THE FOURTH BRIGADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1918, Page 2

THE FOURTH BRIGADE.

FORCE STILL IN EXISTENCE. Some reference to the Fourth Brigade was made by the Defence Minister in bis statement in Christchurch on the response that New Zealand will be called upon to make to the appeal made byMr. Lloyd George for more men. No clear official statement about the circumstances of the formation of this extra force has ever been made. The facts are that a time when men were urgently needed New Zealand had in depots in England a surplus of reinforcements, and the proposal was made to tie New Zealand Government that the men should be used for the purpose for which they had come across the seaß. This proposal was accepted by the New Zealand Prime Minister and the New Zealand Government, and the brigade was formed. The Fourth Brigade has not yet been brokf and has been continuously reinforced. The announcement that it was to be broken up for reinforcements was made at the time that the New Zealand Government was considering the question of sending the married men out of this country to fight, and it was generally assumed at the time that the brigade was to be used for reinforcements in qrder that the time for the dispatch of married men might be postponed. In view of the circumstances that have now arisen it steins to be improbable that the brigiu. will ho broken up.