NEWS OF THE WOUNDED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 228, 21 November 1916, Page 2

NEWS OF THE WOUNDED.

Naturally at a time like the present, when casualties are coming through almost <?aily from the different fighting fronts, parents and friends of men wounded are extremely anxious to learn the nature of the injuries which their dear ones have sustained. A good deal of abuse is piled on the head of the Defence Department for not supplying fuller particulars to nearest of kin, and local members of Parliament have a very worrying time from people pestering them to make investigations. Tf, however, they would only stop to consider the tremendous pressure under which records offices both in England and New Zealand are working, they would surely not be so inconsiderate in their denunciations and demands. The fact that one of our sons has been wounded is certainly a cause of anxiety, but it should not be allowed to obscure the fact that he is only one of millions fighting, and that the records offices have at the rate of about 35,000 casualties weekly te deal with in this way. The magnitude of the task is quite beyond our comprehension, and the officials engaged in this work must have a far more unenviable occupation than their brothers in the trenches. So don't, when your son or husband is wounded, pester the member or Minister with letters of enquiry, for thereby you are only adding to the Defence Departments already great worries and hampering the successful prosecution of the war. In the majority of cases the information supp'ied to nearest of kin is all that the Department has at its disposal, and neither the member nor Minister can do any more than has already been done. As matters at present stand, however, a special staff is kept working night and day in Wellington replying to enquiries which never should have been made. It will be news and consolation to friends of men on active service to know, however, that when a man is reported merely as " wounded " that there need be no special cause for anxiety, as a definite understanding exists with the authorities in England 'that a man merely reported '* wounded " is not dangerously so, and is to be regarded as progressing favourably unless reported otherwise, in which case the next-of-kin will be advised at once.