CASUALTY INQUIRIES

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 281, 26 August 1942, Page 4

CASUALTY INQUIRIES

Private Cables To Middle

East Headquarters

NOT TO BE TRANSMITTED

« A statement that post offices in future would not be tper,imtted to accept private cablegrams for transmission to Headquarters, Second N.Z.E.F,, Middle East, requesting information about casualties, was made yesterday by tiie Minister of Defence, Mr. Jones. He said! that this decision has (been made by the Government because of. the numerous' private requests of this nature sent to headquarters and to individual soldiers. No restrictions, however, were being imposed on the sending of cables to individual members of the Second N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East. Mr. Jones said that though he explained last .January that all inquiries about casualties addressed to the headquarters of the Second N.Z.E.F. were not answered direct but were referred back by mail to Base Records, Wellington, it appeared that many relatives and friends of soldiers serving in the Middle East were not aware of the position. Base Records, Wellington, had the necessary organization to do the work that was not possessed by the N.Z.E.F. Headquarters, whose function was merely to advise Base Records immediately particulars of casualties were available. Though the Government was imposing no restrictions on the sending of cables to individual members of the Second N.Z.E.F. in the Middle East, said Mr. Jones, it was desirable that people should know that in the case of inquiries regarding the welfare of a soldier other than a recipient of the inquiry, the censorship regulations in the Middle East prevented any replies being sent except statements that the soldier concerned was “safe and well.” This restriction was found to be necessary due to the fact that a great deal of inaccurate information regarding casualties was previously sent in , private messages, with the result that very considerable anxiety and con. fusion was caused.

It was also necessary that the public should understand that as Headquarters, Second N.Z.E.F., was unable to answer private inquiries regarding individual soldiers, individual members of the Second N.ZrE.F. who received cables asking for information about casualties could not refer such inquiries to Headquarters with a view to' obtaining the transmission of an official reply. Rost offices had now been instructed to warn' intending senders of such cables before accepting them for dispatch overseas, in order to make doubly sure that the position was fully understood. The Minister said that he would like to stress once again that relatives and friends of soldiers overseas could rest assured that the Government had taken every conceivable step to ensure that accurate particulars were forwarded at the earliest possible moment from Headquarters, Second N.Z.E.F., to Base Records, and that the information was passed on by Base Records to next-of-kin with the utmost- expedition.