WHEN TRANSPORTS COME

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 92, 11 January 1918, Page 6

WHEN TRANSPORTS COME

HOW THE SOLDIERS' INFORMATION DEPARTMENT KEEPSPCH

DEALING WITH THE MEN

The arrival of a transport in New Zealand with returned soldiers aboard brings considerable work to the Government officials engaged in war work, and a good deal of that work is borne fjy tho officers of the Discharged ■ Soldiers' Information Department. There returned to the Dominion within the last few days five transports, each carying a full complement of sick and wounded wen, totalling about 2266._ It is the duty of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department to get all these men listed in groups to suit the organisation of the Department immediately on the arrival of transports, and to collect information about tho men which will be of value in placing them in work on their discharge from the Army. How It Is Done. It is the practice of the Department to send officials to meet the transports before the soldiers go ashore. By arrangement made with the Defence Department shortly after tho Discharged Soldiers' Information Department came into being, they obtain from the Defence Department's staff on the steamer a list of the men, and the liat is checked before the officials leave tho. stoamer. If the required particulars of the men are not provided on tho Hst much labour is involved, which .places a. heavy strain on the officials of the Discharged Soldiers' Department, as the work has to be done cxipeditiously before the men scatter. The lists from the transports are then handed over to tho Department's voluntary staff, which is cwoposed of officers of the 'Government Life Insurance Department, who write up further lists for the representatives of the Department in each dist'ict in which the returned men ■ are to settle. The officers of tjae toluntary stafE (who, by the way, receivno remuneration of any kind) have a very heavy task to perform, and tho efficiency of their work and tho rapidity with which it is done have frequently been eulogistically referred to in reports by tho Attorney-General, the Hon. A. L. Hcrdmnn, who is the Minister controlling tho Discharged Soldiers' Department. The following statement provides an illustration of the expedition uiscd by the voluntary staff of the Department in the preparation of lists of returned men for the Department's committees throughout New Zealand:— No. 1 'Transport.—The ship arrived at Wellington with 142 men on. board, on Sunday, December 23. fiHio list reached Wellington on Monday morning, and by Monday evening (Christmas Eve) the register had been completed, and particulars sent 'to forty committees in New Zealand, rrhich act as agents for the Department. No. 2 Transport arrived sit Auckland; Friday, December 28, with 547 men; list reached Wellington on Saturday afternoon, and the work lad all been done by Monday (New Year's Eve).

No. 3 Transport • arrived aft Auckland on Thursday, January 3, with 441 men; list reached Wellington on Friday afternoon, and the work; had all been done by Friday evening. No. 4 Transport arrived at Auckland on Friday, January 4, With (104 men; list reached Wellington on J|ionday afternoon, and the work had. been finished by the following day.. No. 5 Transport arrived at Auckland on Saturday, January 5, with 732 men; list reached Wellington on Monday afternoon, and the war.'k was all dono by the following day.

■ Good Work by the SUaff. Iji spite of tho reduction, which the voluntary staff of the Department has lately suffered, owing to men having been transferred from Wellington to ofiher towns to take the places of men who havo gono on active (service, and tho reduced suburban traiji service, which provents officers ljvjrug in certain suburbs from assisting; at night, the record of tho staff shown in tho statement is very creditable!, especially as it will be observed thail these officers had to work on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and oia Christinas and New Year's Eves, which is a big sacrifice to make during jtho holiday season.

Tho preparation and the dispatch to the different committees oii the Department of the schedules referred to is, of course, only tho first sitago of the Department's work. Tho most important part of its work is tlio settling of tho men. It has to ki;cp in touch with each man, and on receiving notice i'rom Ihe Defence Department that a particular man is to be discharged, an officer waits upon tho maiia, and ascertains whether he has work to go to. If the man lias not been "provided for, then the Department gives its assistance to find a suitable position for him. /

Of the 22G6 men just returned to the Dominion temporarily or permanently unfitted for further actjive service, it may bo that some will 'if their recovery is complete, re-enliafc, but, as in previous drafts of returned men, a lareo proportion will never bo able to 30 "Back to the war swum, .again. In some instances the stato of tho men will make it' necessary for them to be treated for sonio time in one or other of the several hostels provided by the Government; ; but in many cases' the men will soon,' become fit to take up employment (mited to their conuiiion.

Edward Landor, who plays tho duke's son in "Seven Days' Leave" at Fullers' Sydney Opera House, tolls a good recruiting story regarding a somewhat inebriated gentleman wriD wanted to enlist. The oflicors in. oiintge told him politely to come alonj' a little later, but he insisted on being examined. "P-p-p-pos'tively mus' oralis' to-day," he hiccupped. ' At lengtlh, when he became a nuisance they throw him out into tlib street. Picking himself up, and recovering his liat, 1 /ig gassed reproachfully in the direction of tho romiitiiu; officers. "Now," ho said, "J-j-just foil that wo'U probably lose