CHARACTER IN THE OFFICER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 156, 1 July 1916, Page 19

CHARACTER IN THE OFFICER.

Those who have served under officers without "character" know very well, a writer in the "Nation ,, says, the irritation, the depression, the hideous slovenliness of that service. Thi-re was a division—then , were two divisions—pushed suddenly into a erisi.- of battle not many months ago, which seemed to melt away whenever you touched them. The men were the usual men. but they were infected. Officers who were '"no earthly" spread slackness like a plague. But there is a battalion on the lines at Salonika now which evprvnne would like to be near or behind if it, comes to a "scrap" or "push."' You can tull them by the way they salute, by the way they" hold their heads ami wear their caps. Everyone knows it. and everyone knows the with nothing but picxs and shovels on their shoulders, you siiy at onec 3 "That's refillv tht* C oloiif 1 nitiTchinp , \ *\\ rtenever you are in the tiring trenches." saida General in Gallip< li to the writer. ''Laugh! Laugh like hell!"' The present writer feared the General's nervou3 strain had been excessive, but he obeyed the command to the utmost of his ability, and probably it was not insane.