Soldiers Still

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 585, 11 February 1929, Page 8

Soldiers Still

Ageing Warriors at Veterans’ Home

SMOKING, reading and sleeping, 23 war-worn old men are spending their declining years at tlie Veterans Home. Mt. Roskill. For them youth is over and the bitter struggles of the early days are less fresh in their minds than when ‘‘cease fire” sounded in South Africa, the Crimea, and on the fields of the New Zealand Maori wars. Few of them are under 80 years of age, but all are soldiers still in outlook and habits.

rjPHB home is only half-filled at present because the band of old soldiers from early wars is rapidly diminishing, and soon even they will have smoked their last pipe, and told their last tale of former deeds of valour. The task of the superintendent, Major H. C. Nutsford, in oaring for his ageing proteges, however, is a weighty and an exacting one, and calls for a nice understanding of their ways and wants. The Veterans’ Home was designed originally for indigent soldiers of the Imperial and Colonial Forces—msn

who were unable to earn their own living. No age limit was fixed, but the merits of each case was decided by a hoard of management. The aim of Lord Ranfurly, ex-Governor of New Zealand, in instituting the scheme, was to ensure that those who had fought the country’s battles in the past should not be neglected in the present. From 1903 the home has fulfilled the purpose for which it was established, and well over 100 men have found shelter within its walls. The glory and the suffering, and the tragic records of endurance and fortitude, are represented among its inhabitants. Its full capacity is 43 inmates, but the building is so designed that, at comparatively small cost, it would be increased to carry 67 people. The old men at Mount Roskill are well cared for. For men of leisure and advanced age, their appetities are surprisingly good, and excellent food is given them from the eight-acre farm which is conducted in connection with the home itself. Bacon and eggs, with fish three times weekly and poultry at frequent Intervals, is but a small portion of their cuisine, while a glass ol' ale daily at lunch gives them an added interest in the mid-day meal. Very few of them work. The great majority simply sit about reading and

smoking. A library of close on 2,000 volumes is used extensively, and light tales of battle and heroism, or romance with a liberal smattering of adventure, are read with enthusiasm. A few potter about the magnificent garden and flower beds, but most of them are too much soldiers at heart to become slaves to rows of cabbages and crops of onions. Their days of discipline are over. INDIGESTION AND INDUSTRY The youth of the home is 64, and agile for his age. Nearly all of them are over SO. One man displays singular energy in outdoor v.-ork, and assists the home gardener daily in tending the vegetables. There is an element of necessity in his industry, however, as his indigestion forces him to strenuous exercise after almost every meal. Another, and older, man likes about six meals every day; eating is his favourite pastime. There are six veterans of the Great War of 1914-18 in the institution. One of them having served in South Africa, in the Maori Wars in New Zealand, and later in the European struggle, although he was past the regulation age when he enlisted for service in France. One talks freely of the bloodthirsty Matabele; another speaks of privation at Kandahar, in India; others remember Te Kooti and his Maori followers, against whom many fierce battles were fought. It is usual for the pensioners at the home to pay modestly toward their upkeep. Those who receive two pensions—old age and Imperial—pay up to 16s 4d a week, and the contribution drops according to the amount of pension to 9s a week. Two men pay nothing at all, because they simply cannot afford it. Every man receives Is a week allowance for tobacco. PRIVILEGE OF REMEMBRANCE The Veterans’ Home has been assisted from time to time by bequests from people who recognise the splendid work that was being accomplished in difficult circumstances, and to date over £10,600 has been invested on its behalf. Some of the veterans themselves leave their modest worldly possessions to the home, but few possess sufficient wealth to be of commercial use—otherwise they would not be at the home.

It is recorded, however, that not very long ago a man was admitted to Mount Roskill in the morning, fell downstairs in the afternoon, and died in hospital three weeks later. Though he had been in the home less than a day, his will contained a bequest of £SOO to its upkeep. One of the privileges of belonging to the Veterans’ Home—a doubtful privilege, perhaps, when all is said and done —is that inmates are entitled to burial in the special veterans’ plot at Waikaraka, where there are already 107 long white marble slabs telling their own story of duty done. In addition, every man buried at Waikaraka possesses the right to have his name carved in the stone monument on the cemetery site. For these old soldiers the sun of life is setting. They know that. Now their time is devoted to the simple needs of the moment, and their temporal ambition Is encompassed in the narrow confines of a few chips in cold grey marble—chips which in themselves will record the courage of their generation.