EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1940, Page 8

EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

FORESTRY DRAFT FAREWELLED.

Twenty men from the West Coast, including two from the Buller district, left by this morning’s express for Papakura camp, to join the special Forestry Company- for overseas war service. Although there were only two' Greyfnoutlf men included in the draft, the majority coming from country districts, therejwas a large gathering. at. the. railway .station, where the men were tendered a brief official farewell, the .speaker, being Mr A. H. McKane,’ The Greyinouth. Highland Pipe.. Band;, marched through, .the stiqets r to the station, where patriotic a'irri? ■wrire-played. . , ■ OiLbehalf of the Women’s Committed' of the Greymouth Patriotic . Society, . Mrs. Ai - H.~, McKane presenter the. ; GrOy district men with the usual g *Mr. At. Hl McKane, who apologised for- the absence. of the Mayor (Mt F. A'., Kitchingham),. the Deptity-Mayril (Mr’ Hi: Herring), Mr. Ji O’Brien, M.P., and Mr,W. L'ee .Martin, all of whom hart previous engagements, said, that, oh' behalf- of the district,, he was pre-. sent.,to'bid’,the men farewell arid wish them.’the best of luck. It was a uew departure, . sending’ a forestry unit overseas', but. he- felt sure that the members , would not only uphold , the traditions of' West" Coast bushmen but the'?, honour ...of: New .Zealand. The peohla of the West Coast were proud of the men. who were, giving up. their homes" and leaving the country for the natihn.’s- good.-. He trusted that their sojourn away wohld be a happy one, if possible, arid that; perhaps, befoi e their destination was’ reached- their services would" not be required. From experience, lie. could say, that,when they did reach their destination they would- want to. conserve all their energies', . as.. their task would entail many hardship's, difficulties and sacrifices.'. The people of the district appreciated' that fact arid lie could” as-? sui-e the men they were proud of them. In .conclusion, he wished the meh all .the best from the people of the. West. Coast. As-, the train, left the platform, cheers were givOn for the men.

SIX NEW ENLISTMENTS. Since riOoh on. Saturday, there have been six further enlistments at Greymouth. for the Expeditionary Force, raising the effective district total to 445. The.names are as follow: — F; C. Cunriard. A. Dobbie. J. O’Connor. E. P. Gallop. B. R. McCarthy. P. McGuire. A final supplementary draft of six men for the Second,Echelon is to leave Greymouth.on Wednesday morning, for Burnham Camp, the members, of the driift bfeirig ak'follOw: G.T'.’ Davidson, F. G. Malloch, J. B. Martin, R. N. Kellyj J. L. Patterson, JI T. Taaffe. THIRD ECHELON QUOTA! It is expected ‘ that the Third Echelon of' the'- Expeditionary Force, for which enlistments ;are . now being'taken, will be. called up early next month; The:;quota for, the, No. 9 Area (Nelson; Marlborough and West Coast),', including'..reinforcements; for the Second liivisiohal Cavalry Regiment and : 20th Irifaritry; Rifle . Battalion; is 3bl: The suh-Area. .quotas have not yet : been received, but it is expected tha'tjthe West Coast, including'Buller arid’ Hokitika, will have to find’ about 120 men, approximately the same as for the Second Echelon. FORESTRY COMPANY. The following,additional list of men selected, for the Forestry -Company was received" at the Army Office at Greymouth this morning. They will be required to report at the office at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, and, if passed fit, will leave for- Papakura by the -express ohTFri'day morning next. C. R. Berwick. , W. C. Campbell. F. W, Churchill. W. T. Douglas. L. Al Hatill. A; Lamberton, J. A. Shaffery.

COLONEL HARGEST FAREWELLED

r WELLINGTON, February 9. Colonel J. Hargest, who is noy in camp-as Officer Commanding the 2nd Echelon,- paid a short visit in uniform to the caucus of the National Party in Parliament-Buildings,; to-day, to say good-bye to his colleagues as an active Parliamentarian. He was very warmly-received- - In' -a, brief speech Hon. A, Hamilton, Leader of ■ the:. National Party, said that-his” colleagues), were very proud of Colonel-.Hargest, and the colours he wore. They fully realised the importance:.and responsibility. of his high office; and assured him that he was-leaving-with the sincere goodwill of them all, and..that they would follow his work 1 with great interest. They ' noticed ..with satisfaction that his appointment had been favourably received’ throughout New Zealand. Colonel Hargest said he felt the break-from his colleagues very much, and assured them that he greatly appreciated their expression of • goodwill. ■He emphasised the seriousness of the struggle in which New Zealand; as- a part of the British Empire, was -engaged, and urged his colleagues to lend every effort to see that New Zealand gave her maximum- war effort.-- He said he fully realised the responsibility of his position, and would give of his best to see that New Zealand would maintain the high and honoured record won by her soldiers in the last war. PUBLIC WORKS MEN’S RECORD ■-a?. WESTPORT/ February 11. Mr. A. G. Park, Senior Engineer of Westport, of the Public Works Department, at - the gathering farewelling seven •of the Department’s emplovees, who leave on Wednesday to form a Railway Survey and-Construc-tion Company, stated that, in some quarters, the statement of the Minister of Public Works that a fine response- had been made by the men of the Public Works Department had been- belittled;But, said Mr. Park, the response in this district alone showed, the truth of the assertion of Mr. Semple.’ Of the total number 1 of recruits for all the forces that had .left the Buller .district for service overseas-, 40 per cent., of them had been public works- employees. The''actual number of men accepted for service was 132,-of whom 53 were Department men. - SPECIAL TELEGRAM SERVICE Commencing; on Saturday a cheaprate telegram service was made available to-members of His Majesty’s-

Army and Air Force abroad .except for the present those serving in ,Canadatand Egypt:' The rate is sd. awbril for’text and signature, with a minimum charge of . 2/6. Urgent private matters only will be allowed. Thei text is to be in plain. English, and the signature must contain' the surname. Messages . are subject to censorship. The address, which will not be charged for; must- ; they; indicator “EFjVI,” regimental number, rank; addressee’s name, designation of unit to which attached, and the words “British Expeditionar-ySi Force, London,” or if the addressee is not with the British- Expeditionary Force ■ the name of the-place or/country of <dqs. T tination. Special classes of telegram and accessory services are not permitted.

ADDRESSING CORRESPONDENCE

The Postmaster-General-, (the Hon,. F. Jones) stated to-day that the Post Office was anxious that letters for soldiers should reach- the addressees with as little dela yas- possible.-- Not only was it important that letters for soldiers who had proceeded abroad should be fully and correctly addressed, but it was equally important that the words .“N.Z.E.F. Overseas” should be included in thp address.-, A. com-, plete address should include-the soldier’s -number, his rank,.and his .unit, followed by “N.Z.E.F. Overseas.” This is an example l of a correctly addressed letter for a soldier who has left the Dominion: t—, 591, Private J. Brown, B Cpinpany, . 19th ■ (Wellington) .Itifltt Battalion, N.Z.E.F. .Overseas) ; ' RECRUITING COMMITTEES . WELLINGTON, Delegates from the CehtraLrecruifing committees of. all military areas will confer to-morrow, with) members of the central recruiting, committee,to discuss plans arid co-ordinate) arid intensify a recruitinggariipaig;n for the Third Echelon’ and reinforcements. The object is to form a national; re-, cfuiting committee. Members of the Cabinet will give .addresses on various, aspects of the'D6mini6ri y s war effort.