"PLAYING THE GAME

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 37, 12 February 1917, Page 4

"PLAYING THE GAME

OUR REPUTATION ABROAD. SOLDIERS WHO RTJK ajg^^ .(By PRIVATE _TJPTJ____| Australia and New Zealand have * tween them contributed somewhere ___. 350,000 men to the Empire's _£_*■_. date. Australia, of course, has eontri buted the lion's share. Those niho __~ perforce to stay at home are mishit proud of Australasia's effort, and «T__ the same time a little curious to know ■what others think—if they think at«U —of that same effort. We have' had th_ opportunity of sampling just-a little or that outside opinion, and the experience has not been quite so pleasant as *« anticipated and desired The Australians have all along been regarded as «___ fighters, but not soldiers.. New Zealan. on the other hand, has laid claim to turning out not only fighters, but soldier*-! soldiers trained and disciplined. \yjt_ most reinforcement drafts fron. the Dominion there has been no fault to fi__, and they have lived up to the reputation claimed. But there have been two exceptions, and those exceptions will take some living down. And henceforth when New Zealand soldiers sail on the l on „ trip overseae, they need not pour curses on the heads of Australians (as we did up to the time of our transgressions) because of the restrictions which _re_ow enforced against those who .come in transports from the Antipodes. Pot we, too, have sinned, and those who come after us -will certainly pay the price. A HAPPY RTJT, ASHORE. A brief resume of our actual aperj. ences en route will suffice-to indicate the position. The Eighteenth Keinforw ments left New Zealand with the repu« tation of being the best disciplined fores yet dispatched. During their four months training their behaviour was. excellent. On their final leave in Auckland they were commended highly by Colonel Patterson, who declared that in ten days lie had not seen one soldier ruder the influence of liquor. At our final review at Trentham the splendid discipline extant amongst the Eighteenths was the keynote of the valedictories. With -such encomiums as these we were speeded from New Zealand. was our first port of call, and at we spent two happy days. The Patriotic Committee could not. do enough for us, and we had a royal time. There were no restrictions. The Thirteenths, from New Zealand, had stirred things up a bit but otherwise New Zealanders had a great name. The hotels did a roaring trade. On our first morning ashore we went for a brisk route march, finishing up at —— Beach —a beach which would easily rival our own Cheltenham. is the Mecca of the West Australian.' In the summer time he flocks to ——,'the' only cool place in the State, and fof-.that reason a huge tourists' hotel has 'teen sbmlt. In half an hour two i thousand thirsty Maorilanders had drunk every bottle of beer in the hotel. But there was no disorder. likewise, in the town of itself the soldiers patronised the hotels freely. Perhaps the weather was hot, perhaps the-beer was light, perhaps discipline told. Certainly 1 saw no drunken soldiers in the streets. We were told of the terrible things the Australian soldiers did at r f how they smashed up hotels, and went in for rough-houses tactics generally. people 'told us they were more than glad that theirs was the port of call for Sew Zealand transport!. We felt pleased and flattered, and left —- with grateful recollections and a good opinion of ourselves. AN UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCE. —.— was our next port of call We had visions of just the same free happy time as we had had at ——> our first port of call. But it was "no go." We were only allowed to land at an hour specified by the authorities. The men, when leave was granted, were marched ashore, and dismissed in the main thoroughfare. It is not "necessary to say what the magnet was that drew- the men. They were doomed to disappointment. At the hour the men were allowed to land the hotels were told to close. And close they-did. ~ A'police official was posted in every hotel to see that there was no surreptitious trading. _ly point, however, is not--to comment upon the disappointment of a section of the men, but to call attention to the circumstances necessitating such action upon the part of the authorities. When the first drafts of Australians arrived, they painted the town red, Hotel bars were smashed and there was agood deal of rioting in the streets. What. then, is the opinion of the • residents, of soldiers from our part of the world! The authorities did not think enough of our New Zealanders to discrmiinate, - n(I we were all regarded as being tarred with the one brush. Small wonder that the hotelkeepers hate the sight cf a transport. Tt has happened that on occasions the hotels have had to dose for four days in one week, and never a week goes by but the hotels have to close on at least one day. We left -— in a state of virtuous indignation, and we damned the Australians. _ ; PRIDE HAS ITS FALL. Pride always has its- fall. D_u fell in . Altogether we? sheltered for three weeks in that interestihg but intensely tsrying place. The trouble occurred on a Sunday morning. The draft, 2000 strong, went ashore for church parade. Somewhere between 100 and 200 irresponsibles managed to drift out of the parade, and they made for one of the two publichouses there. They raided the hotel, and cleared it out of every bottle of liquor they could Jay hands on. They made a considerable mess of things. The proprietor in nis claim for damages alleged that the raiders had also stolen his till, containing £70. His claim was thoroughly investigated by a Court of Inquiry, sset up by the O.C. troops. The result is not known, but the New Zealand Government may have to pay. Well; the next day the Australians went ashore. Despite the fact that the hotels had been closed, they cut up rougher even than we did, and the Governor declared that no more Australian troops would be allowed ashore. Ninety per cent of the New Zealanders—even a greater percentage than that—were deeply incensed at the stigma earned by the minority. But that does not help. Probably not more than 50 men were actually responsible for what happened at the hotel, but their misbehaviour brought about our downfall, and robbed us of our good name. All future drafts » they happen to visit ■ WI " be judged by the misdeeds of this small section. And there is no help for it.