SOLDIERS RETURN HOME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17041, 24 December 1918, Page 6

SOLDIERS RETURN HOME

SHIP BERTHING TO-DAY.

TOTAL OF 833 OF ALL RANKS.

i Transport No. 199, bringing a return : draft comprising 833 soldiers of all ranks, I arrived in the Auckland Harbour late last i night, and anchored outside the Rangitoto j Reef. The 'port health officer will visit the ship at six o'clock this morning. As the latest information is to the effect that there is no infectious disease on board, little or no delay is expected to be occasioned before the vessel is berthed, and it is hoped to bring her alongside Queen's Wharf by 8 a.m. The medical boarding will he carried out in one of the wharf sheds. The Auckland district men will be disembarked first, and will appear before the .Medical Board in alphabetical order. Tho men for Southern centres will be medically boarded immediately afterwards. The cot cases for the Auckland Hospital will be conveyed to that institution immediately after they have been medically boarded. Troops disembarking at Auckland will. be conveyed to their homes in motor-cars, supplied by the Volunteer Motor Service Corps, under Mr. A. A. Martin. Carowners are requested to bo in attendance on the wharf at noon. Two next of kin will be permitted to accompany each soldier. Next of kin holding the necessary passes ■ will Be admitted to the special enclosure on the wharf at 12.15 p.m. The Auckland men will be granted leave immediately the medical boarding is concluded. No leave ; will be granted to the Southern men. The 1 latter, who number approximately 430 of all ranks, will be despatched South by ! special train, leaving at 5 p.m. The station will be closed to next of kin and the general public, and next of kin will not be allowed to travel by the special train. An official visit of welcome will be paid to tne ship by Colonel G. W. S. Patterson, officer commanding district,, the Deputy-Mayor, Mr. A. J. Entrican, and I the chairman of the Harbour Board, Mr. H. D. Heather.