THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16883, 21 December 1916, Page 3

THE DEFENCE FORCES.

Bt Sentry. The man who is called up bj ballot, fhutiier or not ho passes as lit, has tiiu jiuali sas.istaci.Jon of muidiiiin muuary pay to the extunt oj ss, an order lor this amount boiun uauded to ouch man who faces tlio Medical Board. The Medical iJoard assigns the men to one of four grades—i.e.: A, fit lor active, service; H, dolerred ior operation; C, lit tor homo service (this grade is subdivided into CI and C2, representing separate classes ol homo service); D, permanently unfit. The permanently unlit aro not immediately discharged from the Kxpeditionary Reserve—that, as pointed out can be done only by the commandant. The soldier turned down receives a certificate granting him, as a member of the .New Zealand Kxpeditionary Force, leave of absence until further notice. When a rnan is thus acknowledged a member of the Expeditionary Force, it is to be presumed that his name wall not go to the ballot again. Up to the time the Latest mail left Homo the subscriptions received by the Lord Mayor for the Lord Kitchener National Memorial Fund in aid of disabled officers and men totalled over £223,500. JN'o longer need the fledgling officer fret his soul because of tho down that refuses to be coaxed into tho reasonable semblance- of a rniiitarv moustache. Imperial Army Orders issued in October announce the deletion of the chiuso in regulations providing that officers shall not shave the upper lip. Another amendment provides for the addition of the following clause to paragraph 1787 a, King's Regulations:—" When not on duty or parade, but in uniform, officers under the rank of field-officers will salute all officers of field rank and upwards. Field officers and general officers will salute their superiors in rank." From tho latest Gazette t— Major S. G. Sandle to command the Regiment of Royal Now Zealand Artillery, vice Lieutenantcolonel E. Hume seconded. Bth (Southland) Regiment: Captains J. A. Cushen, F. J. W. Steward, T. D. Hartley, and C. E. Butcher to bo majors, Lieutenants E. M. Gabites, G. Myers, and J. \V. H. Bannerman to be captains. While expressing his disgust at being called Tip in the ballot, a returned soldier stated the other day that he intended to ignore the notification he had received. This is a mistake. A returned soldier called up by ballot must go through the formality of appealing for exemption. Disagreeable as it is, there is no escape. After describing the fighting at the Sorame and the "caterpillars," and_ saying nasty things about tho mud, tho lice, the Huns, and all the other disagreeable things incidental to a soldier's life at the front, a soldier writes as follows to a friend in Dunedin: —" There are two things I want to do, but only onQ that I have a Buckley's chance of bringing off. One is to see this ■war to a finish. The second is that I am getting homesick a little, and "want to go home to my ma." I have been thinking of Christmas, and, oh, for a fortnight in old Dunedin at that time! I want to go homo and wet my legs under the old familiar mahogany. I want to see and kis3 my mother. I want to shake hands ■with dad. I want, ss I used, to tease my sister about ' the boy I saw her with last night.' I want to check my eldest brother and tell him to ' shut up' when he tells mo I am smoking too many cigarettes. I "want to see my married sister and have a lark with her kiddies as of yore. And there's another, 'not a sister,' I want very badly. In fact, I want to be home, and feel all tiat home represents, for just one little fortnight. I have a chum here, and we were talking on the ever-present subject, and he said to me: 'I never thought my poor old home was much when in Duncdin, but what wouldn't I give to be there and among them (his friends) this Christmas.' And I suppose that is tho thought in the minds of everyone of us over here. Well, let us hope we will be home for Christmas 1917, and that all that is left of Fritz and Co. will be home too. It is a bit rough over hero, but I would not have missed it 'for all the tea in China,' and if I had the choice to go home now and not be able to see it out, I think I would stop and chance getting home for ncrt Christmas."

The Gore District Defence Rifle Association will hold its fourteenth annual meeting on January L There are, including the championship (the -winner of which holds the valuable champion cup donated by Captain Copland), nine individual matches for prizes ranging from 20s to 2s 6d. Tho entrance foe is 2s per match, and tho date of closing of entries is December 26. Competitors will provide their own ammunition. The Otago Rifle Association will not hold a meeting this year. A Dunedin soldier tells his father how the news of the downing of a Zeppelin was received in the corner of London in which he happened to bo: —"When the city received its warning I was out in tho street. A policeman tried to get me under cover, but I asked him if he thought I had come 25.000 miles to hide from German bombs! "When it was realised that a Zeppelin had downed the people were wild with delight. Men shoot hands and hugged each otlier, the women kissed all and sundry. The slouch hat, as you know, is_ popular over here, consequently I came in for a liberal share of the osculations." .... The soldier who wrote home as follows was something of a wag:— " Sling Camp, England.

"Dear Bob,—l must tell you about my visit to London. I had heard a lot about the place, so I put 10s in my pocket and decided to go. " Going down in tha train, I met such a nice man, but he looked surprised when I asked him if tho town was far from the station. However, it was not, and when I got out of tho train I took a motor car. I asked the man to drive me to the hotel, but ho asked which one, so I said ' Oh, tho best one, the one all the commercial travellers go to. WelL we drove along, and I amused myself watching the funny thing with numbers on which changed all the time. I soon found out that it was a kind of gasometer affair, which shows you what you have to pay, so I asked the man to go backwards for a bit, but he said he hadn't time. Then we got to tho hotel, and, just fancy, as soon as we stopped a general, I think (for ho had yards of gold braid on his uniform) happened to be standing near, and he rushed forward and opened the door. It was very kind of him. "Well, I got a room and went up, but to my surprise 1 found tho bathroom opened oft it, and the telephone was in my bedroom. Oh, I said this is no good to me, I don't want everybody coming into my room to go to tho bathroom, but the boss man said that would be all right. So I had a wash, and thought I would go and have some dinner. Tho waiter, however, said it would not bo on till half-past 7. I suppose that they are so shorthanded owing to the war that they can't get it ready any eoonor.

" I went ont to a restaurant to get something to eat, and I had a great feed. When I asked the girl how much I had to pay she gave mo a long bill. They charged me for everything, even the bread and the butter. I read it over, and then I asked the girl if they had not forgotten to chargo for something. She read it over, and said it was all right. I said, 'What about the rent?' " Well, I thought I would go and see some show, so, seeing Oxford Circus written up above a door, I went in; but it was a fraud—there was no circus. " Next day I met a friend from TnTcw Zealand, and wo went to a phico called the 'Trocadero.' A man came along and asked me what we wanted, eo I said 'two shandies.' He said that he was sorry, but that they only sold champagne. My friend B ; ll then said that he would have a hottle, about Is 6d. The man laughed, and I saw that Bill had put his foot in it, so I said bring me one at 3=. Well, we got a drink, and also some stuff Bill called patty defaux pas. It was rotten; I think it had been kept too long. As we went out the man at the door held out his hand, so I shook it and Paid that we had enjoyed our supper. "We had no more money, so wc went back to cami>.—Yours sincerely, " Jim."