African War in 1899, or thereabouts, a Grey Brigade rifleman joined the 7th' Regiment Imperial Yeomanly. He tame from the 13th Middlesex Queen's Westminster Volunteer Rifles, now the 16th London Regiment (Queen's Westminster and Civil Service Rifles) and his name was Nathaniel William—Benjamin Butler Thoms. Incidentally with him, in the same Yeomanry Regiment, was a University College student, George Fleming, whom. also Shanghai eventually heard. Young Thoms serv-in" South Africa for nearly two years, for twelve months of which he was commanding a troop. He went to New Zealand and the volunteering habit being strong, took 'a commission in the Otago Regiment. Tu 1910, on the forma. tion of the New Zealand Staff Corps, he received a commission in the New Zealand Permanent, Forces, becoming successively Adjutant and Group Staff Officer. In the Great War he started as D.A.A.G. which, for the be the uninitiated, it is sufficient in describe as "something on the staff," and took part in the historic landing at Gallipoli. He remained in that unhealthy spot until December, ° 1915, shortly before the evacuation. France saw him next and as Company Commander of the Canterbury Regiment. Later he became Brigade Major of the 1st New Zealand Infantry Brigade and GS.0.2. at Divisional Headquarters.
He was wounded twice, thrice mentioned in despatches: and received the D.S.0. and M.C. After the War he went back to New Zealand as G.S.0,1 Southern Command and' later as! Chief Staff Officer "Q duties" at! General H.Q. He rounded off this military career with an appointment as a student at the Imperial Defence College and, in 1930, he appeared at the Imperial Conference as the Military Representative of the Dominion of New Zealand. Then the Shanghai Volunteer Corps wanted a Commandant, in the normal course of things, and in 1981, Colonel N. W. B. B. Thoms, with the approval of the War Office, was appointed to fill the post which to-day he vacates after having completed the tenure of an important, exciting and unique command.
To-Colonel Thoms it is hardly necessary to pay tribute in face of the eloquence of these bald facts. Moreover, the various tonalities who have come under his command in the Shang-_ hai Volunteer Conps have been insistent in bearing testimony to their complete approval of him. And it has been no mean feat, especially in the light of events during his command, to preserve the confidence of Americans, British, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Russians, Scandinavians—all the' ingredients which, in fact, go to mak the composition thi curious creature, the Shanghai lander. As an officer who had served as a Dominion man with Dominion Corps, Colonel Thoms came with a special, extended vision of the comradeship of arms. His expert knowledge gained on various fronts and at the Imperial Defence College, tended to give him a keen grasp of wider issues than usually come within the purview of the serving soldier. Physi cally a big man, he able also' to take the big view. Perhaps he found at times the limited [scope of a Commandant of Volunteers—albelt the most remarkably assorted volunteers in the whole world—insufficient for the primary object of his Command—self-defence for the International Settlement. Two years ago the test came in the outbreak of hostilities which presented Shanghai with the most serious international crisis, in its history. The supreme tact lof the Commandant of the S.V.C. enabled his Corps to keep with the regular forces of various in the Settlement a liaison which was free from friction and was able to operate smoothly in. circumstances of abounding difficulty.—Colonel Thoms received good support which he never failed to acknowledge. The Corps acquitted itself well and in 80 doing gave Colonel Thoms the best possible To-day he lays down command. He lately said his formal farewell on parade to the assembled Corps. To-morrow he sails for Home. He will be ceremoniously saluted by representatives of every unit in the Corps and, "is understood, by certain regular forees too. is fitting therefore that. this journal should reinforce those tributes, if it can, by recording the general esteem of the cosmopolitan community who bid him goodbye. No Commandant has. been 30. generally well-known. His assistance in founding the Anzac Society, his Presidentship of that Society, his work on the Committee of the Royal Society of St. George, his interest in the Russian community which had the satisfaction of yoing under him its fine manhood, with a magnificent reputation for smartness on parade, given the full status of a Regiment—all that showed the catholicity of his personal peal to Shanghai, In the last few months he has done the Settlement good service by bringing forcibly to the public notice the importance of keeping the Corps up to full strength. As for himself, a complete absence of "side" and an unaffected cheeriness have never been allowed to weaken the sense of discipline on which he consistently laid stress. He has brought to the Corps a fine vision of the world outside Shanghai—his Dominion experience has Russian Regiment its colours and in the moving ceremony which carried that decision into effect. And in mentioning him thus affectionately at the end of his three years' sojourn hare. it is impossible to forget Mrs, Thoms.
nghai had the privilege of being the place where they two eclebiated their silver wedding last year. Mrs, Thoms's gracious presence and kindness of heart have been not the least of the benefits which Colonel Thoms. has ent to Shanghai. To him and to her, when she joins him Jon the Corfu at Hongkong every good wish will go for a very happy time in the rural beauty of Kent. They have both done a splendid job here. They have earned, not merely their rest but the continual and grateful re-membranees of friends of all nationalities
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.