POOR RECOGNITION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1517, 2 March 1916, Page 4

POOR RECOGNITION.

HEROES OE NEW ZEALAND

Says the Wellington correspondent of the Christchurch News : General comment has been freely indulged in of late by those people keenly concerned in the progress of the war, and New Zealand’s part thereto, on the extraordinary manner in which the names of New Zealanders, or Australians, are omitted from the official reports from the war zone. In several ot these reports the names of Britishers freely appear, but the colonial is indicated by “a private,” “a corporal,” or. ‘‘an officer.” It seems hard to believe that the name of a private from Lancashire or Dublin is more easily ascertainable than is that of Private Smith, of Ohakune, or Lieutenant Coeur de Lion, from the Bluff. When we read of the wonderful daring of the Antipodean forces, both at the initiation of the Dardanelles campaign and throughout the whole of the unfortunate occupation ; when we read from the multitude of accounts of the Gallipoli campaign of the actions of our men there, and the opinions of the writers that they were the bravest and most fearless of the lot, and the most enterprising and resourceful, it makes us wonder how it is that only one V.C. has come this way. The magnificent undertaking of Freyberg, in swimming about in the icy waters ot the Mediterranean for hours, accomplishing tasks that meant saving the lives of thousands and thousands of men, was recognised by the bestowal of an order for distinguished service. It was, in comparison with some decorations, worth a double V.C., if such a thing were possible. The High Commissioner, speaking at London recently, commented upon the paucity of honours allotted New Zealand, and well he might, Some 9,000 of our best are now on Gallipoli for good, and it has been repeatedly stated by men in high positions that they held on where others failed, and one V.C. is poor recognition of such wonderful deeds of valour.