RETURNING INVALID SOLDIERS

Taranaki Daily News, 25 April 1918, Page 5

RETURNING INVALID SOLDIERS

, ' ■*. DATES OF ARRIVAL ONLY APPROXU l MATELY GIVEN. il . : ~'M FREE RAILWAY PASSES WEES* ;1 DRAW®, By Telegraph.—®res» Association. ' 'i Wellington, Last Night. vj For a considerable time the Defend •.p Department has had the greatest diffi" .."''l culty in keeping the next-of-kin nott J : fici of the times of arrival of fillip* ' ' carrying invalided returned soldiers, and w the insufficient information received has ...jfg frequently caused unavoidable inconveni- .a ence to the public. Owing to the dan- : > , ger of possible enemy raiders in these seas, t'he British Admiralty had now ■'< issued definite instructions that, on 'no Itl f account, must any ship use its wirelesq for the purpose of intimating its prob- ■; able date of arrival, even when within twenty-four hours of the port of- dis- ' -it embarkation. This will mean that no „ notification of the time of arrival of troopships will be received, except the estimated date, which will be cabled .3 from the last port of call. Such notifii it cation would make it impossible to give '4 any reliable information to the public \ 'fijj and, consequently, the Government has reluctantly had to issue instructions thaifc" the present concession of issuing free ','il railway passes to next-of-kin will be rvfli discontinued from this date. The De- 111 fence Department will, upon receipt of cabled advice of a soldier's return, no- « j! tify the next-of-kin, but no definite dates - ."i can be stated. Upon the arrival of a 1 ship nt Uhe first port of call, a tclegran" ' % will be immediately despatched to the 'I next-of-kin notifying the approximati ;» time that the soldier should arrive at "fl his liome, or, if in-patient treatment is t i necessary at some specified hospital. The time of disembarkation will also be handed to tiie Press Association toi general information. •••*■