NEMESIS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2895, 6 October 1916, Page 7

NEMESIS

ifl/RAILWAY OFFICER'S GARB LITTLE RECKONINGS AFTER FINAL LEAVE (By Will Lawson.) I'rivato 'Blade, of tho "ifileventeenth" Reinforcements, on his final leave,- was wrestling a friendly bout in tho railway carriage with his friend, Rilloman, Point," of tho "Square Dinkunis." Accidentally Blade's elbow severely craoked a window. Tho wrestling bout oeasod abruptly, and there was conjecture concerning the cost of the damage, and whether tho guard would notico it. All hopes on tho latter score wero dissolved when the keen-oye'd guard cama through. "Who did that?" ho demanded. , "1 did," said Blade and Point in chorus.. "I see,, a combined effort, happy collaboration, like," said _ tho guard, whose good humour had rottirned_ when ho saw there was to bo no evasion of tho .responsibility. "Ifow much?" asked Blade. Junketings Afield. Tho guard told him, and ho paid. But all railway inoidents.and,accidents of this and other kinds oonnected with soldiers do not end with such promptness and dispatch. During their loavo,' the soldiers scatter to the ■uttermost corners of tho Dominion. Each man is given, a railway pass to tho station nearest his home, and two pays— that iB, a month's pay iri all. With these passports to happiness the troop j trains pull out of tho camps crammed with cheering men. They are at peace with the world—they give no troublo to anyone. Everything is "0.K." It ie at the-end of tho leavo that tho railways begin to gather in the soldiers'and their troubles. .Many of them have strayed far from the lino of Tailway on which their passes 1 titled them to travel, others have lost their passes or given thorn away to comrades more hard up than themselves. Very few havo any money. ; Yet every, man of thorn must bo returned to camp. So tho guards and • stationmastora work to that end. Sometimes, penniless and tickotless, the sol- '• diors aro landed safely in tho camp, I while in tho railway traffio office lists [ of the' defaulters' names and omissions 1 and tho amounts owing aro received.

. Enter Nemesis. .'. Then Nemesis, in the person of a railway officer, takes a hand in the game. His business is to collect the 6ums owing, and it is not always an easy task. For though tho spirit of tho soldier' is willing, the purso or pocket is often weak. If Private. Blado and Rifleman Point had not paid for their , broken window, on the spot, Nemesis would have, handed to the camp adjutant a slip of paper with their names and companies written upon it, and a request that these men should appear before him. : The camp adjutant would , havo signed this paper, and an orderly would havo hurried to present it to the platoon' sergeant, who would have hurried Blade and Point to headquarters. .'And fhoro they would havo met Nemesis and found him a kind and punctilious officer. If they could have paid the whole amount at onco, he would have been glad to end the matter there and then. If hot, it would have to be paid in instalments, which moans that Nemesis pays many visits to tho oamps. -He is sorry to'have to collect the money from men who seldom have m)ich s . but duty is duty. It is chiefly with the "hard doors" that ho has to do business, tho men who spend every penny of their pay-when on leave, and nave to be 'back to- camp on the timo-payment system. Nemesis- doesn't .appear to worry much over tho men who have incurred small railway fines of different kinds. A shilling or sixpence won't break a man. It Is when tho amounts run into I pounds that he is concerned, even though a lot of the men bring tho trouble | upon .themselves. When sailing day draws near and_ there are still amounts i owing, tho.affair becomes'more trying. No man wanta to $eo a soldier go on board a. transport with littlo or no money, all because he lacked over tho traces a little too much when he was on his leave. And,though business is business, oven the Railway Department has a heart at times, when' the circumstances 'of the case warrant it* '