THE ANZACS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3051, 12 April 1917, Page 6

THE ANZACS

Sir,—There is a letter in your paper from Mr. C. . B. Morison, requesting, that a resolution may be passed to theeffect that tho New Zealand Division, in France may be united to the First} Army Corps of Anzacs, under Generali Birdwood. Ho urges that the Ausr tralian Army Corps is being known by tho public as Anzacs, and that t&e New Zealand Division may lose that title if kept a separate unit. It woiifdl. ba wiso before passing hasty resolutions, however, to know what are the-, exact facts. The title Anzac is g00d,., but that of New Zealander is better;.. It appears that Australia is able to> keep up an army corps in France, bufc; New Zealand's contribution to France* is only a division. Here comes in personal questions of seniority. If New: Zealand's Division joined General Bird- • wood, his command w'ould be too great, : and then what about General Godley's position in that case ? So General Godley has been given another mixed division, and that, with our division, makes a separate army corps. Thas, l tbink, is the'reason of tho separation ol\pur. Australasian units. Thre is no reastsi to be discontented, for the title Anzatj-" covers , both forps, and our own meu; have not lost, their separate entity; and* become merged in tne Australians It appears that originally New Zeai*; land must have intended to keep am ramy .corps in the field, but so greabi has beeu th« demand oh her lorcei.i that all we can do is to keep, a division i going in Franoe. However, ive ara> sending more reinforcements than tlia/ division actually requires, and the surplus is being diverted to other quarters, i.e.. to Egypt, and a small portion to some of the English divisionsIt almost looks as if out wiser course, would have been to havo contented, ourselves with one division only, and. if that had been 'the case full strength, could easily have* been maintained, without the unpleasantness' of the ballot. We need not be jealouVs of our men losing the title Anzac, if it.should so happen, for it must be reme.mbered that many of our men now in i?rance were never at Gallipoli. New ZeiUanders will always hold up their, en'd of the stick, and "New Zealand for ever"is their battle cry I .—l am, etc., V. W. TaNNEK.April 11.