BATTLEFIELD RELICS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16796, 12 March 1918, Page 6

BATTLEFIELD RELICS.

DEAD SOLDIERS' TREASURES. Ose branch of the Defence Department of which practically little has been heard (luring the war is tho Returned Effects Distribution Department. It is here that all remaining possessions of soldiers who have fallen on the field of battle are received back from the front, t& be forwarded on to the deceased soldiers' relatives. The sentimental value placed by a father or mother on the few possessions their sons have taken to the battlefield can never be estimated. The belongings of the men are carefully collected on the battlefield, from the trenches, or in tho hospitals, to be sent back to the relatives in New Zealand. It may be a prayerbook, an old photo,, a handkerchief, or perhaps only an identification disc. The work involves an immense amount of labour, both at the other side of the world and finally in New Zealand, The officers of the Department are located at the old Te Aro railway station in Wellington. Here tho iv.rr.s of the station aro packed with the kits and -pareels received back from th« front. Not only are deceased soldiers' (fleets handled, but also the kits of returned soldiers. There is a staff of five. Some idea of the amount of work put through may he gathered from the fact that during the last two and a-half years over 12,000 kits and parcels have been handled. In addition, there is an ever-growing correspondence which such work necessarily entails. The kits are gone through by the staff, and anything of value, sentimental and material, kept aside for consignment on to tin; relatives concerned. Anything of no value, in the way of old clothing, etc., is sent on to the Ordnance Stoics, under whose control the Effects Department works These useless articles are either burned or sent to the paper mills to be turned to use. ■h The department has received hundreds H;.of grateful letters from next-of-kin. The effects of .a dead soldier usually take about jour or five months to arrivo back from fethe front,, dating from the time'of his death