MATAMATA SOLDIERS.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 84, 30 May 1918, Page 2

MATAMATA SOLDIERS.

Interesting Round Table Letter. The last " troop mail" brought an interesting budget of news to the u Record " office, particularly so because it comes from men (30th reinforcements) some of whom are personal friends of practically all our readers. Amongst the budget was a round-table letter, part of which —the other deals with ports of call and route —is as follows : "Dear ' Record,' — You will no doubt be pleased to hear-from the Matamata boys, and know that we are all in the pink, going strong and looking forward to the day when we will have the pleasure of pouring in our stream of bullets from our little guns into the Huns. When we arrived at Liverpool (England) we took train for Bulford, and arrived in Sling camp at 4 a.m.; turned into bed at 5.30, and they had us out again at 6.30. So you will see they do not waste much time in this country. We all feel the cold very much indeed, for we came out of the tropics into midwinter, and the cold here more than,.reaches the bone; it goes right through. We spent nine weeks in Sling camp, and the training, though hard, made us very /it indeed, and it made many of us look back to the days of our youth when we were all bone and muscle and full of vim. At this time we were expecting to go to France any day as infantry men, but we who had gone through the Machine Gun school in New Zealand were picked out and brought up to this camp to further.our education in the use of this gun. Our rations, of course, are not so liberal as they were in New Zealand, but as the enclosed photo will show you we are still holding our own on margarine and war-bread, although I might say we often " dream " of the lamb and green peas we used to get in our own country. We are always glad when the " Matamata Record " arrives; all hands want to read it at once, and the only "ad " that displeases us is that of Rose Bros., Tirau. For God's sake cut it out, " lOlbs of honey for 5s " really sounds too good; we would have to pay " quids " for a jar like that here. The big spring stunt has now commenced, so we expect, and are quite prepared to leave here at any time, and this letter is just to let you know that we are in just the good condition needed for it. With best wishes to all of our Matamata friends, including yourself. We are, yours sincerely, C. G. Payze, W. Strathern, W. E. McCrea (Te Puke), S. A. Stanley, R. Forsman, Frank Rose, G. H. Sweet (Buckland), S. A. Harding, L. A. Corbett, A. W. Potter (Buckland), R. Rutledge (Turanga-o-moana.")