New Zealand

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 93, 25 March 1916, Page 6

New Zealand

USE OF ARM BADGES. THE PREMIER'S REQUEST. PER PhvRS A»si:mATTON. • • Wellington, March 24. An appeal to returned discharged soldiers to wear the arm badges issued by the Defence Department was made to-day by the Prime Minister. The badges are regarded as an important feature of the recruiting scheme, but many men to whom they have been issued are not wearing them. "As chairman of the Kccruiting Board, I ask the soldiers who have been honorably discharged from the expeditionary forces to make/ a point of wearing the distinctive arm badges which have been issued to them," said Mr Massey. "The wearing ot these badges is a duty that the soldiers owe to their brothers in the firuig line, since the appearance of the armJets in the streets and in public places will be a constant and eloquent reminder to all eligible and unencumbered men in the Dominion ot the urgent call to them to step into the ranks and bear their share of the work still to be done at the front. 1 would ask the returned men to bear in mind that the red arm badge is the same as that which is being worn by discharged soldiers throughout tiie Empire. It takes the place for the time being of a medal that they will receive at the end of the war. I trust that no honorably discharged inan will hesitate to wear his badge."