STRANDED VOLUNTEERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 78, 28 April 1909, Page 4

STRANDED VOLUNTEERS.

STRANDED VOLUNTEERS. The complaints of the New Zealand vohmleers evolved as the result of the Luster transport arrangements, fade into absolute nothingness when compared with th,. wretched bungling which took place in connection with the return of the Melbourne volunteer troops garrisoning the forts comprising the Port Philip district, after the recent manoeuvres. The men were distributed at Droniana, Franklin Fort, and South Channel Fort, and the steamer Coogee was to have picked them up on Easter Monday afternoon. The tender Mars placed about 75 troops aboard the Coogee from Dromana, and then, owing to the heavy sea running, the) i'oogee's captain decided to go back to Franklin Fovt. She proceeded on to the South Channel Fort, but without the assistance of the Mai. could not embark flic troops at that point. The Coogee thereupon settled down calmly to wait for orders, which were not forthcoming. At Franklin Fort the men were almost entirely without food, and subsisted from midday on Monday until Tuesday morning upon five ounces of biscuits each. At Dromana another largo body of hungry troops was stranded, and did not get back to Melbourne until Tuesday morning, many of the men standing in imminent peril of losing their employment. The volunteers at South Channel were also left shelterless and practically without food. Most of (he. men slept out in the open air, while their more fortunate fellows wooed the drowsy goddess in sheds, stables, and on verandahs. 'Tt transpires that while printed instructions were issued to all fhe officers covering the outward trip, no one seems to have counted upon the troops requiring to be brought back again. The State Commandant did not perceive anything very dreadful in the breakdown of the transport arrangements, and professed to regard the. incident as being fruitful in "encouraging initiative." Although the men faced the position with soldierly cheerfulness, they naturally felt that iu these strenuous times of keen competition on the labor market, military initiative may be purchased nt too high a price when the possibility of dismissal for absenting themselves from their employment without permission was involved in tlie general proposition. "