The First Cintingent. An Association with an Object.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 69, 26 October 1901, Page 8

The First Cintingent. An Association with an Object.

ON Tiaicilgrii Day Ottobei 21st, a laige munbei of the men who ( onipnsed the Fust New Zealand Contingent who went lo South AfiKa foiegatheied to "fight their battles oor again, to see old fates to tonvivially return thanks foi the piovidential ictuin and home life now enjoyed The importance of these annual gathenngs cannot be ovci-estimatcd The Fust New Zealand Contingent, and the subsequent ones, will foi ever lemmd the membeis of each one of them of the pait they took in the upholding of the Enipne * » * A veiy noticeable teatuie of the le-union was the fact that each man letogmsing that lie was a component atom of the toips on assuming the unifoim foigot at once Ins civilian life and became a soldier disciplined and entnely leady to mcigc his own individuality into that of his toips, icspecting those who had been his omceis and leady should occasion demand, to fight undei them in this 01 any othci pait of the woild As has been befoie said someuheie, in the Fust New Zealand Mounted Rifles Association theie is no lank The majoiity of the men aie civilians in good employ * ♦ * Many of those who aie most amenable to the discipline ingrained by omceis whom the whole of them implicitly tiusted are in civil life the sot itil equals of those officeis The wealing of the unifoim alters all this While the gieatest of good fellowship existed on the otta-

sion between officers and men, a woid fiom even the non-coms produced the exact result that it would have done m the field The idea that New Zealanders held then own in South Africa on account of thenlack of discipline, and possession of initiative, is only paitly tiue The discipline was absolutely as strict as that of the Imperial Army, except that it wa& enforced m a more kindly spa it * • • In the tiamed soldiers we have in these Contingents, theie exists the leaven that will make for steadiness m any field foice New Zealand may evei have to muster, and we contend that the le-umon of these troops at mteivals is a matter of such public inteiest that the Government should assist, by all means m its power, towaids the object These men of the Fust Contingent came from the lemotest parts of the Islands, at their own expense Although the Department, which has done nothing for them except to tardily pay them what it owed them, was approached by the Association for passes to jouincy to Wellington, no notice was taken of the appeal ♦ ♦ ♦ Extremely eulogistic utterances weic heard from notable people connected with defence at the re-union, and the idea of these gatherings whereby the esput de corps of these tioops could be fostered was highly commended We believe that these men have but done a duty that they wcic extremely anxious to do, that they weic reasonably, if tardily, paid foi doing it, but, from the standpoint of the cncouiagcmcnt of these tioops as a national safety, the Government might use its influence to keep them banded together Also, it has no occasion to be niggardly in the matter » * * If these men are cvei called upon for service, they will lespond all the moie readily for encouragement We venture to say that the withholding of the arms promised to these men, l j s laxity of the Department in providing proper discharges, the procrastination of officialdom in paying the men, is not conducive to the spmt of loyalty that permeates these men m spite of this remissness The promised New Zealand decoration has not been issued, the bonuses, 01 batta-pay is mythical up to now ;uid the men — fortunately, most of them m good positions — are fairly passive The Government owes •jomethmg to these men foi work done, and what facilities it can afford them, not so much for themselves cs for their utility to the country, it should aflfoid at this and at all future time