BASE RECORDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1919, Page 7

BASE RECORDS.

I VALUABLE WAR DEPARTMENT. !' ITS REMARKABLE DEVELOPMENT. Wellington, May 2. Though it did not exist when the war began, Base Records branch of the Defence Department has developed into one of the most important of State services, , and is certainly the best known to the community, by reason of its close association with the personnel of the Expeditionary Force and soldiers' next-of-kin. The general public hardly realises how rapidly this department has grown, keeping pace wrth New Zealand's splendid war effort, but an opportunity is given of taking stock of Base Records' activities through the compilation of a report on the matter by Major Norton Francis, C.M.G., the first director of Base Records, who relinquishes the position tu return to private business at the end of this month. When the war broke out, and New Zealand offered to do its share, no one could foresee the immense expansion of the work of an office designed originally to collect and preserve the records of the comparatively small number of reinforcements which it was expected would be sent overseas. That over one hundred thousand men would embark was certainly not anticipated, but as they wtent away thousands after thousands, the record system grew, and became perfected only as the result of experience, for existing military instructions under this head were of the most brief and sketchy type. The work commenced with the making up of the Samoan force records in the district defence offices. After the embarkation of the Main Body and Ist Reinforcements on 16th October, 1914, their records were centralised in Wellington in a small office at the military headquarters, where the visitor could from the counter, sec the whole staff and equipment. To-day the office is a very largo two-storied building at the hack of Government Building, Wellington, and its staff comprises 95 soldiers, 206 civilians (including 184 women): a total of 303,

Every soldier who entered camp represented potential work for Base Records. His military history has to be kept here, and the important duty of keeping in touch with his next-of-kin in case of casualties or return to New Zealand, as well as answering all his relatives' inquiries, devolves on this busy department. Multiply the individual by the hundred thousand soli diers sent away, and an idea of the extent of the work can be gained. Suecess in dealing with the immense quantity of correspondence and organising the work of the office has only been possible by a thorough system of subdivision of responsibility. Ten sections are at work in Base Records, each with a section head, who is in turn, responsible to one of the executive officers.

The record room section is the great clearing-house of the office. To this department is sent the documents as they arrive. A staff of distributors sends the letters and files to the special departments created to deal with the subjects to which they relate. The number of files in daily transit through this section during last year increased from 8,000 to over 15.000 and high water mark has not yet been reached, as it is intended shortly to house at Base Records the files of the Director , of Recruiting, and to undertake the handling of the pay branch correspondence and its records. It is hoped shortly it will be possible to amalgamate soldiers' files from the camps and other defence offices, so that there may be only one file to contain all records of each member of the Expeditionary Force, thus giving greater effi- i ciency and a reduced pay-roll. This j section has charge of no fewer than 110,000 flies. They have to go to various departments when action is being taken upon them, and the section collects and delivers files from all parts of the office every hour, a careful I'ecord being kept so that no file can be lost. The Expeditionary Force files are kept alphabetically. There are duplicate index slips, (one alphabetical, and the other numerical, a system which greatly facilitates the tracing of files and the correct identification of incorrectly addressed correspondence. The general correspondence section is responsible for all type-written work, and nearly all the correspondence of the office. In a large well-lighted room are dozens of typists who deal with the letters dictated in reply to those received from the public A ruling book is kept shoking the official decisions given on the multitude of points always cropping up in letters, and this is carefully indexed and continually brought up to date so that it can be readily used by those who have to give information to the public. If there is no previous ruling, the letter is

I submitted to the director of Base Records for decision. As an additional check on the correspondence issued frqjn Bajio Records office, no Jetter is signed in tho correspondence section, but is sent to the executive head responsible for the matter alluded to. Though the cessation of casualties has eliminated an enormous number of inquiries under this head, and the closing down of the recruiting branch and the National Registration operations has also disposed of more sources of work, the demobilisation process has created a fresh set of inquiries, and the result is that the correspondence brancli deals daily with approximately 2,500 inwards letters and 2,000 outwards, or double , the total handled a year ago. The deI mand for return of members of the Ex- , peditionary Force out of the order of sequence, owing to domestic or business reasons, necessitated dealing with no fewer than 1,537 of such cases during the last five months. The history sheet section of the office was formed at the end of 1915, when it was decided that to ensure promptitude in the issue of casualty reports, it would bo necessary to have a record, separate from the soldier's -file, on one sheet, kept in cabinets in alphabetical order.' The soldier's personal history and his next-of-kin are noted on these sheets, and a staff of fifty has to be employed in keeping fhem up-to-date and securing from them the necessary particulars for tho preparation of rolls of returning drafts and the notifications to next-of-kin. This section did valuable work when the military service ballots were being operated, as it was through the medium, of the history sheets that the Government Statistician waj able to ascertain whether men drawn in the ballot had already become members of the Expeditionary Force. The casualty section is now a rapidly diminishing factor in the office, but its splendid work in the quick notification of the lists to the general public will not be forgotten. The casualty ledgers from tho Western fronts are now being received and checked with the Base Records entries preparatory to the issue of a final casualty book and a general alphabetical index of all casualties suffered by members of the Expeditionary Force. A returned soldier's section records and traces the movements of a returned soldier from the time of his arrival in New Zealand until his discharge. It receives regular reports from hospitals, and is responsible for the issue of authorities for the pay of invalids. Last February it was found necessary to form a disembarkation section to cope with the large numbers of soldiers returning und»r conditions where all boarding is completed before arrival. Its representatives meet all ships, and check and distribute the numerous documents received from the demobilisation officer on board.

Base Records is the great enquiry bureau of the soldier and his relatives, and as thousands of these inquiries are made personally, a special staff is kept busy at the counter giving all possible information, and issuing to next of kin the tickets enabling them to enter the special enclosure provided for relatives of the men returning on transports. The discharge section issues discharges, prepares rolls for the issue of medals, with the four weeks free rail ticket given and checks all accounts in connection to the soldier on arrival. During the last three months over 12,000 discharges have been dealt with by this section'of the office. And this category does not exhaust the list of Base Records activities. There is a returning drafts section which compiles rails, deals with the medical papers of returned men, and the issue of clqthing to them. For several years Base Records had the assistance of a voluntary staff, the valuable work of which was recently described in the newspaperg. The Director of Military Hospitals and the Officer in Charge of Vocational Training of Soldiers have their headquarters at Base Records, which does the necessary clerical work for these busy branches of the Defence Department. j Every changing phase in connection with our soldiers gives more work for Base Records. It has had to adapt itself to many changes, and to an enormous amount of important "rush work," yet it has never failed to give prompt service, and Major Norton Francis, who now retires from the control of this unique war department, is to be congratulated •upon the success which it has achieved, and the smooth running of its operations under the most difficult of conditions, with no precedents existing for his guidance.