ON THE NEW ZEALAND FRONT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2996, 6 February 1917, Page 6

ON THE NEW ZEALAND FRONT

QUIET TIME BEHIND THE SOJHHE

WINTER RECREATIONS

(From Oapt. Malcolm .Ross, War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces in tho Field.) Northern France, December 10. . Wo. left the Somrae with tho swallows, but our flight was not so far. As we trekked back to a part of the line further north we noted that autumn had already-tinged the woods with gorgeous colour, ajid that tho ploughmen ivoro busy in the liclds. Later we camo to tho sodden trenches. But from all accounts they" were much more habitablo than they wero this time last year. Then one morning we listened to ,tho Honk! Honk! Honk lof migrating geese, and saw them going south like a flight of our planes returning from a. bombing expedition to the Gorman lines. That was an omen of a cold snap. And it camo in duo course —frost and ice, and then snow. Since then there has been little sun, much fog, and some drizzling rain. When the sun does struggle through it is a very different sim from the one tho Australians and Now Zealanders are nsed to, even in winter. It makes but a feeble effort at warming tho earth, so that wo all long for another summer. At present wo envy our comrades in the Egyptian desert. " ' The Kisiema and the Concert. Meantime everything that can bo done for the comfort and entertainment of the troops is being done. No sooner had we arrived here- than we set about building a concert and. kineina hall. The General selmicd to be as keen about it as he was'abotii wiring the lines. And quite rightly so. For when men are in war it is a great, thing to get their minds off war. That may sound somewhat paradoxical/ but it is the truth.•

One day we had Lord Derby's Band. It includes some of the famous Bossos-o'-the-Barn, which many New ■• Zealanders will remember. They liked our hall —said it was the finest they had played in at tho front, and added that the audience was the most appreciative they had playcd'to. The'hall, I should mention, was quickly erected by the Pioneer Battalion. A few bush carpenters and the Maoris had the principal hand in its building. It cost about £350, and will hold about five or six hundred men. At a franc per head for. officers, and half a franc for mon, it will' probably pay ior its cost in three months. After that it will be. paying, dividends, -which will go to tho canteen funds.

In most places behind the British lilies you may find iu France tlie playing fields of England. For tho winter inonths, in parts of the line where tho lighting is not strenuous, football is ai , excellent tiling not only for taking the men's minds, off war, but-in keeping them fit for war. Therefore football is encouraged.. Hie' New Zcalanders, needless to say, have not been slow in entering the lists. For the past two or three weeks wo have had teams in practice. There is one very excellent team at the Divisional School—a team that in the.language of the day promises to become "hot stuff." I have just returned from its first match. The school had received a challenge from a team from the Signal Company of an English Division near us —a team that had been winning all the matches it had played so far. There were good men on both sides, but the New Zealanders were a heavier and more powerful lot, the forwards fast and dashing, and the backs, a fairly even lot. Pretty well every' man iu the team was at least an inter-island representative. On the English side there was a famous Huddorsucld player and one wellknown Irish player. They -were a plucky, sporting lot, but generally, in weight and speed, they were a long way inferior to the Uew Zealanders. After play had been going, for about twenty minutes it was amusing to listen to the remarks of the English supi porters along the touch-line. • "My word, they are a fine lot of forwards," said one .mail. ' 'They seem to put tlie bleedin' ball wherever they like," remarked another. "No wonder they went right through to Flers," acfSel? a third. It was not' long before the score began t>o mount up. ■ The end of it was that -NNcw Zealand won by 74 points to 3. ' The try for, the English team was obtained by the man from Huddersfield. ■• Other Diversions. A very few miles behind the lines we have the Y.M.C.A. rooms, which include an excellent concert hall. It is always well patronised. The entertainments are often above" the average. There the men can read and write in quietude. The young manager, who is very, popular, works day and night for tho welfare of the soldiers out of the line.' Recently .we had a visit from some of the New Zealand representatives of the Y.M.C.A., and they are going to build a similar hall at our base in' France. This will be a great boon to the Reinforcements' arriving from England. The Y.M.C.A. are keen on doing all they can for the men. In these Y.MX'.A. halls the nien can sit and read in quietude of an evening, and write letters to their relatives and ' friends. They include a small canteen, where the men can purchase various., small necessities and get a cup of tea or coffee, and cake and biscuits. The Y.M.C.A. also runs a kinema, which is well patronised.

Our General has,-'amongst other tilings, arranged to send a number of our non-commissioned officers to the Guards with a view to the whole force benefiting by the experience of training and discipline that they will get there. One cannot but be struck by the methods of the Guards, and, as everyone knows, their mana in the British Arm>; is great, and they have years of history and splendid tradition to look back upon. It will be interesting .to watch for the result of , this plan. Another idea that is being carried out is to send a number of our officers and men each iveek to Paris. Permission of the authorities was obtained to do this. The idea is an educative ope, and in view of that a careful selection is made. The little parties aro met by a tourist guide, and are shown the city and the historic sights as far as is possible during the two days they are there.

As the winter goes on we hope to add to .our diversions in Northern France lectures on historical and military subjects by men well qualified lo deal with them. Already wo have hid one such lecture.

We have also had a visit from Dr. Newman, M.P., of Wellington, who briefly addressed the men in the. Y.M.C.A. hall and in the concert hall. Dr. Newman took a keen interest in the efforts that are being made to provide for the comfort and ontertammeiit of the men, and also paid a visit to the front trenches. '. A divisional school has been established, at which.training goes steadily on, and even one of thft battalions has been keen enough to establish a similar school on its own account.. "Shell Shocks." "Shell Shocks'] is the title of a Christmas magazine which, largely owing to the energy of the young manager of our Y.M.C.A., has been produced entirely by the New Zealand Exncditionary Force in Franco. II is illustrated, and a nian in The Rifles has drawn an excellent cover sketch and

an effectivo frontispifce. Dion.:Clayton. Calthrop, R.N.-W.11:, ■■-■who writen an introduction, says lie wishes the readers could see the M.S. of the magazine as it appeared on arrival from France. "Here," ho says, "is pencil writing oh'odd sheets of paper torn from.copybooks; here is foolscap with its legend written in red ink; and here i's verse and humour on sheets of the Y.M.C.A. paper. It is like the odd clothes, of a Foreign Legion of 1 old." The manuscripts, lie adds, are.' like the .men who wroto them, and like the men -who drew them, real/ And they • are racy of that amazing spirit of jolly and sporting fun that is , our national gift, and but- little understood by other peoples. Tho inaga-. zine contains 68 pages of prose, verse, ( and illustrations, and'is sold for two francs. The Story of a Ring. Some time back I mentioned that ourGeneral Staff had in their possession a' seal ring found on the beach at Anzac.l Many newspapers were jtood enough to publish tho paragraph, ■ and now, thnraali the medium nf the "Daily. Mail," the owner has been found. The owner is a troopnr in nn Australian Light Horsp Bric'ade in Egypt, and his vothcr, who lives, at Ponillyfni, Clynnog, North_ Wales, saw, the paragraph, and claimed the ring on her son's behalf.