ENGLAND IN WAR TIME

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 3

ENGLAND IN WAR TIME

' 'DR. A."K. NEWMAN'S IMPRESSIONS THE MAGIC OF "N.Z." -/ • ■ [A Letter , to Thk Dominion.] Dear Mr. Editor,— • r (When I left iNow Zealand for Loi don 1 meant to learn a lot about th war. 1 liave been 'hero four weeks. ■ have inquired of people, not tho ma in the street,, but - people "in th know." These people know no moj . ■■than,-I'did iu New Zealand. Geuen Robert-son—a' great- man—probabl knows, but he docs not blab, l'ec plo talked of its ending by . this Chrisl mas'—this is pure nonsense. I believ that those most likely to know are coi fident about its ending next Europea summer. All the evidenco. points t this.l Though we and our Allies sha keep on"pushing" and fighting a! this winter, heavy guns do not mov in rainy weather. Kormerly. an arm "crawled on. its stomach," it had t wait for provision wagons. To-day it crawl is slower because of the move ment of such a; quantity of guns ani the enormous quantity of ammunitioi ithey shoot away every day. Any-fight ing in winter must be very "slow. Thi means that Germany has six month to dig new trenches; sis- months tenlarge her army with boys growinj up; six months for sick and woundei to recover to be able to go into thi fighting lino; and six months in whic! to, build new and -repair old cannonsix months in which to get her secon< wind. Clearly, General Joffre and Gen eral Bobertson do not expect it to enc thisyear—they do not expect a "dra matic collapse" on the part of Germany because Great Britain is con scripting 800,000 moro men to go intc training. Both these great men as sure us that we are winning. We Get All the News. j I have learnt very little more thai ■I' knew about the war in New Zealand, only a crowd of minor unimportant details. It surprises mo how excellent and full are the New Zealand paper accounts —they give all the mair facts. It is littlo good talking to sol- , diers back from the front—they know 'sail about their only little section—bui they read the papers ,to know what is going on 100 or 500 'miles away. The one thing a' visit here teaches one is tho enormous size of tile war.' .'Colossal is tho War Office, huge is the Department of Munitions—and the 'Government is taking huge buildings aftei huge buildings to house tho. fast-grow-ing staff of'clerks. Everywhere oik travels aro big military . camns. Hon many troops England to-day holds the war Office alone knows. Do not fowl —a fresh, brand new arm of 800,00 C is being 1 got ready. Germany, AustriaHungary. Balgaria, Turkey, will, next summer have to face our new army of 800,000, aiul probably 200,000 overseas : ■ a new million. Russia has an enor- ■ mous number of new troops in train3nir. and recently Rumania has come in u ith over 500,000. The combined enemies can find only a comparatively small number to .face these fresh millions. The, size of this war is absoItrteiy staggering. I The Government hasi to feed and clothe and arm this vast crowd of men. The attitude of the people hero is embodied in the old saviug, "Dogged r?. S Ever . vo " e > men 'and' women c i ?' V'7 vo 'he grim determination to hght tins, put to a finish. Til] Germany is beaten the wa,r •will go on. There is one solid, one only, thought ■ we will, fight it out. The national spirit is magnificent. There i s no passion, no ; excitement—just • tho solid, grim bulldog "determination to hang on. Fathers and mother.?, losing their best and brightest, let others go with achI ■ ing hearts,, hut outwardly brave and oneeTful Men sick in hospital, or wounded-, hating war and its horrors, say quietly, resolutely, "I am going back to finish the job." ' War has worked wonderful changes for. the better in peoples minds. People are all courte■ous, kind, and thoughtful to each other. , Money for the afflicted'is in vast supply. . Still, I think we in New Zealand , are doing as well. 'Coining over in the ■ Niagara iu the saloon, we had an auction for a photograph—that no one wanted—to build and furnish a Y.M.C.A. hut at the front, and £650 was put up. "Yesterday 13,000 women collected money for the men—they were as thick as .on Lambton Quay. I told a. girl I had travelled 12,000 miles to dodge, collections: She replied, "Well, I came all the way from India to collect your little bit." ' How Our New Zealand Boys are Looked After. I know fathers and mothers want to know if' their sick and wounded are well looked after, and everything possible being done for them. I learnt beforehand that thdy were well looked after, but I wanted to see for .myself and learn first hand. And I meant if I found any deficiency that I would see •tMassey and Ward to have it rectified. I want to tell the New Zealand people that I came almost as a critic; I am now an enthusiastic admirer of tho way .things are being done. From the day the sick and wounded arrive in England everything that New' Zealand fathers and mothers would wish done for them .is being done. They are drafted into '.hospitals, Waltori'-on-Thames, Brockenhurst, Codington, Bonchurch, . and they -.are treated, as in the best New - : Zealand hospital. I have talked to many of our men privately to find out. Not a 'single man growled to me_ about anything. Walton-oii-Thames is absolutely charming, and the men swear by their nurses, and they are all New Zealand women, which makes it pleasanter for our boys. - Walton is tho ideal hospital in beautiful surroundings, but the other hospitals'aro excellent inside, and tho comforts as good and the nursing, etc. tSeveral men said to me, "It's just leaven to be in here after being in the trenches." I do want to make it clear to New Zealand fathers aiid mothers . that their sick and wounded once tliey reach, here are quite excellently treated and looked after, and that everything that should be done is being done. In Bedford Square I visited the : New Zealand Club for our boys visiting London. Three very large houses have bepn taken —it holds 250 men to sleep and feed —and the boys throng it. Mr.. Nolan, formerly of Hawera, manages it. The staff is New Zealaud women in London, "doing their bit" bo nobly—cooking, washing dishes, waitresses. As an example, two ladies come and work every Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday morning —their only spare time—as they aro earning their own living. A little way off & New Zealand tea-rooms, where w« drop into lunch and tea. The club and tea-rooms are rail by the New-Zealand-Association. This is a committee with Lord Plunket as chairman; he is thero every day. I am sorry I cannot give you the names, but here are Mr. James Coates, Mr. Douglas M'Lean, Mr. Elgar, Mr. John Grigg, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, Mr. Waldograve, and many others. This association is doing a great work in looking after the boys. The New Zealand boys are wonderfully popular everywhere; everybody seems to have a good name for them. It' is astonishing how people seem really fond of them. "N.Z." on tho shoulder..is a key to people's friendship. "I" ordered a few visiting cards for myself—just walked into a shop and told the man to put the words ■ "New Zealand!,?,. at the bottom. Ho said: "May • I "suggest the letters 'N.Z.,' it goes so woll here." Our boys ]

J have such a good l name as being so well-behaved—"such gentlemen"—and Anzac warms every heart to them. / There is a silly military rule that /officers in uniform may not smoke pipes in the streets—only cigars or cigarettes—and the prowling provost marshals haul them up., A New Zealand officer well known in Wellington was spotted smoking a. 'pipe/-' The marshal eagerly approached him, then saw the letters "N.Z.," and said: .''You are an Anzac; vou can do as you like." The New Zealand Association has a list of lady visitors in Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, etc., ' who look after any of our men who \.. happen to havo been drafted there. 1 Now every effort is being made to col--1 feet all our boys into our own hospitals, > and this I think will be the well- ' observed rule henceforth. To sum up, ' I think the New Zealand Association, ■ our military authorities, the lady visi- ■ tors, and, above all,' New Zealand i doctors and nurses, are doing a great ■. and splendid work. At the same time I came away from these hospitals saddened by the sight of so many of our wounded so grievously hurt—and these the very flower of our bravest and best. Those looking after them speak with wonder and pride of the bravery, the calmness, the uncomplaining of men in hospitals. The way the men talk of their nurses, and tho splendid way they work and their kindness, is perfectly charming. "When these nurses return to New Zealand wo must look nfetr them and provide for them, just as much as after the men who have gone into battle. They deserve anything we can do. Yours faithfully, ALFRED K. NEWMAN. P.S.—Many people before I. left asked mo to see their sons. I meant to do so, but when men are in Salonika, tin Franco, and scattered here ; it is quite impossible to do anything but ' come on them 'Ity chance.