ON SERVICE.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16429, 24 January 1919, Page 4

ON SERVICE.

PERSONAL NOTES ABOUT NEW ZEALANDERS. ' (ir.OM OCT. OWi." COKRESTONDENT.) LONDON, November 2G. Major E. N. Webb, D.5.0., M.C., Australian Engineers (Papanui) i s now engaged in London on computation of magnetic results of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, in which ho was chief magnctician. Major Webb was mentioned in despatches in Juno last and awarded the D.S.O. for services in the construction of bridges over tho Sommo during the attack Tty the Australians at Peromie. H e was commanding the 7th Field Company Australian Engineers. Eng.-Sub-Lieut. D. MacKinnon transferred from tho N.Z.E. to the R.N.11. in April, l'Jl7, and is now in H.M.b. rcrriolc. He left with the 10th Reinforcements. Lieut. Edwin L. Hall, A.I.F. (Christchurch), has been serving in Gallipoli, Egypt, and Flanders. He was badly gassed last July, and in the last stunt of the war got a sevore gunshot wound which fractured his thigh. Ho is now in the 3rd London General Hospital Captain A. J. Mack, R.F.A. (Wellington) lately returned from Germany, where he had been for about five months a prisoner, is in London, a waiting a course of treatment. Capt. Mack "was captured on tho morning of Mav 27th at Chemin des Dames. He was *in~the trenches and was wounded, his injuries including shrapnel wound in the left wrist, in the right hand, the shoulder and back. It was about twelve days later beforo ho arrived in hospital at Heidelberg and was able to rcceivo proper medical treatment. By that time, unfortunately, it was deemed necessary to amputate the left forearm below the elbow. The preliminary attention at the field dressing station was very rough. Captain Mack left hospital in August, had a month in camp at Stralsund, on the Baltic, and was repatriated in October. On the whole, ho speaks pretty well of the treatment meted out to officers, who were left very much on their own, but the men suffered badly. Medical men hero are quite satisfied with the way the amputation was performed ah Heidelberg, whero the orderlies were chiefly French and British. Travelling through Germany en route to Holland, Captain Mack saw in the large centres —Berlin and elsewhere —undoubted signs of under-feeding among the civilian population, who sacrificed themselves for the benefit of the soldiers. A New Zealander at Stralsund was 2nd Lieut. F. D. Sams. R.F.C., Timaru, who had been a prisoner since about the beginning of 1917. Captain Mack is the eldest son of Mr W. T. Mack, and received his commission in September, 191 G. • i

Eng.-Lt.-Comdr. W. Earnshaw, R.N. (Wellington) has been elected a member of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders of Scotland. For some months past he has been acting Admiralty Overseer at a northern shipbuilding centre in chargo of tho construction of destroyers. Col. R. Tracy-Inglis, N.Z.M.C., who has been on hospital ships since .Tune, 1915, is now doing orthopaedic work at the Alder Hey Military Hospital at Liverpool. Cadet lan Nicolson, R.A.F. (Dunedin), is at present at the R.A.F. Headquarters at Hampstead with other recent arrivals, awaiting tho decision of the Air Ministry as to their future. 1 understand that cadets who have just arrived for training will probably be given the option of joining the R.A.F. for four years or taking their dischargo forthwith. T. Clean, Petty Officer, R.N., who was out in New Zealand both with the Scott and the Shackleton Antarctic Expeditions, and who rejoined for tho war immediately on getting back from the last Expedition, is now appointed to H.M.S. Inflexible. November' 29. Lieut. W. 0. Berryman, M.C., of the 12th Lancers (Oxford. Canterbury) is standing for the Brighton Division as an Independent Coalition candidate. Lieut. Berryman, who has seen service throughout the war and was one of the first New Zealanders to win tho Military Cross, is recovering from pneumonia and influenza. Lieut. J. A. B. Thompson, M.C., Essex llegt., is promoted Captain. Ho was formerly in the N.Z. Riflo Brigade and transferred to the British army in October, 1916. Since then Capt. Thompson has seen considerable service with the Royal Flying Corps in Franco and in Italy, as balloon officer. Major J. Studholme, D.5.0., Canterbury M.R., is granted temporary rank of Lieut.-Col. while holding the appointment of A.A.G. in London. The following promotions in the X.Z.F.A. aro announced : —Captain H. P. Warnock and Captain A. C. Macdonald to he Majors; Captains W. H. .Tones, J. E. L. Gardiner, M.C., B. A. Todd, M.C.. and W. E. Earnshaw, and 2nd-Lieut. H. E. Wright to be temp.Majors. 2nd-Lieuts. R. L. Pearless and S. J. Henrys to bo Lieutenants. Lieuts. J. A. Guild, A. E. Esquilant, M C., and H T. Jones, and 2nd-Lieuts. E. F. Tyson, C. W. Greig, and T. Y. Turner to be Captains. Lieut. G. E. Archey, N.Z.F.A., is granted temp, rank of Captain while holding appointment of Divisional Educational officer. Major C. N. Newman, D.5.0., is "ranted tho temp, rank ol Lt.-Colonel whilo relieving Colonel I. T. Standisb in command of a brigade of Field Artillery. Major G. 11. Gray, M.C., Cantcroury Regiment, is appointed chief instructor at tho Now Zealand Base.

Lieut.-Colonel il. Stewart, D.5.0., M.C., Canterbury Regiment, will hold the temporary rank ot colonel while acting as Director ot ? Education. He is suceccded by Lieut.-Colonel C. il. Brereton, who at present is O.C. of a transport. Colonel Stewart's battaiiou will bo commanded by Major a. D. Stitt, D.5.0., M.C., who is promoted, lieut. -colonel. The following promotions in the Canterbury Regiment aro announced: Captains J. K. Loudon and J. B. l*e Mottee to bo majors; Lieutenants AV. F. Brothers, M.M., J. G. C. AYales, M.C., and W. H. Stark, to bo captains; Lieutenants H. Johnston, M.C., F. W. Wilson, 31.C., A. C. C. Hunter, M.C., and A. J. Farneli, to bo tump.-captains. The following promotions in the Rifle Brigade are announced: Captains A. Thomson, M.C., E. A. Harding, M.C., and B. McLeod, M.C., to majors; Lieutenants C. "W. Bird, G. L. Rogers, S. Gardner, G. E. F. Kingscote, F. T. Bennington, C. C. Best, M.C., R. J. Grant, M.C., and J. Russell, M.C., to be captains; Lieutenants B. C. Kirk, M.C., H. J. Thompson, C. N. Rabone, H. S. Kenrick. V. F. Maxwell, J. G. McGhie, M.C., and H. B. Pattrick, M.C., to be temp.-captains. Major F. K. Turnbull, D.5.0., M.C., is promoted lieut.-colonel in succession to Lieut.-Colonel AV. H. Cunningham, D.S.O. Captain R. F. Gambrill, Officer-in-Charge of N.Z. War Records Section, is promoted major. Major G. W. Goekroft, of the Rifle Brigade, is promoted temporary lieut.eolonel in succession to Lieut.-Colonel P. H. Bell. D.5.0., wounded. Pr. T. C. Higgins, who recently qualified at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, has attested in England with the N.Z.E.F., and becomes a lieutenant in the N.Z.M.C. The following postings of medical officers in the N.Z.M.C. liaye been approved: Majors W. Aitken, M.C-. and H. Short, 0.8. E., to No. 2 N.Z.' | Hospital; Captain D. H. Bett!! from N.Z. Stationary Hospital. and ! Captain P. A. Moore, from N.Z. Con- i valr>scont Hetpital. to No. *2 N.Z. General, Captain W. F. Patterson (since

died or sickness), from No. 2 N.Z. General to X.Z. Convalescent Hospital; Captain W. T. Simmons, of No. 1 Field Ambulance, and Captain D. B. "Walker, of tho Divisional Train, exchange; Lieutenant F. M. Spencer, from No. 1 Field Ambulance to Ist Canterbury Battalion; Lieutenant F. J. Mulholland, from Ist Canterbury Battalion to No. 3 Field Ambulance; Lieutenant C. L. Donne, from N.Z.M.C. Reserve Depot, to N.Z.R.B. Reserve Depot; Lieutenant J. B. Liffgins, newly attested, to Xo. 2 N.Z. General Hospital. December 10. Captain H. J. F. Mills, K.R.R.C. (son of Sir James and Lady Mills), has arrived back in England from Germany. In July ; 1917. he was posted as ''missing.'' but in the following month news was received that lie had been taken prisoner. Quite early in the war Captain Mills was in France, and then he went out to Salonica, where he had tho misfortune to be buried in his dug-out by a shell explosion and severely injured. He returned to England invalided and remained here about eight months. Another New Zealand officer released from Germany is Lieutenant G. I. Kirkcaldy, Black Watch (Dunedin), who was missing last May and reported to be a prisoner in the month following. Near the beginning of the war he had a commission in the -A.S.C., and after more than two years with that unit lie transferred to the Royal Highlanders in 1917. Lieutenant Kirkcaldy is the son of Mr W. M. Kirkcaldy, of Dunedin, and was a student at Cambridge when war broke out. Mr Aubrey L- Williams (Christchurch), formerly N.Z.E., has returned to London from a lecturing tour of a little over a fortnight in _ tho British zone in France and Belgium. Mr Williams, who served with tne N.Z.E.F. in Gallipoli, and was afterwards doing propaganda work in Russia, is lecturing on the Bolshevic regime there. His brother. Dr. Harold Williams, is now in Berne. Lieutenant W. L. Harrison, R.A.F. (Rakaia), has been repatriated from Germany, where ho had been a prisoner since the middle of 1917. He was posted missing for some time before it was definitely known that he was in Germany. Lieutenant Hanisou left New Zealand with the Main Body as a sergeant in tho Mounted Rifles, and served in Egypt and Gallipon. He was invalided to New Zealand suffering from shell-shock, but, having made a good recovery, he left again in the 11th Reinforcements as a machine-gun specialist. At Cafro he passed his examination as an aviator, and was in due course commissioned to the R.F.C. He is the eldest son of Mr William Harrison, of Suminerlea, Rakaia. It is oil record that while Lieutenant Harrison was .engaged on reconnaissance work he was attacked by three German planes, his maehino was riddled with bullets, his instruments and essential parts were shot to pieces, and he was driven down in the German lines and taken prisoner. News lias arrived from Boulogne of the death in hospital from severe gunshot wound in the thigh of Lieutenant J. D. Sehloss, R.A.F. (Cheviot). He qualified at Soekburn, and last summer was stationed in Lincolnshire. When in France towards the end of this year he was engaged in bombing raids. On November 9th he was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital at Boulogne severely wounded.

Sapper C. E. B. Ollivier, R.E. (late of Christchurch), has left with a draft for Salonica, having made a complete convalescence from the attack of bronchitis which invalided him to England from France last March. Mr Ollivier was formerly on the staff of the Pacific Cable Board. He joined the Central Cable Company in South America, and came to England from Buenos Aires to enlist for the war.