WELCOME TO LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 64, 15 March 1919, Page 5

WELCOME TO LONDON.

PRISONERS OF WAR. NEW ZEALAND'S FINE RECORD. EXPERIENCES IN CAPTIVITY. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, Jan. 10. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, High Commissioner for New Zealand, presiding at a dinner given in the Caxton Restaurant, Westminster, to welcome the return to this country of a number of New Zealand prisoners of war, Iboth soldiers and civilians, who have been recently released, read the following message, from the King:—"The Queen joins mc in welcoming you on your release from the i miseries and hardships which you have' endured with bo much patience and | courage. During these many months of trial, the early rescue of our gallant officers and men from the cruelties ot their captivity has teen uppermost in our thoughts. We are thankful that this longed-for day has arrived, anil that, back in the Old Country, you will ■be able orree more to enjoy the happiness of a home and to see good days among those who anxiously look for your return." Sir Thomae Mackenzie, at the- baclc of whoee chair hung the ensign which had been flvir.g at the mast-head of His Majesty's ship "New Zealand" throughout the war, said the company, which included Lord Plunket, Sir James and, Lady Mills, and many prominent supporters of the Prisoners of War Associ-1 ation, desired to welcome the rescue and return from the tragic conditions which they had experienced of Xiiw Zealandere belonging to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, New Zealand officers and I ; men attached to units of the V.ritiflh Imperial Force, including the Royal Air Force, and civilians who had been interned for four years at Riihleben. At the recent elections the people of this j country had declared with no uncertain | voice what they expected to be done with regard to the punishment of the j Huns, Turks and others of our enemies : who were the perpetrators of horror? j I and atrocities among their defenceless , prisoners. He trusted that those who 1 were' responsible would lie brought to; justice and adequately punished, that j Germany and her Allies would be made | to pay the coets of the war, and that j the fruits of victory would not be j thrown away at the Conference table,] but that the world would be made se- j J cure apainst any future attack from | Germany. He thanked the donors of j the food parcels, who had done so much j to relieve the Bufferings of the men who j j had had the misfortune to foe taken. I Colonel Fitzherbert mentioned that, I the grand total of prisoners taken from ; the New Zealand Expeditionary Force' was 497. Twenty-five were captured at | Gallipoli, and one officer Bud eleven! other ranks in Egypt and Palestine. | Ten had died in Turkey while prisoners j of war. One officer and nineteen other | ranks had been released. ■ The total j number of prisoners of the New Zealand | IMvision—not New Zealanders attached j to Imperial units —who were taken in i "France was nine officers and 4.51 other j ranks. Of these, two officers and thirty- i ■seven other ranks died when prisoners in G-ermany; seven officers and 36~i other' ranks had been repatriated; and forty-1 eight who were still iii Germany were expected shortly in this country. Con-! sidering the strength of the New Zea- ■ land Division the email number of prisoners taken was something they ought to be proud of. No other division in France could put up a better record. ' Lieut. Drew emphasised Colonel Fitzherbert's point by addinp that the percentage of Now Zealand prisoners of war to casualties in the New Zealand ! Division was 0.7 per cent., a figure that spoke loudly for the valour of their men. • Lieut. Drew had intended to speak of j the conditions in which the prisoners : had had to live, but in the face of so merry a gathering he contented him-1 eelf with giving the figures. ! Colonel Corfe, D.5.0., of the Royal j West Kente, in a very brief and soldierly speech, said that while he was a prisoner' German officers had told him that the j New Zealand divfsion and the 9th were! the two they feared most. ! The following were among the prisoners of war present: Capt. W. .7. Brookes, M.C., R.F.A., Lieut. J. Trevor Thomas, M.C., N.Z.R., both of Auckland; Lieut. Spence, Lieut. Max Juriss, Wei-. lington; Lieut. Hall, R.A.F. ! EXPERIENCES IN GERMANY. TOLD BY AUCKLANDERS. One party of throe New Zealanders were together in Germany in GraudenzJ in West Prussia—Colonel Corfe, Captain' W. J. Brooks, M.C., R.F.A,. and Lieu-] tenant J. Trevor Thomas, M.C., N.Z.R.! They were very quickly released, making one of the first parties carried by the Russ —-Danish-American liner—which ran between Dantzig and Leith. These officers were luckily able to get extra food from Denmark (whence * they ob-i tamed a monthly parcel of 15 eggs, 111> [ butter, lib cheese, for 13/. Captain BrooKS is an Auckland p;-.s-toraliat, who has served right from Gallipoli. He was in the hottest of the; Passchendaele fighting, and it was at : Messines that he "got it in the neck" literally, for he still has the scar of the gunshot wound there, from which he was unconscious when he was taken prisoner. Lieutenant Trevor Thomas, the third of the Graudenz group, had more opportunity than most officers of seeing the bad treatment meted out to the rank and file. It was starvation pure and simple their lot.. Lieutenant Thomas said, and the Germans themselves were in pretty bad straits. In his opinion it was the blockade that won the war. lie said the men were simply worn to shadows. Six loot men that, had scaled over I*2 stone went down to eight stone and less. Hut he said the Germans were good and bad. The nun in prison took the matter philosophically. They might have been shot. As it was they were prieoneis, and they must make the best of their lot. One thing, he said, of special interest, the colonials were able to fend for themselves. The I Tommies couldn't. If a colonial did not get what he was used to he looked about lor something in its stead, and so stood the racket better. There was one naval prisoner of war present—Wilson, of ulasgrow Street. Auckland. He joined the Pioneer at Wellington, and was through the Galnaval operations serving; in a submarine. He was several times in the Sea ot Marmora penetrating the mine- ; field defences. Finally he was taken I prisoner by the Turks, who, he said, were fine fellows when left to themselves. Hut their German officers, well, be couldn't tell the full horror. Mr. Cecil Russell, of Christ-church, ! having been refused permission by the medical authorities to join the New ZeaJ land Expeditionary Force, left Christ-

church in June, 1915J en route for London, to offer his services to the War Office. He travelled via San Francisco, j and yisited the Panama Pacific Exposition, from there went on to Chicago and New York, arriving in London in Augußt, 1915. In September he was gazetted second-lieutenant in the electrical branch of the Royal Engineers; in April, 1916, having graduated at the Royal Engineers' j School of Electrical Engineering, he was i promoted to the rank of lieutenant. From j this date he was employed on the main- j tenanoe and construction cf coast and ; anti-aircraft electrical works, the Im- | perial medical authorities refusing to allow him to join the British Expeditionary Force. In August, 1917, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a wireless officer, and was employed first on research work ■ in wireless telephony, and later was ' given charge of the wireless telephone j school of the air force. ! < In June, I!HS, he was ordered before j a Medical Hoard and passed as unfit for ' further service, following on a slight '. motor accident. His discharge, however, has only just come through. He is now . studying electrical engineering at the [ City and Guilds of London College, Fins- ! bury, K.C., and expects to be in England fur at least another two years. Mr. It. R. Norton, of "Hamilton, came to England last June after qualifying at the New Zealand Flying School at Kohi- i mamma, to join the Koyal Air Force. He j has just completed his training, and received his commission on December 11th. tie is now on leave, and intends to visit ; his relations in Edinburgh for a few j days and then return to London. Like ! the of the New Zealanders, he is dead j j keen on petting home. Captain Uarfiold Stewart. N.Z.A.S.C. I (Timaru), and Lieut. Nicol, R.N.R., of Waimate, left the Rimutake at Newport \ News, at the invitation of the Admiral ( of Newport News Station, ;md travelled las guests of the United States Navy to j St. Na/aire, via Nantes. They then traI veiled via Paris to London—a most excel- j lent trip. The American auxiliary cruiser ! U.S.s. Finland was manned by 45 officers ! and 500 sailors. The\ had a braes hand. j a pierrot troupe, a moving picture show ! every evening. The Yanks were filled j with the National Spirit, and treated ! them ripht royally. They could not,«they j said, have had a more pleasant or instruc- , five voyage. They both returned to duty, ; having regained their normal state of i health, but it was their luck to leave eight days too soon—eight (lays before j the armistice. Capt. Stewart expects to j proceed to Germany to join the Army of ' Occupation. Lt. Nieol expects to take on ! mine-sweeping. I On Boxing Day Sir Thomas Mackenzie j visited Bristol, "and addressed soldiers lat the lecture hall and museum there. : The gathering was a large one. Whilst in Rristol lie visited hospitals, including ' Bishop's Knoll, an excellent institution) with about 100 beds, provided by Mr. an.l I Mrs. Knight shortly after the outbreak iof war. On his return from Bristol he went to Walton, where on New Year's I Day he had a game of golf, and on sue- ' ceding days visited the patients in the No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital. I