THE TROOPSHIP HORORATA.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 68, 20 March 1919, Page 7

THE TROOPSHIP HORORATA.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I was formally intimated by the Defence Department that my son was on board the Hororata, also his name and address were amongst the list of returning soldiers in the newspapers, and on the morning of the arrival of the vessel I had a wire from the .Government that he had arrived at Wellington and was proceeding to Auckland by the vessel.! I thought, ,"Good old Defence Department, how you have been slandered in the past." All went well, only the one . thing that marred it was that my son | was not on board, never had been on I board, and no one knew him. After j scanning every face eagerly we returned I to the waiting guests, a doleful party, and tried to cheer ourselves up with the "Welcome Home" spread out that had been prepared. Now we wonder where he is, what have the Defence Department done with him? Will he get his pay stopped aa he is officially supposed to have returned home, etc.? I hope he will prove an alibi, and that he will eventually be allowed to come home, even if the records say he has officially returned. At the headquarters of the Defence Department, Auckland, afterwards, I was asked, "Do you mean to tell mc tha,t we are wrong? Your son must have been on board." I replied that I would be very greatly obliged if the said officer would materialise him. He gave it up with a shrug, and I thought the words of the song, '"E Dunno' Where'He Are" applied to the Defence Department, as well as my son. 1 I am, etc., JOHN W. GOTT.