THE TALL NEW ZEALANDERS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 270, 27 April 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE TALL NEW ZEALANDERS.

(Specially Written For The

TT seems i long, long while since tho great Imperial highway, tho Strand, in London, began to bo decorated by tall young men in khaki, with quoer, bunched-riip hats with a line of red in their khaki puggaree. No one knew who they were at first, but they are now a familiar part of the scene—theso New Zealanders, whose complexions are as bright as the red in their hats. Their average sizo is more than equal to that of tho average Highlanders or Australians.

There must l'e something in the climate of New Zealand which makes things grow. Tho ordinary English brown trout becomes as large as a salmon after a generation or two in New Zealand rivers. A New Zealand stag of Scottish origin makes a home specimen look like a dwarf. Tho modest European watercress develops into an arboreal growth that blocks tho streams.

New Zealand soldiers, like Australian, havo a distinct bearing and graceful walk peculiar to themselves. The Now Zealand football team who visits! Great Britain some years ago surprised our public by their size, but were regarded as picked men. The day I have just spent with the New Zealand Army in Franco is conclusive evidence of tho wonderful physique of tho New Zealanders, and makes one hope that after tho war, when the agricultural land of England is once again tilled as it was 100 years ago, we shall approximate in size to the Antipodeans, which, except for the Highlanders and tho Dalesmen, wo certainly do not today. lam making no criticism of smalj soldiers in writing thus, for most Japanese soldiers nro midgets by comparison with these over-sea troops. The Japanese are just a 9 good in this new kind of warfare as tney were in the comparatively antiquated method: in vogue in Manchuria, as tho several specimens in our Army have proved.

A FAMILY ARMY'

I ho New Zealand Army is a compact and well-equipped family. It had the advantago of tho later British Armies |n tho compulsory military training of its members before the war. It has anctner advantage—tha most of its Army is recruited from open-air men and not from clerks and factory hands; for oven tho clerks and factory hands in H aro largely open-air men.' A further advantage is that the military spirit wan not extinct in New Zealand, as in Englp.nd. Tho Maori War was fought within tho memories of living men. The last blood shed in warfare in our fields and villages was in .Stuart c'/ays—so long ago tiiat Newbury and Sedgemoor are lost to knowledge except in books. I might even enumerate a fourth advantage of the New Zeala.nders. They aro largely tho offspring of picked adventurous souls <rf the i!>est English yeoman families, the thriftiest Scottish families, and the adventurous Irish who crossed tho many seas in Victoria'.': earliest days r.s Queen. Woman Suffrage, as at tho time of tho Boer War, again proved militant in a just cause. The women voters in New Zealand, whose busy needles have never stepped since they sent forth their men, are as anxious to quell Prussiawsm as the most eager of tha Allies.

As a race wo are said not to he gifted with great imagination, but I doubt whether any other people would have sent so great a proportion of its manhood 13,000 nules to fight for a crusade.

AT HEADQUARTERS.

I found the Now ZoaJanders amid the muddiest, iloodiest scone imaginable. Streams had swollen into rivers, and rivers into lakes. It was a cold, drab, and cheerless morning when my motor-car drew up at Major-General Sir Andrew Russell's headquarters. Tho river, which Mr. Ceasor will not let mo name, had almost swallowed up his garden, and threatened his drawing-room office. A nail two feet up in tho kitchen wall marked tho measure of tho Inst flood. Sir Andrew is from Hawkes typical Now Zealand gentleman and sheep farmer, who, after a military education at Sandhurst, saw tiervico in Ind:a and Burma, ajid retired to his flocks after a heavy experience of Indian fever. Ho bado ,1 long adieu to his lambs at the outbreak of war, accompanied the Now Zealand Expeditionary Foroo to Egypt, and then to Gallipoli, where lie was a brigadier, then a divisional commander. He has agreeably easy manners, though, aocoi ang to his men, ho is by 110 means so easy wth tho Germans as he is with his guests.

Ihe floods had so dclavcd my iournov Irom the G.H.Q. of the British Armies in the field many, many miles away, that the appointed lunch with Lieuten-ant-General Sir A. J. Godley, the commander of tho corps in which the New ZealandcTci <°-ro now was ini—possible, and so we joined General Russoil and !)is staff—largely composed of names well known in New Zealand—and one or two British officers. There was a ' so P ro3Cl, t if 1 tho mess a member of Uio French Mission, who spoke English as well as any of us. It wk just as with Bird wood's or with the Newfoundlanders most of them took toa with their beef, t!io Australians—who, from my observations in Franco, even exceed tlio New Zealanders as tea drinkers—nnif't have the digestion of their nativ" emus.

OFFICIAL PUBLICITY. Captain Malcolm tlio official Now Zealand war tor respondent, was "f the p:irty. Here again New Zealand, like Australia, sot an example liv starting cut '.nth an official, tnyned now spa per correspondent, Even today Australia an,l Nov.- Zealand are 1 <;Mrr intonne.l <>f the individual deeds '>l t-:o!r soldiers thjin ruiv country's except the (iernian and French. Tlie.se ever-sea people had evidently studied tlio liornian \\ ar Hook and its prosi notion el tiie need lop publicity. As*;, 'pu.t. the New Zealand newspapers, tfio liest in our language for a population of n million, keep the |>oopl L . n i ,sla "«ls <l"h> tou'-h with the ( 'o.«»i" the \'e W Zealandor.s in Fran-e and. 111 Fngland.

I. hivo doverbed headquarters <0 < f.

rescue wort- lasted. They sent n.e down nil", r -a■<mis and the in!>uT;m o horn inn > I'l!y to a place of safety. -My ei.i - is very painlul . . . ah ' tjio odour ~f death . . . and when I fi.oep I i-au si il| hear the dull dron'ng ■'l the Imi ' [| ;iirni"ii :■ rul the gurglinir nub »li; 1 1 u. sliells.

THEIR LIFE AT THE FRONT.

A VERY COMPLETE LITTLE ARMY.

nited Cable Service., Australasia.)

ton that I will not inflict any further account of the tapping of typewriters, tinkling of telephones, and bendings of map makers. Days in Europe are short in January, and wo had to hasten off to meet General Godley. On the way I was fortunate in having a chat with a New Zealand officer, who was enthusiastic over his chief, of whose brilliant work I had of course read in Sir Douglas Haig's despatches, and whoso Gallipoli record will be read by New Zealand children for generations. Wo travelled along roads that were not p.,s in New Zealand —for New Zealand is ever green. Here and there were patches of snow, which on the low laridi ig only known in the Southern Island —the homo of the splendid Alpine cha'n and trie Great Tasman Glacier. It was in tli2 very south of this Southern Island, curiously enough, that the Scotsmen originally settled, but, with the twinkle of the eye, I was informed that they are gradually migrating north—almost the only example I have ever known of Scotsmen going steadily in that direction. It should bo remembered that the Northern Island of New Zealand is the warmer and more genial of the two. But though the background was mud, flood, and Flinders, roads .and villages were alive with New Zealanders, each wearing some badge in indication of his homo district. It ig a Territorial Army —that of New Zealand —and the system by which every man knows every other man in his company is a thoroughly good one.

THE MAORIS,

Ono hag not been in this zone long before one iiuds that the fern is the emblem 01 tno Dominion —for it is everywhere. Mixed with the Pakehas (Maori for white man) are a number of Maoris. We found out all about the Maoris' lighting capacities in lb6o —IBOO, and that they have not diminished in that respect is proved by the good work they nave dono in this war, particularly in the Pioneer battalion. They aro tall, well built, and about as dark as Sicilians. They have also tho lino freo walk and erect carriage. A number of them who wero rumbling along tho road in a fern-marked motorlorry turned their heads alertly to the saluto when they saw the red bands of tho hats of the General Staff. Sir Douglas Haig's prido in his oversea troops —his Canadians, hi? Australians and New Zealanders —liis interest in their welfare, his anxiety that tho officers they brought with them should bo promoted as rapidly as possible, 's well known. He had just reviewed the Now Zealanders, and I had the opportunity of see'ng some, thousands of them marshalled in tho very village n which ho had seen them some days before. He had returned enthusiastic from his review. He told me so, but even then I was not prepared for the size of these handsome fellows. In r, few minutes General Sir A. J. Godley, long known to British readers by his Mafekiug record, arrived with som<j members ot his staff. His record in tho British Army between the Boer War and tho present one lis written large, and since then his work at the Dardanelles has marked h'm cut as a skillful as well as a very courageous officer. His New Zealanders are naturally tho apple of his eye. Ho has seen many of them grow from youth to manhood, for he was the officer chosen to command in New Zealand when this Dominion and Australia, with a foresight not shown by tho Mother-coun-try, instituted compulsory military training.

AN INITIAL ADVANTAGE

How great an advantage has that beneliciciit law been to New Zealand in her entry into tho mammoth struggle in Franco! Whereas most of our lads from iarnitj and shops had to bo taught tho very elements of drill and discipline, tho Anzacs were almost half soldiers before the war began. Hie scenes of waustcoated squads drilling in the London parks in tho memorable days of 1914 were unnecessary ''down under." These two of tho sister nations were skilled not only in drill but in musketry, and not only in musketry, but in artillery. All this General Godley, who, fittingly enough, is one of the tullest and most distinguished-looking generals in Haig's Army, pointed out w nil emphasis and satisfaction. I asked him how his boys stood the great change in climate. "They are naturally healthy, and their good physique makes them able to stand what they are not used to, and that is tho damp. Some of those from the Southern island," he said, "know about cold, but none of them know anything of the humid pfogs of Flanders.'' Like tho Canadians, they all miss the sunshine, but they do not grumble.

We sometimes do not realise at home that hero arc two million men living their lives, and that when they are out of tho trenches they need plenty of mvFpapers, magizines, periodicals, kinematographs, Y.M.C.A. huts, singsong", and footb.all. These they possess. Tho New Zealanders occupy a fair .stretch of front line, and their billets, rest camps, lines of communication, and bases go a long way back. They therefore form a New Zealand world of their own, and the average French peasant, who had never heard of a New Zealander before, knows all about them now and likes tlioin. For the war has placed New Zealand "011 the map" as the Americans say, with a prominence that could not have been obtained by any other means. TEACH EltS AND LEARNERS. Tho New Zoahuiders like to learn, I find, especially if the teacher quickly denionstrates that he is a master of what he is talking about. Lecturing is a great feature of the war. Wherever you go behind the lighting lines arc heturer.s, teaching the construction and throwing of bombs, tho making of trenches, and the use of this or that weapon. 1 attended a New Zealand lecture 011 tho Lewis machine gun. a favourite weapon with Haig's armies. Tho 1110: hanisiu, use, mishaps, and repair of ihe gun were being lee'dly explained by ail export. The most skiiitul conjuror would have boon gratified 11 any of his antics received from a packid audience as much attent'on as this highly technical exposition of a new weapon.

\\ o have lately read a <:roat deal of tiie lino work of the Now Zealand .Mounted Hilles in Egypt. If anything ("iili! have saved the disastrous oxpedilijn in (.'all |oli it would have Ikvii th^

lino work of tho Australians, New Zealanders, and tho 2yth Division, but it was not until the Battle of tho Somme that tho wearers of the fern received their chance of taking part in a groat success, and there it was that their preliminary military training at home was so useful.

Thero aro those who think that the training in New Zealand is too extended and that it would l>e wiser to cut down tho period of training there, finishing t in the actual war zone, where everyono learns at twice the pace, and learns also the newest devices and manoeuvres, of which at least several are invented each month. Theso Dominion forces do not go straight to France; they come first to England, where they have a very hard 14 weeks' drill, cross the Channel, and attend one of the war schools I have already described, where again they get their practico m real gas. bombs, and grenades. Tho only complaint I heard about them from their teachers was that they had not had the right kind of bayonet practico when they arrived. I should have thought that this, and quickloading, could have beon taught on board tho transports. A Scottish instructor with wiiom I ilscussed the Dominion troops —Canadian as well as Australasian —confirmed what i had heard before, that when there is anything to be learnt they are attention itself, but if by 411 y chance, as in the early days of theso wonderful schools of intensive soldier culture, inefficient teachers were provided, they would show their discontent by apathy and criticism.

A HOMOGENEOUS FORCE.

Tho whole organisation of the New Zealanders in Groat Britain and France strikes mo as being a well-oiled machine, partly because they are homogenous 111 race, principally because of their previous military training, and also becauso they are led by capable officers, Imperial and other, who mostly know them personally in New Zealand before they came to the war. Largo as it is, thg New Zealand Army is of course, only a microcosm of Haig's wonderful force; but a student of tho New Zealanders gets a very fair idea of what a model British Army should be, how it should be provided with a sufficient number of officers tr.vned to the d''flj|jult task of Staff and intelligence work, how the cffioens should be to some extent promoted from non-coms., and how care should bo exercised that the ranks of tho non-eonis. be not entirely depleted of their best men.

Sinco writing the foregoing impressions I have talked with many of tho men about their general arrangements and found them satisfied as to food, hospitals, and promotion. Everyone, of course, wants a commission, but obviously everyono cannot get a commission. They aro all pleased with what I may call the New Zealand round — the arrival in England, tho training, and the New Zealand hospitals at Brockenhurst in the New Forest and at Walton, which have between them accommodation for 2,000 patients.

MASTER TUNNELLERS

I asked a very highly placed Enghsn officer Ins opinion as to,the qualities in which tho New Zeailanders shine. Ho summed them up by saying that as individual fighters tney were equal to any in France. Ho spoke particularly well of their work on the Somme, which has been described so often that I will no; I recapitulate it; but ho mentioned something of which I had not heard—tno New Zealand tunnelling company wlich was allotted for work n a specrai area. In tunnelling work they have outwitted tho Germans every time. Many of them perfected their skill in tho coal and gold mines of New Zealand, and there are well-trained engineers att heir head. They can not only out-tunnel tho Germans, but tnero is no caso on record in which the Germans have tho British troops provided with New Zealand tunnellers. What this means in peace of mind to an ajmy can only be imagined by those, who, like myself, have been at points in tlie lino when there was grave anxiety as to whether or not mysterious sounds heard sometimes by microphone, sometimes by the more simple miners' device of placing the head in a bucket of water and listening, were the approach of subterranean Huns. When it is remembered that the populat'on of both islands of New ZeaJand is less t/ian that of any large London postal district—it is only a little over a million all told —it will bo understood that this live and finely organised band of Antipodean Crusaders constitutes an offering which is a splendid contrast to tho masses of unwilling Poles, Czechs, Turks, Authenes, Slov° aks, and the rest whom Prussia has bullied into her trenches.

IX NO MAN S LAND.

The hedge on the left, and the trench ou tho right, And tho whispering, rustling wood between, And who knows where in the wood tonight Death or capture may lurk unseen; llio open held and the figures lying Under the shado of the apple trees — Is it tlie wind in the branches sighing, Or a German trying to stop a sneeze?

Louder tho voices of night come thronging, But over them all the sound is clear, laking mo back to the plaoe of my longing And tho cultured sneezes I used to hear, Lecture-time and my tutor's "handker,'' Stopping his period's rounded close. Like tho frozen hand of the German ranker Down in a ditch with a cold in his nose.

I'm cold, teo, and a stealthy snuffle I'rom tho man with a pistol covering

me, And tho IJocho moving off with a snap and ;ii shuffle Break tho of memory— I can t make sure till the moon gets lighter— Anyway "hooting is over-bold. Oil. damn you. get back to your trench you blighter, I really can't shoot a man with a cold.

(From "A Highland Regiment." bv Lieut. E. A. Mackintosh, M.C.

WHAT ADVERTISING DO FN

'.Newspaper advertising is by far and av the best, said Mr. E. H. Llovd a

tradesman and a member of the Llangollen Town Improvement Association, in the course of a recent discussion or. tho subject of publicity. "The. indir nt result ot advertising in the papers is that pricticnlly every big house in the town is oeci piod."'

"Wo have tried other ways—posters and so on." said the another speaker, "but it is dearly established that news. 1-ap>r advertising does pay."