WAR BRIBES ARRIVE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17144, 25 April 1919, Page 5

WAR BRIBES ARRIVE.

TOTAL OF 168 WOMEN. GREAT VARIETY OF TYPES. LIFE IX DANGER ZONES. A cordial welcome was given yesterday by Auckiandere to the war-brides who accompanied their soldier-husbands home on j tha troopship lonic. There were 168 sol- I diers' wives, the largest number that has I as yet arrived in Auckland by any one [ steamer. With taera they brought 63 children, bonny, healthy, little ones of from a few months to a year or two in age, of whom New Zealand may well be proud as future citzens. The wives pre- j sented an unique and interesting variety ! of types. Some of them looked snrprisI ingly young, and many young girls, seem- | ingly between 17 and 20 years old, were to | I be seen coming ashore with chubby babies | in their arms, or handing them over to the stalwart young men in khaki standing i proudly beside them. As the first of the J i new arrivals came down the gang plank, there were cheers from the waiting crowd I j below, and the young couples were soon I surrounded by crowds of friends and I i escorted into the adjoining sheds, there to forget their temporary embarrassment in the kindly welcome given, and in liberal supplies of hot tea and other refreshments I hospitably pressed upon them. I The warmth of Auckland's welcome was i thoroughly appreciated by all. Some of ' the little brides approached the gangway i . with the pathetic, bewildered look of these i who find themselves in an unknown land, ' with only strangers to give them greeting, . and in their minds a great deal of uncer- | tainty as to what that greeting will be. > However, they were not long left in ' doubt; one girl-bride spoke afterwards, with depth of feeling, of her anxiety and wonderment as to how her coming might be viewed by the people of her husband's land, and of her relief and gratitude that her welcome had been so kindly. The Horrors of Invasion. Many of those who are making New Zealand their future home, have Known in full measure the horror of war, and have lived not only through days of suspense and privation in England, but through the horrors of German invas.on and Bolshevik tyranny. Among those who spoke yesterday of their experiences were a young Russian lady, whc6e home in Petrograd I had been destroyed by the Bolsheviks; I another, a French girl, from a village ' ' twice captured by the Germans, and' twice wrested from them by British i troops, and yet another from Poland | whose village had been caught in the tide of German invasion. Among the British girls were some who had worked in the I great arsenals, others in hospitals, yet i others who had taken up office work. . . | And to each of them, in the midst of war, and death, and sorrow and labour, had come romance, the opening up of new | horizons in a brighter, happier land, and a chance of forgetfulness of all the dark and tragic experiences of the war years. Nursing Belgian Women. A vivid recital of her work in hospital among the women refugees from Be'gium was given by one of the soldiers' wives, formerly a nurse in a London hospital. " Whin the first great rush of Belgian refugees started in England, many of the women were sent to our hospital," she said. " Some of them wevo horribly i mutilated. I wish those people who do [ not even yet quite believe stories of German cruelty could have seen them, some , of them just young girls, who had been subjected to unsneakable outrage. . . . A i umber of th m were almo t insane from the horror of it. We did all we could for them, and in spite of the awful , injuries of some, they recovered, and were ! then sent to a convalescent home. They ,' all spoke of going ' home' when the war , was over, and never doubted for a moment ; I that the Germans would finally be driven j I out of their country." ! Several of the English girls had worked ! in the great British arsenals at Wo. Iwich j 1 and elsewhere prior to their marriage, i One was engaged in tea ing fuses, another. in filling the shells. It was hard work, j and sometimes dangerous, they said, and' ' only the great need of England would ' have induced them to undertake it. Ex- J j citing times frequently occurred during ! the German air raids, and several bombs I were dropped very close to the arsenate, [ although, fortunately, no direct hits were registered. Experiences Daring Air Raids. Other women also spoke of the terror of the air raids. "We got quite used to j rushing into the basements and dug-outs for shelter," said one, " only in the end it got badly on my nerves. When I used to hear the droning of the engines and the ' explosions of the shrapnel I felt as though I simply must rush out, not into the dug-; outs, but right outside, where I could see ■ what was going on. A bomb fell on a house not far away from where I was once, ' and k'lled many people. Even those in the basements were not safe, for one bomb crashed through the four floors of a house j in Holloway and exploded right in the J basement where all the people were crowded." Another speaker told of the precautions taken by many of the timid. Night after night, she said, she had watched processions of women on their way to the tunnels under the Thames, wheeling perambulators, carrying with them blankets and provision for spending the night with their children underground. Among other women workers was one who had been employed as a letter-sorter. in the London West post office. " There were about 500 women there altogether," i she said, " and they undertook every branch of wcrk. The sorting was not 1 difficult when one became used to it, but I you needed a good memory. We were , given one month's training, on salary, and then, with war bonus, earned about £2 2s a week. I liked the work, and having lived in London all my life, was accustomed to the names of places. I don't I think I would like to take on the same j work in New Zealand, though," she added j laughingly, " for my husband has been I telling me a few of your local Maori names." Conditions of Life in London. Conditions of life in .London were also interestingly described by this speaker. The high wages of the war period had brought about a remarkable period of prosperity for many who had never had money in their lives, and the cancellation of the war bonus six months after the signing of peaco was, she said, being awaited with I great apprehension by the workers. Many j ! of them, both men and women, were) eagerly waiting any chance to better their condition by coming out to the Dominions, where there seemed to be so much better I a chance of making a good livirg. I One of the points mentioned in conneclion with living in London was the great j ' demand for housing accommodation. Rents | I had advanced, and even with the war bonus, manv workers had fcund it difficult 'to live. The speaker herself, a widow, I who had subsequently married a New Zea- ' lander, had occupied a three-room flat in Brixton, the rent for which, unfurnished, had been 9s 6d a week. When given some idea of New Zealand rents, to say rotting ■ of the shortage of house., her idea, on the housing question received an obvious jolt. Good Food Again « « \„vbow, there is one thing I know . wfl can look forward to, ' remarked an- i The bri T" and that is plenty of good I fid "What the new arrivals were chiefly ] Poking forward to in this line wui.Buear , butter and meat, .It was explained that , ra.tion.ns was still. in force in England up , to the tint* of leaving. Only loz of butter, 4oz of margarine, and Jib of sugar was 'allowed each person a week. White bread , was restored immediately upon the signing , of the armistice, but in Other respects con- ; ditions were much the samo as, during the i war period. I'