THE RETURNED SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2693, 12 February 1916, Page 3

THE RETURNED SOLDIER

A "COLLECTIVE INTERVIEW" ALLEGATIONS AND A REPLY fSome facts the public should know, and tie Department appreciate.] (BY E. D. HOBEN.) This is a "collective interview," tho /ltcome of talks with many returned ioldiers in Canterbury during the past Week. It puts into print, with their approval and by their desire, their collective view on certain matters of public and private discussion regarding ihem, in tho .hope- that where the trouble is remediable it "will be remedied, at anyrate that tho public, as ■well as the Department, will appreciate their viewpoint. Hence the medium of the Press. Some time ago there was leakage of some of, our very best men to the Australian forces owing to official failure to appreciate the position. There is going to be,a fresh leakage from a like cause now, this time not of recruits, but of seasoned and experienced veterans, who will be even more eagerly snapped at across the Tasman than those we lost before. I am impelled to collate these soldiers' views in the hope that the remedying of some of the grievances may prevent their loss. I take" the. grievances seriatim, giving the consensus of opinion of those interviewed upon them is. follows:— ' "Tho Hanmer Trouble. This, my informants hold, practically Illustrates the attitude of the Department towards tb'e returned soldier. "We have," they say in substance, "to complain that from th 9 time we arrive, the Department, through ite officials, treats lis as if it would rather we had' not come back at all, as though it regarded us as a nuisance. Members of the public have beeh wonderfully hospitable and sympathetic. The Department has been—official. Take Hanmer. Forty odd men went to the Sanatorium provided by Mr. Duncan Rutherford. They were drawn from every walk of life. They had been on the Peninsula from four to sixteen weeks on the average, from sis weeks to two months in hospital, perhaps two or three nights' leave in Cairo during that period. Then invalided to New Zealand. The only break in the voyage here of five weeks Was a call at Albany with a few hours ashore. Arrived in New Zealand, they fere immediately ordered, to Hanmer for ft month.. There .is the testimony of Hanmer people that the conduct of these men was exemplary. In ono month of the earlier batch only one man was seen drunk on the Lodge premises. Remembering that these men had been tied up for six months without iliquor. that there should have been some slight individual or exceptional lapse is not so extraordinary as that their general conduct was so excellent. The 6.30 p.m. rule was enforced, presumably for tho men's own benefit, but they felt that they had been under restraint so long that they should hot have been treated as children. Their action in breaking the rule "made could not bo justified, tut the action of the authorities in consequence of it was, more than the occasion demanded. Instead of being brought-before..the 0.0., and given a week's G:B.,' as would have met. the case under the circumstances, they were summarily discharged, without even being given a ticket to take, them -back to Christchurch, the nearest city: without being given the three weeks' leave, three weeks' pay, and the three weeks' ticket that is given to all honourably discharged men by the Department. They were able to get to Christchurch on a. little money advanced by Mr. Rutherford and Lieut.Colonel Loach. This is in keeping with the attitude of the Department as the men feel it. "The sooner we are rid of you tho better." "That is no good to us. and we are not going to stick it. We rallied to the colours at the first word of the Empire's need. We didn't wait to. be pushed. into it. We went out to endure and to fight. We have come back temporarily broken. As we are mended we are ready to go again. But the attitude of the Department is such that we feel[ while we wish to give whatever is left in us to the Empire, we had better get our discharges, and offer it elsewhere—in Australia or Britain. "There will always be come misconduct. Soldiers are ready to' acknowledge that, and to accept such punishment as is meet for it, but they neither want to be treated as malefactors nor nuisances." ' , The Commissions Question. . "We understand that the Minister of Defence is going to invite applications from returned soldiers for commissions, and to promote six men per month. He holds that it would be unfair to the men. still at tho front to do more. "The Hon. Minister has, as we understand it, made three statements on this question. ■_ At Wellington it was> that no promotion could be given to returned men in New Zealand, as their place for promotion was in the field. We pointed out that in three and a half months the Canterbury Infantry Battalion had 44 officer casualties. In that period two sergeants wore promoted from the ranks, and two sergeant-majors, while 1500 men passed through tho ranks of tho battalion. "Chances of • promotion" in tho field may bo calculated from this. '"Colonel Allen' referred the matter to General Godley, and announced that further consideration had been postponed till General Godley had reorganised all the troops in the field. Wo pointed out that the question of General Godley's reorganisation in the field had nothing to do with tho principle of returned men being allowed to compete with Reinforcements for commissions here. This was purely an internal, and not an external question, so far as the . Department in New Zealand 'is concerned. "Colonel Allen then announced to the deputation at Christehurch that it would not be fair to. the men in the trenches to promote those who had arrived back in New Zealand. At the Eame time he announced that he had instructed General Godley to make the full 50 per_ cent, of promotions from the ranks in the field, and to permit six men per month from the field to accePt commissions in the Imperial Army. "TMs was to do tardy justice to the men still in the field. From it the 300 C men back here in New Zealand 1 will nol benefit at all. Yet many of them, having gone with' the Main Body, anc earlier reinforcements, have actualh seen more service than most of those still in the field. Tho men who volunteered promptly, went with those firsl forces, and who built up the reputatior of tho Anzacs, havo surely the right t< consideration? They have been described as 'the flower of the country' phrase is not ours, and we dt not claim it except in tho sense that w< saw and met the call before the extraordinary pressure that is now considered necessary to muster the straggler! was applied. "We ask Colonel Allen, would not thi

men in the trenches a hundred times Boonor have their old and tried comrades, who were invalided back home, obtain commissions on recovery, and go out with reinforcements, than that commissions should be given to men who have had no experience of war and who hove obtained them simply because ihore was no one olso to give them to, and are thus given a premium for hanging back? "This is a matter which the Returned Soldiers' Association is going to take up, and for this and othe- matters the association is to be orgai ised throughout the Dominion, and to ask the public to help us get grcat-er consideration than we have received hitherto. It is not only the individual injustice, and the discouragement, but it is a serious matter sending reinforcements with officers who have had absolutely no exprienco, and asking soldiers of three or _. four months' fighting experience at the front to submit their lives and well-being to inexperienced lads. "It was all right when we went out first. AH were equally inexperienced of war, but we had the Territorial officers with peace experience here to draw upon, and 80 to 90 per cent, of these mado good under the vital test. That source, has been practically exhausted, but even if it were net practical experience under actual war conditions is' more valuable than theoretical experience in peace. And the men who in peace appear the more promising may bo the first to fail in war, and vico versa. ,Under present Departmental conditions au inexperienced youth has merely to go into a N.C.O. Instructional Camp, and it is a matter of application and progression for him to obtain the commission which will placo him in charge of the lives of men who know infinitely more of war than he could possibly know, and! 'were at the outset probably better material than he. "All that we aslc is that we be given equality of opportunity with the untried youth, that we be permitted, without having to throw away any little seniority our service may have gained us, to go on equal terms to the school of instruction with the men who stayed at home, ' and to compete with them for the commissions (to which somo of the public think we should have a prior right). Then let the award be made on the merits. Why should men who held back be considered to have a greater right to commissions than we, because we enlisted in the first enthusiasm, and did not display the cannyness and caution that held them here? Remember, we do not ask that wo be given these commissions en bloc, or as a prescriptive right. . We simply ask that we be allowed to compete for Reinforcement commissions on level terms, and not handicapped, because we have served and they have not, and that we be not asked to divest ourselves of our present seniority or advantages of service before doing so. Hospitals and Equipment. • "The present New Zealand Hospital in Egypt was originally under the control of the R.A.iVI.C. staif. Some of us were in it during that period, and found it all that could be desired. In June, 1915, the New Zealand Staff arrived, and took over, and apparently there wa6 some leakage during the transfer, for those of us who were carried over or re-entered later found it sadly deficient in equipment. _ The heavy casualties began to arrive in July, August, and September, and whatever provision was made for the extra calls involved in stretching accommodation intended for 300 to take 750, was quite inadequate. The result was that in the kitchen department, for instance, instead of providing another stove to meet the need we had to wait six weeks before it was supplied. The result was:.thafcvmen had to wait from 12.30 to 1 o'clock for lunch, which had to be cooked and served in relays: Many of ns had experience of the Australian hospitals m Cairo, and in thom the diet was' both - more liberal and varied,, and. the'outfitting of tlio convalescent's better. .Men on "ordinary diet" in the Australian Hospital, for instance, got for breakfast porridge or bread and milk, or fish, or eggs, and tea. Transferred to the New Zealand Hospital, they received porridge,' with no option for the other things, and bread and butter and tea. Bread and milk being only given on special diet. Men who had teen for weeks in the trendies on bully beef and biscuits, and such hard fare wanted something more appetising than porridge and bread and butter for breakfast. The Australian administration saw this, and acted upon it. These may seem little things, but they count big to men broken up by the trench strain. Men coming out on the hospital ships discussed tie various hospitals they had experienced, and all decided that the Australian hospitals were more comfortable than ourß, and this though we have only one hospital to administer there,! while the Australians have several. "This matter was the more marked in that the medical and nursing staffs ■if the New Zealand Hospital were admirable, and did all they could for us. "In the matter of equipment of convalescents the difference between Australian and New Zealand methods was still more striking, and this, after wo had been twelve months at war, and had had nine months to organise our base in Egypt, and fit it up with supplies. Men's uniforms and equipment are "usually worn out or missing when thev reach hospital. Yet when they left the hospital invalided back to New Zealand they were often not issued sufficient clothes to keep the cold out. (Instances were of men -where the anly issue to men without proper clothes to wear were a "Tommy" tunic, a pair of trousers, and a pair of heavy boots. This for the voyage out. No underclothing. On the Willochra overcoats ivere not issued till just before arriving at Albanv. Different ships appear had: different conditions, as men by the Tahiti said they had been well equipped. 1 ! . , "The Australian system is that every Australian soldier on being notified that he is to be invalided home is ordered to report at the stores attached to each hospital. There he is completely refitted with similar equipment to that with which he left Australia, even down to shaving gear, This includes two uniforms, two pairs of boots, two sets of undorclothing. He thus makes the voyage in absolute comfort, and arrives back homo decently clad—which is more than can be eai-d for some of our men. What Is Coming. "The feeling amongst the men is that they have given twelve months serf ice to New Zealand., and that those services are not appreciated by the Department, and as evidenced_ by the unjust and inexpedient handling of the promotion, and other questions. W { had in the ranks of the Main Body ami earlier Reinforcements suitable raw material for promotion. If it was a matter of education we had SO university men from Canterbury alone, anc over 100 public school men. 'Wo hac members of tho professions. If it was exporicnco of affairs and of handlinf men, we had managers mid leadingmei of industrial concerns, farms,, stations forcineD of works, and engineers. H it was leadershin we had the men wli< lead in their athletic and other clubs in their workshops, unions, and offices We have all these tvpes among tin returned soldiers, and they were lookinc forward on recovering health t< utilise their war experience in leader ship on returning to the front. Nov we arc asked to <*o out under any inexperienced bov who ''an make his waj through the N.C.O. Camp, and the ex animations. , "Well, we are not going to do itWe will go across .tlio water and see i

there the equalities anil experiences that nre apparently so little valued hero will not bo better valued. We have good reason to behove that they will bo. "Tho ono promising tiling wo hava eeen sineo wo came back is that Colonel Allen brought Major Norton Francis witli him to tho (Jhvistchurch deputation. Ho really did seem to grasp the situation, in a nterc businessliUo and sympathetic way than any other officer or official to whom our case had been put." And here I may closo with the fact that I personally know of six men eminently suited by personality, experience, and education for promotion, who are going so soon as they can recover aud get their discharges, as a pioneer band to re-enlist in Australia, and apply for promotion whore it has been much more readily and liberally given to sucli men than has been the experience of-our own forces. , Let us hope that they will not liave occasion to do so.