THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1902. SOLDIERS OF THE KING.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 238, 5 August 1902, Page 3

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER TUESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1902. SOLDIERS OF THE KING.

When danger's and all» righted, God is forgotten and the solder alighted. I„ far off India a soldier lay under aß entenceof bo many days for Bome Blight offence,andto relieve his feelings he penned on the whitewashed vail of his prison B ome verses descriptive of the proininentpositionGodandthe the soldier occupied in tunes of danger and their comparative obscurity in times of peace. The lasttwo lines speakfor themselves Truly it has been Baid that gratitude i 8 a lively sense of favours to come, and, judging by the treatment metei out to the m enwhowerennfortunateenough t 0 .DM* Hiß Ma]6Bty ftrmy during the later stages of the w« u »«* ha rA een z parent to the powers that be that Lure were no longer required. At the commencement of he war {we are talking now of New Zealand) enthusiasm ran high; the firßt thought was for that Empire whose watchword was '.Tihertv,"v*oße motto "GeneOffered at the Bhrine of the seem' yesterday, troops Xd away amidst waving of flags the boom of cannon and the^ofamuUitnde;.tra,ght W champagne »d laudatory speeches theyembarked 0Q rotten to a ß u; byten To messes served up °y bacUendered for supplying tl^ir rations-Mhe lowest or any

te nler not necessarily accepted." Disillusioned, but steadfast in their loyally, the men found that they had been officered by recruits rawer than themselves — men who in many cases could not have secured by their own merit the situation of platelayer on the railway line—and to the tender mercies of these officers their lives were entrusted. The men found out what it was to be hungry while their officers feasted, to see cases of whisky put on the waggons as " medical stores" while the Red Cross chestb were left behind for lack of space ; to be brow-beaten by every j »ckanapes with a stripe on his arm or a star on his shoulder, yet they had put their baud to the plough and they would not turn back, and the result is that New Zealand's forces have made for themselves a name among the nations of the world.

But when the "trouble is righted" what do we see ? Men packed into troopships like sardines into a tin treated in

a way people dare not treat their pigs on shore simply because they are no longer required. It does not corne home to us when we read that there were three deaths on the Britannic's voyage, admittedly from ovr. crowdiiu', Imt if they were our own kin the point of view would be different. Thiee seems few out of 1500, but nevt'ithelessthose three deaths were unnecessary, and under other conditions would be charged aa murder! It is scandalous to think that men who have oftered their lives to their country's nted should die unhonoured and unsung on board ship without seeing the enemy What sort of a cry would be raised if these people died on an ordinary passenger boat ? Why, it would ruin the line. Yet a

«' soldier," whatever he may be before leaving, is a mare chattel after that, and the sooner this iB realised the better. New Zealand's first experience of war has shown the public a vision of " khaki glorified," the other side of the shield has been seen by New Zealand's ' soldiers. Hardships are expected, and would be borne without complaint, but the brutal indifference shown lately is enough to make the thought of servingin the Empire's forces stink in the nostril* of the people. Even in Waimate no later than Saturday his family expected Trooper Williams home by the Briiannic, and the first news that he was still lying ill in South Africa was received from one of his comrades. Others are said to bo left behind in the same condition, but there is no official information. The \%ar is over and no one carep. May it be a long time till the next uall to arms Neglect and indifference are not so easily forgotten and the ranks will need to be recruited afresh. With the others it will be a case of " once bitten twice shy."