"Casualty" Telegrams

Horowhenua Chronicle, 26 July 1915, Page 2

"Casualty" Telegrams

Ui'I'ICJAL~ LN STIfIXIIONS. i'olloning is a poster being issued by uic General Post Office- relating to ;n- ---■ luirios about wounded soldiers at Uio front :— "J he free telegrams of inquiry, limited to three,which next-of-kin may tmua about wounded soldiers in Great Britain, Egypt or .Malta must be addressed to the Secretary of the Genera] l' 0«! Olliee. There is no privilege of bending live private telegrams of inipwYy t.o •soldiers direct. The inquiry is patted on by the .Secretary of the Post ilice to tho 'High Commissioner in London or to the Xew Zealand military authorities at Alexandria or Malta, as the case may be, and the form of the. reply is prescribed by the regulations "I the War Office. A free telegram Irom .Vow Zealand cannot convey a private message of condolence or sympathy, Lut must be confined to an inquiry about the condition of a soldier who has been officially reported ad wounded or a.s .suffering from disease. Any inquiry about a soßior not so reported must be made by private telegram and paid for. No telegram -will b'.' accepted for dispatch free of cost unless the peiison presenting it produces the official notification showino; that the .soldier inquired about has been wounded, or is suffering from disease; and before being returned to the inquirer this notification must be superscribed by the officer to whom the freeinquiry telegram is presented with the information of its being the first, second, or third inquiry. The easiest and best <.-oiir.se to follow is to supply fullparticulars at a telegraph office with a request that inquiries be made about the wounded soldiers named therein: . the Deportment will do the rest. The inquirer's address should be left at the office, so that the reply may be sent direct. But a telegram may be sent direct to the .Secretary at Wellington *< if preferred. It must be briefly word- ' 00, and must contain lull information a.s regards regimental nember, rank, name, unit, and, if possible, locality J (Great Britain, Egypt, or Jjglta) of ] the person inquired for. *^ Next-to-kin desiring information \ al-out sick soldiers in the Dominion / should apply personally, or by letter or telegram, to the.Officer-m-chai'ge, Sick Wounded Soldiers' Inquiry Bureau, General Post Office, Wellington. Domin-