“THE GALLANT VOLUNTEER”

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 492, 3 November 1881, Page 4

“THE GALLANT VOLUNTEER”

To the Editor.

* Sir,' —The paragraph you published in yesterday’s issue, containing an account of the ludicrous, not to say cowardly conduct of one of our volunteers in telegraphing to his wife to have a warrant taken out against him for wife desertion, is not at all calculated to raise that volun- , teer in public esteem. There has been much talk about the matter in the township, and no doubt the paragraph will be widely copied by the New Zealand press, f as the “ dodge” on the part of the hero of the paragraph is rather unique as well as amusing. But I would ask my fellowcitizens not to condemn the man unheard. He is at the front, and we are here. We . have no means of ascertaining the genuine- ; ness of the telegram, and it may be some time before he may learn what has been done in his name, and has, leisure to contradict it. It is now a well-known fact amongst the volunteers here that tho hero was not an efficient; though that fact was not well-known when he joined. It is extremely probable that his awkardness at drill and the circumstances under which he joined the corps may have made him a sort of standing joke amongst his comrades ,at the front—not necessarily his Ashburton comrades alone, but those of other corps as well. And what more likelythan that the telegram, on which the farce detailed in your paragraph came to be onset ed; was neither more nor less than q stupid but .too successful practical joke, of a sbrt of all too common, especially amongst young devil-may-care ■ fellows, such as many of the volunteers of the colony are well-known to be. I would , ask tho public to reserve their condemriat tion of this volunteer’s apparent cowardice and tomfoolery until the whole matter is cleared upi —I am, &c,, - - DE.