WELCOME "HOME."

Levin Daily Chronicle, 13 November 1917, Page 3

WELCOME "HOME."

iK>W NEW ZHALA'XI>'S HEROES RETURN. fMannwatu Times.) The sli.:p arrives in- Auckland in ';ho early afternoon. Then the reign of officialdom beings. Tangled in a mesh of red :;iape the ceremony starts off with all' sorto ol inspections and formalities—some. no doubt, quite necessary; others, no doubt, quite unncccnsary. High and pompous officials with coloured 1 gorgets, the badge of tin-lot-tery, .swarm about. Xcx/i'-of-ikin aro nailed off, and from afar, dimly discern dean faces, crowding the ship's side, and eagerly gazing about for a welcoming smile. An early lunch liar been hastily eatenj then an interminable wait for hoiuvi and hours, cooped u-p there beh':tnd the rigid iion (bars, friends and reflations still railed off hike the veriest aliens. No cheers, no enthuskim, not even a welcome word:. Then at a signal off to the Main Trunk on foot or crutch through the rain, each man with one meal ticket for a journey of fifteen hours! "Wounded men, heroes of the greatest war the world has ever seen, .sleep on the floor of tihe carriages! First-class? Certainly not! Sleeping cars? How dare you suggest it! Officialdom requires rest and 1 repose and must not be disturbed. At Palmerston and ; d'slier stations e;i route, friends aro there to meet and welcome them But it is not to be. Cold militarism li'as spoken, and the station is cleared ias the trafu steams in. Outside the gates the people stand—eager, warm-hearted men and' women, straining their eyes through ithe palings to catch' a glimfy-e of someone -who counts for much in their little world'. Callously indifferent, the military machine runs on unchecked by human feeling, by sympathy for suffering, by gratitude for the liberty we enjoy. And the train pulls out on i ! ';si filial stage and the soldiers wonder. "Perhaps we will be welcomed when we get to "Wellington." Perhaps! Generous Wellington has put on a special tramoar to take them up town! The Mayor arranged i':his for tho wounded soldiers- Disappointed, yes. and disgusted', many limp up town, disdaining to accept- the scant hospitality extended by New Zealand's r.'ch capital to tlieim—brave, war-scarred, painriven boys, who have fought while wo who have worked while wo tallied. Back in his home, each man comes to his own. but New Zealand s welcome to Now Zealand s sons il- - in its infancy l>v red tape. "By God!" said one of them. "T am out of this as soon as T can get clear. Australia is good enough for me!'