THE SPY.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 27 December 1916, Page 2

THE SPY.

A member of our forces gives an account of the sequel to the discovery of a traitor in the ranks, according to a southern exchange. Having a foreign name, the writer says: I was told that I had to report at the orderlyroom, but I regarded it as another joke on foe part of the office. When I got to the orderly room I found there Captain G —, who informed me that I must report myself at base, which was the Headquarters of the New Zealanders in France. Then I knew right away what it was all about. Well, it appears that a chap who came from Hawke's Bay, and is of German extraction, got over our lines and joined the Huns. What a rotter was he! And what,an cuter, as we knew to our cost before long. He gave away to the enemy the places where we were all working in—our saps, our traverses, and the whole bag of tricks —with the result that Fritz blew some of our chaps right off the face of the earth. Twelve others were wounded, and two were blown a distance ~f 50 yards, but escaped with a few scratches. I couldn't get over the shock lor a very long time, though I tried hard to do so. One of the victims was Pucky Cooper, a Maori lieutenant, hailing from Colac Bay. What we found of his remains we buried in a small handbag! Yet in the flesh we weigher over 16 stone.

Orders were received from Headquarters that all men with foreign names in our division were to hand m their names, and of course I sent in mine along with the others. That was all we heard about it till we reached H . Now, \ve had made all preparations for joining the others who were taking part in the grand "push" on the Somme. Over 100 of our boys belonging to different companies had bee n obliged to send in their names to headquarters. Some of them actually belonged to the First Reinforcements, and had gone all through the Gallipoli campaign. Three cf them had received the D. 5.0.; four or five were sergeants or corporals. All the same, we had a right royal time at H—, and indulged in a lot of surf-bathing. After staying there for 10 days we received orders to proceed to the base camp at London.

We were granted nine days' furlough, and when we returned to camp in London —there were nearly 100 of us—they told us why we had been brought back from France. It was all on account of that Hawke's Bay chap going over to the Huns. But they broke it to us very nicely. Even the General spoke kindly to us, as did the colonel in command. They have promised to give us jobs at the base equal to those we had been following before enlistment. Of course, all the boys were very sore over it at first—as I was myself—for we left home to fight for the Empire's cause, and not to put in time around London, even though we get good pay for civilians' work. On the other hand, our pals writing from the trenches tell us that we have all the luck —to be out of it during such a terrible winter as they are now experiencing in France.