CASUALTY LISTS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 26 April 1918, Page 5

CASUALTY LISTS.

AN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION.

BT TILEGRAPH—PP.ES6 ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, April 25. As there is evidently misapprehension among some sections of the public as to the pubLcation of casualties in the newspapers, it is considered desirable to again .set out the system which has now been in force over twelve months. Tne official casualty lists contain information submitted by the imperial authorities, and as this goes through several channels before being cabled to the Base Records Office here lists are not received until about two or three weeks after the date of the.casualty. In addition to this information, the Minister of Defence has arranged that wherever possible cabled notification shall be received as soon as a wounded soldier reaches hospital in England or France, with particulars of the nature |of the-wounds. This information is I usually received within a few days of I the soldiers' arrival in hospital, and, in addition to being immediately noti- | fied to the next of kin, appears in the ! hospital and progress reports which are i issued to the press twice daily, when necesary, with the casualty lists by the j Base Records Office. i During the present offensive fully 75 per cent, of the soldiers admitted to the hospitals in France and United Kingdom have been first reported under hospital reports, and this accounts for the soldier's name appearing twice, first on a- hospital list and later the official casualty lists. When no hospital reports; have been received before the ofi fieial casualty list, the soldier can often j only be notified to the next of kin as i "wounded," instead of more detailed information being available, as is the case with a hospital notification, except in minor cases of wounds, which often do not necessitate a soldier being sent to hospital. Detailed information is nearly always supplied within a few days. The instructions are that notifications must always be classified as (a) dangerous, (b) serious, or (c) wounded, which means that all notifications under category (c) need not cause the next of kin any undue anxiety, as any change in condition to the "dangerous" or "serious" list is immediately notified by cable to the Base Records Office, which in turn telegraphs this information on receipt to the next of kin.

Every casualty list as received is at once dealt with, and notifications sent by urgent telegram to the next of kin, and arrangements are in "force at the Base Records Office under which any casualty cables received before 8 p.m. are always dealt with and next of kin telegrams depositee! with the G.P.O. before the casualty staff ceases work. On a Tecent Sunday during the present offensive 1400 casualty reports were received unexpectedly at the Base Records Office at 10 a.m. An emergency staff was collected, and next of kin telegrams were lodged in the

G.P.O. by 9 p.m