N.Z. SOLDIERS AT HOME.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15487, 14 January 1916, Page 8

N.Z. SOLDIERS AT HOME.

THE BECORD OFFICE. CREATION OF NEW DEPARTMENT. (raoir OCR own correspondent.) LONDON, December 3

Sir lan Hamilton, in his memorable despatch regarding the gallant landing at Gallipoli, described the British Navy as having been both mother aud father to the Army. This happy phrase may be used with equal truth in describing tho care and treatment which the New Zealand Rccord Office has bestowed on the thousands of wounded and sick New Zealanders who have come under its direction.

From the time that t-fcc soldier lands in this country until he departs—either by transport to the front or by hospital ship to his native land—he is never out of touch with this Department. Captain T. E. Donne, the officer in charge, and his staff are hard at work ail day long, and late into each evening dealing with the mass of correspondence relating to men in hospital, attending to tho wants' of men on furlough, and satisfying ' the demands of all as far as military regulations admit. In addition to this, the Record Office is in constant communication with Headquarters in the Mediterranean and with the Minister of Deience in New Zealand, which necessarily means a perpetual stream of cables and letters. Moreover, a large proportion .of New Zealand casualties have to bo notified to relatives in this country, and the number of enquiries, written and verbal, is almost beyond belief. No. 13 \ ictoria street, the home of the r<ew Zealand Government in London for so many years, has never before witnessed such daily, scenes of bustle and activity as are now taking place. OFFICE ACCOMMODATION. The formation of the Record Office was entrusted by the High Commissioner to Captain Donne in the early days of the war. and that it lias evolved from very small beginnings into tho present smcoth-worlcing and wellordered department is entirely due to the organising skill and foret-vght of the Record Officer. And this in spite of the fact that even to-day both the staff and the accommodation are strictly limited in numbers and space. Tlie sister States of Canada and Australia started off by taking suitable premises at Westminster, and in each case their staff to-day is to be counted by 'hundreds. New Zealand, which is always more modest, began in one room, next moved into a larger room, then took another room, and finally squeezed out th? Shipping and Emigration Department. But even now the rooms are more scattered than need have been the case if convenient and adequate accommodation had been secured by the Government at the outset. Roughly speaking, the Record Office may be said to' consist of tho following:— 1. General Enquiry Office - for the public where all the records are kept; 2, furlough and railway, warrants office and issue of badges; 3, room where everything pertaining to hospitals is dealt with; 4, correspondence room where all letters and papers are centred; o, room for the typists; G, post office on tho lower floor adjoining the reception room of the War Contingent Association; 7, sorting room for parcels; 8, room where tlie .large numbers' of mailbags which arrive from Egypt are dealt with; 0, 'quartermaster's stores, where men receive their new equipment—uniforms and clothing generally ; 10, two kit rooms, where men who. go on furlough can deposit their kits. . . -

THE STAFF. Including Captain Donne, the Record Office staff numbers 29, and the post offico 12. • The staff includes _three members of the High Commissioner's Department, a few elderly men ineligible for military service, and- the remainder are New Zealand soldiers who have been wounded and are medically -boarded .as unfit for afctive service. Staff-Sergeant-Maior G.. Hovey, Auckland Mounted Rifles, is Captain Donne's right-hand man, and other New . Zealanders include:— Record Office: Staff-Sergeant F W. Mothes, Private H. ■ C. D. Salmon, Sign. H.-Wilkinson. ■ ' Furlough and Equipment:' Sergeant T O'Dowd, Trooper J. O'Brien. Correspondence: Sergeant V. G. Housden," Private L. L. Shaw. Hospital Visitor: Sergeant P. H. G. Bennett, D.C.M., Movements of Men in Hospital: Sergeant J. Balfour, Sergeant' C. D. G. Taylor, Sapper L. W T . Louisson._ . Post-Office: Sergeant T. G. Godfrey, Sergeant R. Tils ley, D.C.M., Corporal R. Dawber, Corporal J. W. Kennedy, Lance-Corporal E. H. Atkey, Privates J. Leo, C. H. Push, E. C. Hoult, J. McNish; Ciochetto. . Q.M. Stores: Corporal T. Bryant. Kit Store :1 Private W. Ranstead. In Charge of Maoris on Furlough: Corporal P. Warbrick. THE WOUNDED IN ENGLAND. The arrangements for getting into immediate touch with . the wounded leave nothing to bo desired in theory, tliough iri practice there is occasionally a hitch, and a man may bo in hospital for a few days before his presence is discovered. Many months ago thousands of specially-printed postcards were sent to Egypt, and arrangements made whereby every sick man coming to England should be given one of these cards, -so that on arrival m hospital ne could fill in the particulars and get the card posted. In the event of the man losing the card on the voyage he is met at the port of arrival bv members, of the Red Cross Society, who rcplacc the lost card. This work is aone gratuitously br the Red Cross Society. Directly the wounded soldier arrives m hospital, the Record Office receives a telegram notifying the. fact, _ and as soon as possible a sergeant visits the institution to obtain the full n _ am <~s or the patients, the nature or their wounds or sickness, ard this information is cabled to the New Zealand Government. The Rccord Office then supplies the War Contingent Association with 'a list of the names, and tntsl Association jn t«rn gets into touch with the men, arrangements are made for visitors, and it "supplies them with necessaries'in the way of comforts. When a man is discharged from hospital he is sent, if necessary, to the convalescent hospital or camp at Epsom, where there are between 400 and 500 New Zealanders at present. If a man's course runs satisfactorily lie is placed on furlough, and if not he returns to Hospital. Assuming the former, he receives fourteen days' furlough, and this is when the raid on the Pay. Office takes place.

AT CAMP. When the holiday is completed ho goes to the New Zealand and Australian Base Depot at Monte Video Camp, Weymouth. In camo the men are all medically boarded* again. Those who are unfit for further 6ervicc are returned to New Zealand; those fit for light duties are encaged in the camp until they recover toeir normal health, and those fit for active service are returned to the Mediterranean. The officers g<f to the two hospitals —-Endsleigh Palace and Wandsworth — which have been allocated to New Zealand, and they report to the "War Office and are medically boarded in their turn. Such, brieflv, jg a bald outline of the career of the wounded on this eide.

HEAVY CORRESPONDENCE. With over 4500 jnen in. the United Kingdom either in. hosnital or at Weymouth or on furlough "it may be taken for granted that f.nA staff has to put

iu long hours. The correspondence is amazing. To date, no lower thaai ■ 10,300 written enquiries havo been re-!, ceived asking for information respect-j in<£ men, and tho verbal enquiries pro. • bably outnumber those by four to oce.j T\ henevcr a casualty occurs affecting relative in this countrr there u -ant] a telegram, followed up by a and the arrival, discharge, "or transfer •' -V; of a hospital patient means further loU ters. Facilities are afforded tho men lor cabling to New Zealand, and, of course, every day there are men desir- :: i::g railway tickets, badges, equipment-. ■' -ii and making enquiries generally. ~ The Record Office is advised* by the H Colonial Offico of the names of New Zealand prisoners of war, and these iare cabled at onco to the Minister of Defence. Cabling, as may bo una- - gined, plays an important part in th® j day's work. m THE POST OFFICE. Latterly the Post Office has grown-'-quite out of bounds. Ever since the war started there has been an outward despatch of mails, but now it is the inward mail which gives cause fop anxiety. One day last week 150 bags arrived from the East, and these contained at least 30,000 letters for men ?<" who had' been sent to England sick or vrfv wounded. One man's mail .alone i amounted to a cornsack full of letters, papers, and parcels. Tho letters are V sorted expeditiously and pigeon-holed ! hf r front A to Z, and it is now the work _ of a few moments for any man to dis-ji cover whether his long delayed matf ft/' has arrived or not. N When it is remembered that the Record Office is tho growth of the last. sixteen months, that it has constantly, had to meet and solve new problenis, 'f* and perform infinitely more duties than one would have anticipated, NewZeaiand has reason to feel grateful to Cap* ■■ tain /Donne and his staff for ihe> tftts cessful manner in which her soldiers' - welfare has been considered. It is -J. estimated that altogether some 5009 soldiers have passed through the office.' t| OTHER ACTIVITIES. > . While the Record Office deals wiCb I s the military and business, side, New Zealand War Contingent. tion looks after tho social side of. the' men's life, in England,' and ■ hardly* a v "x soldier calls at 13 Victoria street who '- 1 does not visit the lower/floor to pay his respects to tho Hospitality Com- ' mittee of tho Association. " While in *v hospital he has been called on !by : the $ Association's official visitor - andJfiitany "iS, small comforts havo been supplied him. 11 Tho members of the mittee are doing excellent and. praiseworthy work, wnich is only limited byij|||J the amount of funds at their Their, responsibility, is great,they take iinder their. charg6 ; 'all r; the soldiers, with the exception of.the-men at Walton-on-Thamee. Consequently, their index-card system embraces practically 4000 names. ■ * fi The clftb which.-Miss H.-Williams has opened at No. &> Victoria street, will prove a useful link jji the social chain, ii

THE PAY OFFICE. 1 lie ,Pay Office is attached to j Accountants' Branch of the, High Commissioner's Department, anil is under - the direction'of the accountant, Mr iG. ' F. Copus. The- officers • carrying oat 1 the work are Lieut. Pi A. Ely and; Mr J L. J. Bennett—deputy casniers—the / former being in charge of the men's c pay office, and the latter, allotments; * officers' pay, otc. The office, has 'oxcellent accommodation'in the old West* * minster Post Office, which is.on Vthe opposite side of the street from . the-ss Government premises. The. 6taff nnm»l| bere about twelve. Since the was opened a daily sum o£ £700 haaf beer paid over the counter. On busy a days 200 ! men have drawn pay ana taken out as. much, as £1450. y«3f|| •often the early wounded men arrive LondoD to find that they have upward!# Is of £25 to their credit. They are ask-. i ed to regard the Pay Officq as their ? bank, to take only ' sufficient money, for immediato requirements, and .to returns! for more when that is spent.. advice" is generally followed, but ocoar;| sionally a man draws a large sum before his furlough is un he is cabling to his relatives in New Zealand for aii little financial help. It should afeo'l? be added that when a man is. granted; l ! furlough lie receives an additional £l» j as a ration allowance. •• <>v&