NEWS OF THE WOUNDED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 152, 28 June 1915, Page 7

NEWS OF THE WOUNDED.

TTTTER LACK OF SYSTEM. PLIGHT OF JfEXT OF KIN. EIGHT WEEKS WITHOUT INFORMATION". The Ddfencc Department ha* boon blamed for many things, but for none so roundly as Its complete failure to establish any satisfactory system whoreby relatives in Now Zealand may be apprised of the whereabouts of men "who are injured, or of the nature of tlieir injuries. In Auckland there are many eat-cs which may he quoted in illustration of the point at issue. Two months ago a young Atieklander was wounded at s>.ri jßair. A fortnight later hit. name appeared for the. first time in a casualty list. The parents sent wires and cables, to be informed of the whereabouts of the boy, and the nature of his injuries. The only reply forthcoming from ■Wellington wae the brief intimation, "No details glv-pn; your son is progressing satisfactorily." Then, after the lapse of anotheT fortnight, the anxious parents were alarmed to t-ee in the newspapers a statement that their son was amongst the dangerously ill. Further, almost frantic effort* were made to ascertain where the boy was. in order that a home message might be sent him. The aid of Joseph Warci and Mr. \. M. Myers. M.P.. wae invoked, without avail. Private cables, costing £1 each, were sent on chance to various Egyptian hospitals, but. although two months have elapsed sim-c their son was injured, the parents are in utter ignorance "f his location or his condition, and no newe can be obtained. Another instance quoted is that of an ~nd citizen, vc-rv ivell known in financial circle*. All efforts to pain news of his eon, reported wounded, through official channels, proved abortive, and it was only after sending numerous private cables that the parent in question was successful, through a private pourre '.n Egypt, in paining news of his son.

And the <same trouble applies, nf course, to thousands of other people in New Zealand, who are keM in complete suspense regarding wounded relatives, while *he helples* injured themselves probably wonder why no messiges reach them from the home folk during their hour of trial. Where the Defence Department prove* if-elf blameworthy is apparent. It claims to allow next of tin the privilfajc of t-..ree free cables. The next of kin. however, may only ask the condition of the patient, md not his location or the niture of his wounds But the whole point is that if the Defence Department known where to to inquire the condition of a wounded man. it must be able to say where he is. Otherwise the replies sent to these in quirics are simply useless. Altogether, in Egypt, there are some twenty military hospitals, most of them bcinir situated in Alexandria and Cairo. Men only slightly wounded, and able to proceed to convalescent hospitals at short notice, may be hard to locate, but tho«a- who are- injure , l will Tcmain for weeks in the one institution, and to locate them mudt be a comparatively easy matter.

When a man is killed or wounded, a telegram is sent to fhe ne\t nf kin by the Minister for Defence, an! afterwards there arrives a formal telegram from the Prime Minister, convevinc his sympatnv. The Prime Minister's action i« no doubt born of good .ntcntion*. but there are or-raeions when it has the reverse of the effect intended. For instance, at Mt. Eden last week a family wiA informed at in the morning by the Defence Minister that its representative at the front 'had been wounded. .Lack of detail, of course, threw the family into suspense, and when, shortly ■before midnight, a telesrraph boy disturbed the household with a further official telegram, it waa at once concluded that the worst bad happened. It was, however, only the Prime Minister's wire of sympathy, and the family found that it had been thrown into an unnecessary state of agitation.