N.Z. VETERANS IN EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 262, 1 August 1919, Page 3

N.Z. VETERANS IN EGYPT

A STATEMENT OF THEIR CASE Mr. H. E. Holland. M.1 , ., has received a letter dated Ishmailia, Egypt, May li, nml written on Ijehulf of some of'the. "veterans of the 1914-15 drafts." The writer says, inter ;>lia:— "When we left New Zealand we contracted to faithfully servo the duration of the European 1". , ;. ,, . That contract we have carried out to the letter, and have cheerfully borne the- hardships of (ialliuoli, the deserts of Sinai, and worst of all the recking Jordan Valiey, in the hone of a,. victorious termination of hostilities, when we expected to reap our little share of pleasure by returning to those dearest to us. "The Minister of Defence Has ladled out soft soap to no end for a considerable time past, and has assured our mothers mid fathers and other relatives and friends that we- wero to be the very first men to leave for home after the cessation of hostilities. "The armistice has now been signed for six months, and despits Sir James Allen's assurances that die h'ist men to leave New Zealand would be the first sent home, the very opposite has occurred. May I trace the events here since the armistice v/as signed? "An 'affair' happened at Bichoii (Palestine), wherein the murder of one of our New Zealand boys by the Bedouin was fullv avenged. This was followed by an address by General Allenby, in whioh he littered some uncomplimentary sentiments. This was in December. We we're then sent to itaza, where we stayed for three months, completing the handimr in of horses ami equipment in preparation for demobilisation. "While at liaza several ships left for New Zealand carrying (and rightly so, too) sick men and men of low medical category. The last .ship that left hero with a full load vas the Kaikoura, oil or about March 7, currying a small draft of 1911-15 men, mid a large number of hoarded men. The former consisted of u.c.o.'s up to and including the rank of corporal and troopars up to the Seventh Reinforcements. Sergeants wcro absolutelv debarred from going. Though a sorireant was a Main Body man, he was not allowed to go, hit was penalised because ho had proved himself, and had risen up the ladder. The boarded men included ninny Into men, from the Thirtieth Reinforcements up, many of whom were as fit as possible, they.naving been boarded simply because they were in the base, and the authorities wanted to make ;.p a shipload. These 60-called unfit men irero a striking contrast to some of the 'fit' men we have seen passed by the- doctor at tho base, and 6CDt up to the firing-line to undergo the hardships of campaigning; but being boys of the old school they battled on uncomplainingly. "About the end of March, as you know, trouble broke out with the nativee in E)!.ypt, and at once tho New ZoalandM's were rushed down from Kara to Egypt, and reissued with horees and oiuipincnt on a war footing one* more. Very good, we still didn't complain, as we were told that shipping was 6Cnrcß, and no boat would be sailing for New Zealand for a week or two. Unfortunately, the trouble developed, and demobilisation for all troops was cancelled indefinitely. The War Office at once made it known to the British troops that they would, if in Usypt on Jfny 1, bo entitled to Army of Occupation pay, dating back from February 1. This pay, I may. tell you, has already been paid to 'Tommies. No extra pay 'was offered to New ZeaInmlers. although we a?e doing the Army of Occupation work.

"When this came about the 19U-15 mer at Hie base hold itn indignation meeting discussed the situation, ami decided to ap proaeh Gener.il Cluiytor on various mat ters. Tho next day General Chnytoi arrived at the base, and addressed tin men. after their grievances had beet i>!aoed before him.' Speaking on do mobilisation, lie ?aid but few words, anr did not enlighten us a scrap. To t h< request for Army of Occupation pay lie said ho had no authority to grant it, as it ffas-' puroly a matter for the New 55e.il.iiul Government-to decide. .Severn! other matters were brought before, him, iiicluilinir a canteen scandal, of winch ] understand you have already been fully in formed. "To a certain extent tho General; presence soothed our anger, as wo believe he is (loins all he possibly can for us but apparently his hands are seeurelj tied with the crimson ribbon of our Government. About this time it wan mad( known officially Hint leave for Englam. would 1* granted to ten per cent, of (h< N.Z.RF. in Egypt on certain condition! attached. Wo h'a'd heard weeks previousl) from reliable sources that tho leave was an accomplished fact, but for somo yea Bon was not made known to ttio troops One proviso was that we had to sign t certificate, agreeing to forgo all pay foi the time our leavo extended over the daj we would have been discharged if not or leave. General Clinytor told us that v.v not orders, and was quite wrong, but « far our certificates have not been returned to us. so apparently they still hole good. Also about this time'large number; of applications for discharge in the United Kingdom were 'being granted, manj of the recipients being men who have no! been in Egypt six months. The applications for leave on the ten per cent, basis wero made on March 27, and although six weeks have elapsed practically nont have been granted. I know of four— three* of them men of Hie Thirty-scconi Reinforcements and over. Last week n draft of !),"> other ranks and five officer.' left for England; practically tho whole of theso were old. soldiers, and were going for discharge. Mnny of thorn had been to England during tho war, which fact debarred them from applying for (he ten per cent, leave, but on the eve of their departure i hey wore politely told that they could take their leave in lien of discharge (presumably to bo part ot the ten per cent, quota), getting 28 days' lrave on full pay, with no proviso about loss of pay, etc. This was rather a knock to those who liael waited for week; for their leave to come, through, seeiii|: that these men could get theirs at short no! ice. TTowevpr, they boimr mostly oliJ hands who had done their bit. very little dismalisfactiou was shown to them. "Yesterday a veritable bombshell was launched upon us when a further list ol men for embarkation to England for discharge was made known. Of the eleven names from the Wellington Regiment, which was tho total going from this unit, only one was mi early reinforcement—« Samoan man. Tho other men's numbers ranged from f>o.ooo odd to 70,000 odd, the total of the eleven members aggre?ating 710,000 odd, including the 1-J,t ! OC of the Snmoan man. Pome of iliese men had not been in Egypt six months; some of them have not 'been out of the Base Camj), and certainly some of them hnve never done «-i much as a dog watch with their reinforcement. It was bad enough to see these men joins; away for discharge, while the 181-1-15 men were still tolerating- the desert life end patrolling villages, etc., l.u\t to further aggravate our already slruinnl feelings, these men were invited to accept leave instead of discharge, several availing (hc.'iislves of the opportunity. Presumably ihese art , the moil who are counting iii'the ten per cent, leave. Agar, those men are not asked to sign the loss-of-pay certificate. . . . "The object of this letter is in (he hope l that vou will (jivb these grievances ventilation in Parliament and the Prew, so that we may have come redress of the most unscrupulous treatment wo have been subjected to." The writer then proceeds to say: "I mil a vor!::!ig man. 1 enlisted with (lie Main Body in HIM-, and have served continuously ever since willi l:w,l. oiip brief spell ii. hospital and another since the nrmislio. Others here have even a belter record for continuous service. Anything 1 havi written in this- letter T am willing to repent after 1 am discharged before any officer on oath, and can get men to prove these statements. . . . T assure you that I his i= not written off my luvn tot; the sentiments herein are also those of every other 11)11-15 ninn in Ihisi jump, most of whom have read this Irfler and fully endorse it." Tho foregoing letter was submitted to Sir .lames Allen for his comment. Sir lames Allen said Hint none of the complaints made were on waiters whiHi were :onlrolleel from New Zealand. "Our definite instructions were," In- said, "that Hie men should cniue back to New Zealand in the order in which they lefl here, ff the ruin was departed from, this was lone without r/.ir directions, nltlio<i|:h pusiilily for gooel reasons not yet given. 1 :ould inejiiire into this mail's particular

cose if I had his name. The ten per cent, lenvo to Britain was fixed because tin's was all that was allowed to us by the. Imperial Government, mid the reason for the restriction to ten per cent, was tho lack of shipping to enrry more men on leave. The Australians in Egypt wore subject to tlie same restrictions. At this end we could not control the method by which tho leave was allocated. As to (his question of leave without pay, J think tho writer of the letter is mis(alien, but I shall make no positive statement on that point. I must first make inquiries. In any casc» whatever the arrangement was it was made in Egypt, and we could not have controlled it. here."