DEMOBILISATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1919, Page 5

DEMOBILISATION.

WAR OVER FOR AUSTRALIANS AND NEW ZEALANDIiRii. FORCES MOVING TO THE COAST. FACTORS GOVERNING REPATRIATION. London, Jan. 8. The news of the decision that the war is over foi the Australians and New Zenlanders, whatever may occur, has been received with the utmost satisfaction. The Australian Corps.is still stationed in the Charleroi and Dinant districts. Most of the men are comfortably billeted in towns and villages; and even the privates have the luxury of a bed, which is indeed a luxury after their strenuous campaigning and constant movement. The soldiers find the people extremely hospitable, in contrast with others in various places in France and Belgium, where the tendency was to exploit the soldiers. The Belgian people, just released from the Hun invasion, greeted the Australians with the greatest cordiality. Australians are frequently seen taking a Belgian family, father, mother, and children, to the local military lcinema show. The New Zealand Division remains in the neighborhood of Cologne, but the Maori battalion has been reassembling at Dunkirk, with a view to repatriation in a body.

It is iikoh that the New Zealanders will shortly move to the coast, near Havre, with a view to facilitating the process of demobilisation. The French railways are congested, but through trains, composed of ambulance cars, now converted into sleepers, are running from Germany to the coast in order to Wing out all the remaining 1915 Australians, numbering 12,000. It has been arranged that 1000 men will cross the Channel from Havre to Weymouth every three days, being replaced by the latest reinforcements It has been decided that all the Australians will embark for home from an English port. During December 13,600 men departed in fifteen steamers; and eight steamers havt sailed in January, canning 6500 men- The total shipped is now over 20,000, and the departures average 500 a day. An official circular to the troops explains that three factors govern repatriation—length of service, whether a man is married or single, and whether he has employment waiting for him m Australia. There arc 70,000 Australians who enlisted in 1910, and 30,000 who enlisted in 1917, and 15,000 who enlisted in 1918. Special cases are being considered on common-sense lines, many whose affairs justify their early return being included in boats shortly to sail. The scheme of general demobilisation will soon be in full swing, when each division will send away 1000 men every ten or twelve days. There is some dissatisfaction among nurses and doctors regarding their repatriation, but it will be smoothed out when all concerned thoroughly understand the scheme. Three great Australian hospitals, et Boulogne, Abbeville, and Rouen, and the New Zealand hospitals at Brockenhurst and Walton-on-Thames will shortly be closed