LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 112, 5 February 1919, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE RECEPTION OF RETURNED .soups

Sir,—May one be permitted -to express / what appears to lie Hie general impression by those people who were enabled to witness the manner in which the soldiers on Transport 205 (Ruahine), invalid and disabled, were received on arrival home. '

Snivelling home from Australia by the Durham, alter many weeks' wailing in. Sydney, it was one's good fortune to bo informed that one's ausband, an Anzac, with nearly four years' 'service, and au invalid, was due to arrive immediately. Naturally, one waited to receive him, instead of proceeding direct to Wellington. Far hotter, indeed, would it have been had one done so, as at home one can at least get into vouch with , one's own. Calling at Defence Office, one was giv«n passes, and advised that next-of-kin. could go on the wharf at 10 a.m. Sunday. Arriving in the city nt that hour, only .disappointment was to be met with and a difficulty in getting back.. Then, Monday, 7.30 p.m., was stated as the phycliological hour when soldiers and friends could meet, only to bo confronted by the evening Press, which stated that southerners were to be (-.itrained without •delay, and nextof-kin were advised not to try to see their soldiers. At 7.30 the crowd became impatient, and broke the barrier,.to find hundreds of men, many of them sick and disabled, standing wearily about. -They had been so for houra. Not a band, not a Hag, not a cheer. One had to buzz round and find one's man, with red -tape at every turn. "Reception!" Spare the mark. The men were I as disgusted as the relations, and one rej marked, "They treated us like dogs!"

As an onlooker at the first reception to returned Anzacs in Melbourne, at which, reception our Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs was present on behalf of the New Zealand Government with the view of gaining an insight into Australia's methods of receiving her soldiers, ono wonders that as a result of his observations that a reception worthy the name is not given to our men. It is lninksiu to say, "They do not like it." The "Aussies" like it alright, and apropos Australians are past masters in the .art of processions and . receptions. Aβ a result of red-tapeism, my husband had to travel down with the other men or pay his own, fare if he desired to go with me next day. The concession for a man who had given four years of the best of his life to the service of his country; one who fought and was wound' cd on Gallipoli, and now returns, au invalid, and nothing for the ivoman who has made' her sacrifice also,

In 'Australia a returning Anzac is covered with honour, I - as practically the freedom of his country, with a distinctive badge, and the same privileges for his next-of-kin. One was impressed whilst in Brisbane to see an elderly gentleman stand and gaze at an Anzao rosette on the coat sleeve of a soldier and then" reverently to ealute it.. And in New Zealand, "God's ovn," what are we doing? It is nothing short of disgraceful, and enough to make men sorry'for the sacrifices they have made, to return, to an ungrateful country. We turn our noses up at Australia, but we have much to learn from them, and as for loyalty they put us in ' the shade. Like their country, their hearts are large and generous. As an observant woman resident in different part of Australia during the past few months, one has come to admire and to respect. One does not know what sort of reception \yas accorded v to the men from the Ruahine in Wellington, but if on a par with Auckland one must then say it is time we took action and awoke out of sleep.— Wn,eC ' , BAEBAEA JUNIOR. [The matters touched on by our co> respondent are referred t to in a news article elsewhere in this issue.]