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Taranaki Daily News, 11 January 1919, Page 5

LARGE NUMBERS ON THE WATKR. ' | THE LATEST ARRANGEMENTS. | By Telegraph. —Pvcaa Association. | Wellington, Yesterday, j Close to the shoreu oi New Zealand, > or to be on the water by February lu, j are 10,500 New Zealand, soldiers return- j ing from England. There are also three ships en route from Egypt with New Zealanders, carrying about 1400 mail, and due about tlie end of this month-

Publication of these facts usually results in the Base Records Department being deluged with inquiries from the relatives of soldiers as to whether their particular kinsman ia on board one of the ships. Eh is io a, vain and fruitless task, disappointing to the relatives and also to a Department anxious to oblige them with news, for the information is j not available until a short time before tbe arrival of the transport, and immediately it comes it is sent out to tbe next of kin. It is always possible to forward the embarkation state of a transport ahead of the ship, and one information arrives in ample; time to enable relatives to make arrangements for the reception of their soldier friends. But until Base Records receives the embarkation state, it is in no better position than tne relatives to say whether parieular men are on any ship. Fourteen days before th? probable date b( the arrival of a transport, a notice ig to the soldier's next-of-kin, stating that ha will arrive wfthin the next fortnight. Relatives should await are arrival of this notification, for earlier inquiries will produce -negative resultn, simply causing congestion of work in a busy department. (Finally, from the telegram is sent to the next-of-kin stating that he will reach his home hy ft I particular train, or if immediate hospital treatment is advi«nb\* the telegram $44 ffiHt-i&a relatives this wforaatuffl.