THE NEW ZEALAND DESERTER

Otago Witness, Issue 3258, 23 August 1916, Page 15

THE NEW ZEALAND DESERTER

ONE PARENT A GERMAN. A PARTICULARLY TRAITOROUS ACT. (Feoii Odh Own CoitßEsroxnENT.) AUCKLAND, August 21. The Makura, which, arrived this evening, brings the following from the Herald's London correspondent, under date July 13: — It is not pleasant to have to mention any -shortcomings on the part of any soldiers who have made New Zealand's name famous and respected in the war, nor would any person setting out to find causes of complaint against our soldiers have found it an easy task. Their conduct throughout had been almost without blemish, and the verdict of the people of England coincides with that of distinguished commanders who have praised them in the field. It is this fact which makes it almost a duty to state the circumstances under which one man wearing the New Zealand uniform proved false to his oath and untrue to his salt, bringing not only disgrace, but also minor disaster in the field upon his comrades. The man referred to has been posted in orders as "Dismissed the service, having deserted to the enemy." He enlisted from Wellington urovmce in an infantry battalion. His record of conduct was not altogether good, and in Juno he came under disciplinary punishment for misconduct. Ho appears to have smarted under this correction, and to have set his mind upon "getting even" with his superiors even at the expense of the lives of his comrades. On the night of the last Saturday in Juno his battalion was in tho_ trenches, and the Brigade Commander was making complete arrangements for launching gas to attack the Germans. The man continued to sulk.

and be saw in this preparation a chance- of getting his revenge. At about 3 o'clock in the morning, apparently when things are usually at their quietest, lie escaped from his comrades, stole out past tho wire into "No Man's Land," and before anyone could realise hi.n intentions ho had made good his escape into tho German trenches. There are more or loss artistic descriptions of how thi3 was effected. One story is that ho ran at tho top of hia speed across tho open ground carrying a white handkerchief as a token of surrender, and that his comrades only realised his intention in time to send a few bullets after him before he got over the Booho parapet. ■ Tho Minister has pro-

bably received official accounts which will enable him to say all that is known. At any rate, thero is no doubt that the traitor marie good his escape to tho enemy, and there is equally no doubt that ho gave them information highly prejudicial to our own plan*, for with tho daylight tho German guns, which had paid no particular attention to our front lino for some days, commenced a hot bombardment of our trenches, inflicting considerable casualties on the New Zealanders, and further, by shelling tho headquarters, upset the plana for the gas attack, which had to be abandoned. All parties agree that this is substantially what occurred. The only bright spot in the whole miserable story of tho soldier's treason is the fact that the traitor is not of British extraction, though he was brought up in the dominion. Ho is, I believe, not even a hyphenated New Zealander, inasmuch as both his father and mother are from the Continent of Europe, one of them being a German. Possibly this may assure him a warmer welcome in the Fatherland that he would ever again receive in New Zealand. The case is a very painful one, and tho traitor's comrades feel most keenly the slur cast upon their battalion.