SOLDIERS AT HAMMER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17079, 31 January 1916, Page 3

SOLDIERS AT HAMMER.

, TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Tt is after spending a holiday at Hannier, and knowing and meeting ja number of our returned heroes, that jl feel compelled to speak up on behalf of those boys, I understand' they are there to- recuperate, to enjoy themselves and get better without, having any undue excitement. That they want rest and quietness, nobody doubts; hut they want a certain amount of enjoyment to keep their thoughts engaged and fo help to mend their shattered nerves. The ordinary routine is to be. insid'o at 9.30 p.m.,' lights out at 10 p.m., and sometimes if a euchre partywas on they were allowed an extra, half-hour. This worked well enough, but the boys had room for complaint when in. Wednesday's orders there appeared : "On ami after Thursday, January 27, all men are warned that they must not. leave the ground's after G.,' 3 .0 p.m." To treat boys who have server! us so well as a lot of school children was enough to break the heart of anyone, and rightfully they resented it. "They have friends in Hanm<v." whose company they have always relished, and. as the past few days have been so hot as to make it hard to be about during the day. the evening hours are always looked' for. The roa- [ son given is that there has been excessive drinking, and that someone with nothing better to do had sent •word to Wellington, from where the order was issued. Now, T understand there tins been only one case of drunkenness before the oiderly room since the institution was oper.ed. and one only has to ask the residents and visitors' to Hannier to hear emphatically that those soldiers are the best behaved thev have ever met. 1. tor one. could' not wish to meet a finer lot ot bovs. and it >'s a owing shnmo that the Government should allow such strict military rules to be enforced in such a fine institution. The outcome of the bovs' re wilting this enforced rule was that thev left The Lodge ill a body on Tmrschv evening rot 'ookmg for violence, but simply as a protcst--aml after a walk round the township returned in the ordinary way. The latest now is that thev are all under ' open arrest," and must rot leave the grounds. Now, I trust all those who are acquainted with these soldiers, and also the residents and visitors of Haiimet will strongly protest and see that these heroes get "British justice. —l 3m " ° k YTSTTOR FROM RKEFTON.