ON SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 21, 24 July 1918, Page 7

ON SERVICE

NEW ZEALANDERS ABROAD

APPOINTMENTS, TRANSFERS, AND PROMOTIONS (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 17th May. Lt. L. E. L. Donne, son of Captain T. E. Donne, of the New Zealand Office, is now in the Tank Corps. Mr. Donne joined the English section of the N.Z.E.F. at the beginning of the war, | and was invalided from the East. After recovering he was employed in the recruiting department of the War Office. Lt. C. V. Connolly, R.N.V.H, ,(Au,ck-. land), who has been in the Mediterran-,: can for the' last eighteen • months, has been transferred to a station nearer home. Lt. G. G. Callender, R.F.C. (son of the general manager of the Bank of New Zealand), has been promoted flightcommander, with the rank of captain. Capt. H. B. Wheeler, Eoyal West Kent Regt. (Havelock North), remains seconded for duty with a labour corps. C.M.M. E. V. Smith, R.N.V.R. (Dunedin), was one of a number of New Zealanders who took part in the naval operations for blocking Zeebrugge and Ostend. Mr. Smith was one.of the volunteers who manned the small boat which went into the harbour at Zeebrugge and rescued the crew of the. blockship Thetis, and some from the Intrepid. At the optrations at Ostend last week he was also present as a volunteer, his duties being in connection with the smoke screen. The official narrative of the first , raid .states that when the Thetis was inside the mole at Zeebrugge. and was steaming towards the canal mouth, she had the misfortune to foul one of her propellera on the net defence, which rendered her unmanageable. The shore batteries pounded her unremittingly. She bumped into a bank, and finally brought up some hundreds of yards from the mouth of the canal, practically sinking. As she la-y she signalled directions to the others, and then the commander blew the charges and sank her. "A motor launch, under Lt. H. Littleton, F.N.V.R.,. raced alongside and took off her crew. Her losses were five killed anS five wounded."

Captain A. G. Hamilton, E.A.M.C. (Nelson) and Captain F. G. Bell, M.C., R.A.M.C., have been promoted Major. From November to the beginning oi. January last, Captain, R. N. Marryatt, •Worcester Regiment (TeKuiti) held the rank of Acting-Major. Mr. T. R. Rees, second officer of the Wairuna, who was taken prisoner by the raider Wolf and escaped by the stranding of the Igotz Mendi in Denmark, is returning to New Zealand by a hospital ship. Mr. Donovan, his fellow captive, left by an earlier ship.

Mr. R. G. Applegarth (Auckland) has 'been appointed to a captain's commission in tho American Red Cross, and is stationed at present in Paris. Captain Applegartli was in the Lands and .Survey Department in Auckland, and came to England in 1916 for War work. He has since been engaged as French interpreter and X-ray work at various French hospitals. ' ; Two New Zoalanders with commissions in the R.F.A. are training at Eeliopolis for the Royal Air Force as pilots. They are 2nd Lieutenant T. B. Atkinson (for merly N.Z.E.F.) and 2nd Lieutenant John Martin (formerly Sergeant, 2/1104, NjZ.F.A., nominated by General Godley for an Imperial commission in February, 1917). ', • .

Mr. Frederick Wilkes (Port Chalmers) is now C.P.O. in the British Navy. At the beginning of the war ho was on duty in a troopship and transferred to the. Royal N.avy on arrival in England. He has served for three years in H.M.S. ' —, and is waiting for reposting. Lieutenant R. G. Ridling, N.Z.R.8., has been strongly commended by General Qodley for' an act of bravery during bombing instruction at' Brocton Camp on 19th. April. After pulling out the pin a man dropped a Mills's grenade in the throwing bay. He then kicked it towards the entrance and retreated to the inner end of the bay. Lieutenant Ridling, who was instructing, seeing the man's danger, warned his assistant to get clear, and, rushing up, seized the man in his arms and carried him out. Before he could get past the bomb it exploded, wounding him severely in the groin. The man received a pellet in the leg. General Godley states in N.Z.E.F. Orders that tha coolness and bravery of Lieutenant Ridling undoubtedly saved the man's life.

Lieutenant J. 6. Paterson, jST.Z.F.A., is doing duty as* a camouflage officer of the XXII. Corps. • ■ . ' .

Major N. F. Shepherd, of the Can terbuvy Regiment, is transferred to the N.Z.R.8., and Captain J. P. E. Veale to the Field Artillery. ' — Lieutenant M. R. Walker, M.C., is appointed adjutant to the 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Regiment,- with the actingrank of captain.

Second Lieutenant R. I. Hodgson, of the Otago Regiment, has reverted to the rank of corporal at his own request. Lieutenant R. Malcolm, of tho Otago Regiment,, is appointed officer in charge of Convalescent Details in succession to Captain J. R. Kirk, Wellington Regiment, who has become Director of Education.

Promotions to the rank of Major : Captain T. P. Corkill, M.C., R.A.M.C. (Wellington), . Captain E. Babst, R.A.M.C. (AVellington), Captain H. St. G. Hamersloy, D.5.0., A.S.C. (formerly of Canterbury). Lieutenant G. L. Stedman, R.F.C. (Christchurch), late N.Z.E.F., now holds captain's rank; 2nd Lieutenant R. K. Binney, R.F.A. (Auckland) is lieutenant. Corporal N. L. Wright, 2nd R. 8., 22743, has been declared medically unfit for war service for six months.

Captain J. B. Parks, M.C., Essex Regiment, who is: serving' with tho N.Z.E.F., lias been promoted major. Formerly in the Grenadier Guards, Major Parks has been attached to the N.Z.E.F. since the beginning of 1916.