ON EXTENDED LEAVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 July 1943, Page 4

ON EXTENDED LEAVE

LONG-SERVICE MEMBERS I OF SECOND NEW ZEALAND DIVISION. LARGE PARTY WELCOMED HOME. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. ihe Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) announced today that the Government was very pleased to welcome home a large draft of officers, men and nurses who had been brought back to the Dominion on extended furlough. Mr Fraser said that as so.on as it became evident that the campaign in North Africa was drawing to a successful close, negotiations were opened with General Freyberg and the United Kingdom Government for the return to the Dominion of as many members as possible of the First, Second and Third Echelons and their transportation to New Zealand. The Government was very pleased that it had been possible to make arrangements for such a large proportion of the men of the first three echelons to come home. The Government had requested General Freyberg to give preference to married men, and with exception of some married officers, senior non-coms, and specialists, who could not all be spared at the one time, this had been done. Single men included in the draft were selected by ballot.

The Kiwi concert party had accompanied the draft for the entertainment of the troops. When the members of this celebrated party have had a short period of leave, they will reassemble and tour New Zealand, giving public concerts, the proceeds of which will go to the national patriotic funds. It has also been possible to arrange for a number of officers and men who had ties in the United Kingdom and Australia to spend their furlough in those countries.

Mr Fraser added that it was hoped that the future operations of the Second New Zealand Division and other circumstances would permit an extension of the furlough scheme to other men with long service, particularly the remaining members of the first three echelons.

Officers and other ranks in this first furlough party are being granted extended furlough on full pay and allowances, together with a free pass on the railways during the furlough period. In the case of married men (including those who may marry during the furlough) the railway pass will include their wives. On the termination of the furlough the men will return to their units overseas. NO PARADE OF WHOLE PARTY. The Prime Minister said the Government -would have liked very much to arrange, and no doubt the general public of Wellington would also, have welcomed, a grand parade of the whole party in Wellington. Very full consideration had been given to the proposal that such a parade should be held, but it was found that, as there were no facilities ashore for rationing and quartering such a large body of troops, and as the men could not disembark with their baggage if they were to. march through the city, the time required for disembarking and re-embarking the troops, together with other factors, would have meant a delay of nearly 24 hours in dispersing the men belonging to other parts of New Zealand. Bearing in mind that the men, as well as their relatives and friends, would desire that the men should get to their homes with the least possible delay, it was decided not to hold a parade in Wellington, but to leave functions of this nature to be held in the very near future in the cities and towns where the men reside, after they have had their family reunions. Mr Fraser mentioned that, for security reasons and in interests of the safety of the members of the draft, the ships and their crews, it had been necessary to keep secret the movements of the party to the utmost degree. This had necessitated withholding information from next-of-kin until very near the eve of arrival, but he was sure those concerned would not mind this and would be thankful that the voyage had been safely accomplished.