NEMESIS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 830, 7 October 1916, Page 8

NEMESIS.

IN RAILWAY OFFICER'S GARB.

COLLECTING FINES FROM SOLDIERS.

["or THE SUN.] Private Blade, of Hie Eleventeenth Reinforcement, on his final leave, was wrestling a friendly bout in the railway carriage, with his friend Rifleman Point, of the Square Dinkums. Accidentally Blade's elbow severely cracked a window. The wrestling bout ceased abruptly; and there was conjecture concerning the cos! of the damage and whether the guard would notice i!. All hopes on the latter seer were dissolved when the keen-eyed guard came through. '•Who did that?" he demand • hj "I did," said Blade and Pohd in chorus. "1 see, a combined effort, happy collaboration like," said the g ;:;rd, whose god humour had returned when lie saw there was to be no evasion of the responsibility. "Mow much?" asked B'a !o. The g'. : n '■> toll him and !m paid. Bui all T:\ii\vtn incident:. and a< ;i----dents of this and other ivimls do ;<r,\ end with such promptness and dispatch. During their leave th.e sotei'S of the 'Dominium Fa eh, man is given a rai'v.av pass !o tin station is. a month's p'iy in all. With t: :se trains mdl md of the ea ma; crammed with chcrr-i;*'-; men. They ■■.<:■ a! peace v i'.h the world. ma;.' give no trouble to auvone. Kvrrylhi.-".' is O.K. \t the End ■ -!' Li>--.ve. railway* h< in to ga'imi in the soldiers and their l.ro>i!il<-s. Many of them have stroked I'm- from the line of railway on which their passes entitled them to travel, others have lost their passes or given them away to comrades more hard up than themselves. Very few have any money, yet every man of them must he returned to camp. So the guards and stationmasters work to that end. Often penniless and ticketlcss, the so!.hers are landed safely in camp, while in the railway traffic office lists of the defaulters' names and omissions and the amounts owing are received. Then Nemesis in the person ■>f a railway officer takes a hand in the grine.

A Complicated Business.

Mis business is to colled (he sums owing, and it is not always an easy task, for though the spirit of the soldier is willing. Hie purse or pocket is often weak. If Private Blade and Rifleman Point had not paid for their .broken window on the spot, Nemesis would have handed to the Camp Adjutant a slip of naper with their names and companies written upon it and a request that these men should appear before him. The Camp Adjutant would have signed this paper, and an orderly would have hurried to present it to the platoon sergeant, who would have hurried 'Made and Point to headquarters, and 'here they would have met Nemesis and found him a kind and punctilious officer. If they could have paid Hie whole amount at once he would have been "lad to end the mailer there and then. If not, it would have to be paid in instalments, which means that Nemesis pavs many visits to the camps. He is sorry to have to collect the money from men who seldom have much; but duty is duty. It is chi" ( ty with the bard doers that be has to do business, the men who spend every nenny of their pay when on leave, and have to he brought hack to camp an the time payment system.

Departmental Consideration. Nemesis doesn't appear to worry much over the men who have incurred small railway tines of different kinds. A shilling or sixpence won't break a man. It is when the amounts run into pounds that he is concerned, even though a lot of them bring the trouble upon themselves. When sailing day draws near and there are still amounts owing, the affair be"omes more trying. No man wants to see a soldier so on board a transport with little or no monev, all because they kicked over the traces a little too much when they were on their leave, and though business is business, even the Railway Department lies a heart at limes, when tlve circumstances of (be case warrant it. WILL LAWSON.