OUR WOUNDED IN ENGLAND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15767, 7 December 1916, Page 7

OUR WOUNDED IN ENGLAND.

9T ATBMENT BY MINISTER OF DEFENCE.

(TOWS ASSOCIATION TTT,tT.TU«.) WELLINGTON, December 6. ~ view of tho fact that enquiries are Anally being received" as to the iSuro followed in the treatment of founded soldier, in England, the Minister of Defence, has issued the following statcnien- for general infonna-

"tthenever possible, casualties among ~ \ e w Zoalanu Expeditionary Force *Z transferred from tho front to Engi A and 'it frequently happens that Lr'soldiers am , omfnrtably settled in tacDsh hospitals within twenty-four knurs of thoir being wounded m France, fpoa their arrival in England, New fcUland soldiers are sent ' mTo the New Zealand General Hos•I No 1 Biwkonhurst, in which p w« ato' 1500 ljo.ls, with a separate Sine and 150 beds lor officers; or bU S To the New Zealand General Hos■i * No 2 Wolton-on-Thanies, m ffich tho're arc »*> beds; or (3) To one oi tho many Jintish military hospitals situated throughout tho United Kingdom. . Regulations have been issued by the War Office that New Zealand soldiers should he concentrated in as few hospitals as possible, so it is the exception for New Zoalanders to bo located in hospital without any fellow-country-men. . , . , From tho hospitals many of our soldiers are drafted to the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital at Hornehurch, whero ther o are Vrdo beds. Hero tho patients are divided into three classes — {a) Fit for son-ice, (b) likely to be fit for service within six months, (e) not likely to bo lit within six months. Soldiers in Class C arc returned direct to Xew Zealand as opportunity offers. Those in Classes A and JJ are transferred to Command Depot, Codford. whero they aro divided into fivo different squads. Tho first of these contains only men who atv fit for general service, and who after fourteen days' trial aro sent to join the reserve group at Sling Camp, situated on Salisbury Plain. Tho other soldiers are detailed to other squads, according to their physical fitness, until they are eventually passed as fit through Squad 1. At the reserve group at idling Camp are located the Reinforcements as they arrive from New Zealand, and from here tho New Zealandcrs cross to the New Zealand Infantry Ha so Depot in France, on route to the New Zealand Division and the trenches. (Soldiers who require hospital treatment while at Sling Camp or Codford Command Depot, are treated in No. 3 New Zealand Hospital. Codford, in which there arc 5730 beds. The above figures are not exactly correct, as the hospital accommodation has recently been increased, but it is anticipated that this statement will supply general information of much interest to thoso who havp relatives at the front.