ON SERVICE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15453, 4 December 1915, Page 3

ON SERVICE.

«. NEW ZEALANDERS AT THE FRONT (thou otrr. own coRP.EsroNDK.vr.) LONDON", October 22.

T!io deed ior which Corporal Cyril Bassett. of the Nf\v Zealand Divisional Signal Company. ha- been .awarded the Victoria. C'ros. is officially desc-ril)-od in the Gazette: —"For mo.-i ronspiciimis bravery ;uid devotion to duty on tho Clmnuk Bair ridge in the Gallipoii Peninsula on Ai;i:n-; 7tii. Alter the New Zealand Infantry Brigade had attacked and e-tabli-hed itroli on the ridge, Corjjoral in full daylight and under a continuous and heavy fire, succocdcd ifi Ja.viig a telephone line from the old position to the new one 011 Chunuk Ban-. lie lias subsequently' been hroii;;bt to notice for further excellent and nio.-t gallant work conned - ed with the repair of telephone lines by day and night, under heavy fire."

The death ha.- recently oeeurred from wounds received at, the front of Lieutenant, G. is. J. Brown, of tho Ist Boy.ll .Scots Fusiliers. Lieutenant Brov. n was thirty year- of aye, and was educated at Naunheim College. Heidelberg. and at the School of Agriculture at- Cambridge. Ho then went to New Zealand, and engaged in farming, but, he v.'as in Scotland when tho war broke out. Lieutenant Johnstone Brown was a fast man over a quarter of a mile. -Mr T. E. Donne's commission as captain on the unattached list i.s gazetted. Captain Donne is in charge of the record office of the New Zealand Exped'. tionarv Force. Mr 11. S. C. Rawlins. son of Mr C. C. Rawlins, formerly M.P. for Tuapeka, ha.-, been promoted from Bombardier in tho Garrison Artillery, to be. Second Lieutenant in the same branch (special reserve). H will be remembered that Mr R-iwlins's brother. Corporal Glen Rawlins, was killed some months ago in front of the trenches .in France whilehe was qualifying in the Artists' ltifles for a commission.

Mr- T. D. Cummins lias been Appointed a temporary Assist an t-Engineer in the It-oval Naval Reserve. Becem, casualties in tin; Persian Gulf include Lieutenant Harland If. Dean, of the 2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment (son of Mr E. 11. Dean, of Wellington), wounded. Lieutenant J. J. Page (Timaru) lias been at the front for live months with D. Battery. 52nd Brigade. I'.F.A. llis mother is working with the Y.A.D. at Bevan Military Hospital. Sandgate. Lieutenant, .F. Lloyd Findlay came through the big engagement at Hulluch without a scratch. Tie was in charge of the bomb throwing party of his regiment, the East Surreys, and onr» of tho senior officers writing home to a friend says that tho young New Zealander behaved with tho greatest gallantry and sangfroid. Private F. H. Dawn, of the New Zealand A.S.C.. has been transferred from tho hospital in Birmincham to a convalescent camp near Epsom. There he encountered again Mr T. Tresize, a well-known young actor from "Wellington, who went to tho front with the British sccr.ion. About two months ago they -were about to have lunch together in rather a swell dug-out in Gallipoli, when a 4in. shell crashed through tho rcof and buried them in the ruins, from which they escaped with a lew scratches. Private Dawn's last day in Gallipoli was spent at a depot two milerf north of Anzae on the beach. Tho Turks had just got the range, and dropped niauy shells in the neighbourhood of the Clearing Station, so the wounded had to be hurried away to safer quarters. Tlu» .-Headquarters dug-outs wero also shelled, and had to bo vacated, not without somo casualties.

Amongst officers on leave from tho front arc three young New Zcalandcrs who have been in practically all. of tlio fighting in the salient of Ypres with the Middlesex Regiment, one of the hardest fought regiments in tho present war. Captain 0. R. F. Johnston, son of the Hon. C. J. Johnston, Speaker of the Legislative Council, has been at the front for a wholo yea;* with only two short furloughs. Ho has escaped injury of a serious nature, but, like most officers who have boon long at the front, was badly in need of a change. Ho liarl also a slight head wound from shrapnel. ! Lieutenant L. . Tosswill (Christchurch), New Zealand Expeditionary Force, is now attached to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Sympathy is felt in New Zealand circles' in London with Mr and Mrs Harold Reaucluimp in the loss they have sustained bv the death of their onlj son, Lieut. Leslie Reauchamp. The young ofliccr only went out with his regiment, the Bth South about the middlo of September, aud ho_w"as accidentally killed on October No particulars have yet reached London as to the nature of the accident. Tho Wa r Contingent Association lias been doing splendid work lately amongst tho thousands of New Zealand soldiers who have now reached Ewland. Very few of the men, whatever nart of tho country they are in, remain more than a day or two without being looked UP by visitors of the Association and provided with what comforts are necessary to supplement the vorv generous treatment they get m the"military hospitals. Shaving kits, writing paper, and so on are the articles chiefly required, but there is an insatiable demand for New Zealand papers of which consequently there is afa mine. When tho men leave hospital the Association provides them with any articles (>i r kit which thev are in need 'of. besides seeing to their entertainment while in ioun. 'I ho matter of providing lodgings in London is _ a somewhat.- serious one. and a projet t tor owning a hostel is under discussion. Tho Maoris who arrive here are specially cared for by Mrs Scot!, who is herself of Maori parentage. M,o h ir s nut tho whole of her hotu-e at their disposal, and spends most 01 her time sh'Mvinir tneni about London. Tho llritish Government has_ now kindlv placed at the d«snnr:il ««t the overseas people the premises calh.il I eel House. Westminster. h \ s . : ' n l" 01 " lU()US establishment. hcautnully fu M no a*;d wi'.l accommodate aboiu ..00 visitors. It is m many re.spectr, nrranrred like « club. A commute. „t which Mr Steel-Maitlanrl is chairman, has been formed for the purpose of turning this house into a home foi Australian. New Zealand Canadian and South Atncan soldiers who may v.ant. Totxl accommodation in London at a reasonable rate. Mr Mackenzie is on tho committee. The .second mectm,, v.-fis held on October l'.Hn when arrarKoments were completed for raT " r > - im' on the undertaking on lines that will make for the eonuort of the men, with all th» adjuncts necessary to make their etav here pleasant.