RETURN FROM SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17234, 9 August 1919, Page 10

RETURN FROM SERVICE.

3WO ■TBMSFOBTS AEBXYI TOTAL 01? 1660 all ranks Fljfe $fc •. MEN • FKQM-.EOOT I CORDIAL WELCOME HOME, ! A total of 1660 troops returned to Auck land yesterday. The Slatatau,' which ait rived on Thursday evening and berth© yesterday morning, brought 632 men « all ranks from England, ant* the Ul&ia roa, which arrived in the harbour abou nine o'clock yesterday morning, bi'oagh 1023 mounted troops from Egypt, the© men comprising the first contingent* of ft »«».< to arrive home after service „in flw Mediterranean theatre of war. A cordial welcome .home was extiendet to the men on both ships, and for thii purpose the Depa%.Maynr, Mr. A. J Entrkan, and tha chairman of the Hftibour Bowd, Sir. IL D. Heather, officials visited both, transports. The nekt-of tiii were accommodated on a terry -steamer which «ifcjted round tho transports §u they lay at anchor in the stream. Wher the Matatna was being berthed a salutt was fired from Stanley Point, and ship; in the harbour Bounded thou* syrens con tir.uonsly for several minutes. Most oi the vessels ia port " dressed ship" ix honour of the troops. Seaplanes from the New Zealand flying School, at Kohima,' rams, circled round the transports is the stream, and dropped parcels of cigarettes and confectionery mi board. All tfa« soldiers who disembarked at Aucklsnc' were provided with refreshments by the Auckland Women's Patriotic League. The Auckland city and suburban troops wore conveyed to&eir i homes in motorcars provided fey citizens, th» service being; undoi' the direction, of Mr. A. A> Martm. » MEN- OF MOUNTED BEBABE BOND OF COf¥?RApf,SHIP,, CEMENTED ON MAN? FIELDS. The transport TJUmaroa, with a draft oi 1028 men from ''-Egypt reached the inner harbour? about $ a.m. yesterday. Some 500 men, for the Auckland and Taranaki iiatricts were taken aahare by the Defence steamer Lady Soberts during the forenoon, and at ,& > 4Scg,m. the transport kit for Wellington. Owing to the fact that the Lady Boberts had to make several ;rsps between the vessel and Wharf it was not possible ~-to give ths Auckland portion of the first draft of fit men from Palestine the welcome -which iimy deservjjd. The : crswd ; which had gathered', when the Mufc&tua berthed had •Jiminished greatly before the first of the CUmaroa's men had landed, and actually ijxly their Rpxt- of kin were on. the wfcari ;o receive them. The Ulimaroa had a pood voyage from EffWDt, .via Colombo and Albany, but it vast marred by cm sa,d »r -'.denfe a soldier vho belonged to the S«.jil» being found langed in c lavatory. Be had been a bo?jital pat« 4, A verdict of suicide was afe (the fequiry. Those who were on board thai transport n the stream and saw the partings beween tfco Aacjiand «snd Southern men ijairognished a nbase of tjpmrsdesh'p not if ton observed among home-comiug troops. >raft.a of troops from England are 'nasally imposed of men drawn from many spite sho may: raster have seen each other b* oro, but, yesterday's draft was composed 4 @sn whose friendships, were cement OalUpoli or in Palestine, in these cam-saigns--4he': most arduous that were 'eve? sndirtookwmen 'Wsks entirely dependent »P» am asptjjftp, although uia respective mm- pace honoured, is the traditional say, the officers who survived and the men ipho; remained were obviously comrades in ;he : ftruesstg sens©;-, Officially ■■&«•» -were' dieliacfc, but kaijisnly they were feiends who iad fie&ired th«lr biscuit, or to of "bally" seef, whose wafiarbottk! was common pro)eri.y, who fests-jhi noVQf each other as aajor tliifi, or Trooper that, but who, in act, were partners in a dangerous *gnter»rise f the resnl* ni> which would mean «nihijetion or w&my* Yesterday it was he common thin* to see co3«jie!s * and majors saying epoi-bye to " Jim" and * George" and ** and there was no t .estralnb -ps- ■ The : intimacy of solders in the tottery, troop or platoon is dtsttnat from tha, relationships of tho details composing a mixed draft, and for this ■■&• wffl b# fonnd that in the future the men who have fought in the Kew Zealand Mounted Rifles regiments will maintain in peace $ho bond which they have formed-in war..' *' "" '"■' ■ Thrnaghont the voyage the educational system commenced In Egypt wafs ma* tinned. In charge of ttos work was Major J. EGbertson formerly an inspector of fdroola in Otagn, Major Bo%rtnon left New Zealand aa a trooper, in which capacity he served in the Anxac Camel Corps. Wfeen the educational schema was introduced be was appointed to take charge of it, and in a day ha rose from trooper to major, a promotion which was the subject of a song, the burden of which was "A trooper at mid-day, a major at night." The classes, soma of which were compulsory, were held when "the brigade was at Bafa, prior to the outbreak of the Egyptian -fiota in March, and at the baße camp at Xsmailia. The' subjects included English, arithmetic, geography, history, genera! agriculture, stock-breeding, wool classing, frnitginawing* motor mechanics, electrical engineering and blacltemithlng, shorthand, book-keeping, and commercial correspondence. At Rafa there were no buildings in which to. hold classes, therefore the men gathered in the open air. A returned sergeant humorously described the classes squatting in groups on the sand and studyiirjg : vwhafc an iaifcructor wrote o» blackbnaTfJa.