STEALING FROM SOLDIERS.

Observer, Volume XXXV, Issue 20, 23 January 1915, Page 2

STEALING FROM SOLDIERS.

Dishonest New Zealanders. IT is alleged that the local reporter of Cairo, when he had viewed the Australasian troops, was permitted by his sub-editors to write. "They are superior people. These young men evidently belong to good families. THEY. HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY." May one say in parenthesis that it does not matter a twopenny expletive whether the New Zealanders belong to good families, whether they are superior or inferior people, or whether they have plenty of money. The sole question is "Can they fight?" We earnestly believe they can fight andl permit the boiled literary tripe of the Egyptian paper to go for what it is worth. The ardent admiration of the New Zealander for himself is shown in his haughty permission for British troops to live in the vicinity of the Pyramids along: with him. He admits (in various ] letters) that the British Territorial j "Tommy" is a good chap—and it is'; very nice of him indeed. But the; sting of his letter is in the tail. "Of ■ course, they cannot compare with us in physique." Let that go. The ; best man will be there when the bell' rings. Skite, letters and self-admir-r ation don't matter twopence in a* war of "attrition," the stupid word that all phonograph journalists are-. ladling out three to a paragraph. ? Any war that is not a war of attri-; tion is mere peace. i • • • There comes to us from innumer-j able New Zealand soldiers many] letters. Many are regarded' with) distrust as possible expressions of bile coming from men who are-: chafed with a long sea voyage, nervous with what is before them, and anxious to do men's work. What seems real is that the men on the New Zealand troopships journeying to Egypt were subject to the greed of the average New Zealand commercialism. This paper, by honourable uses of exclusive information, was able to show that New Zealand soldiers were sent away to fight with exeeraible boots, andl execrable saddlery. It also showed that the ship canteens' which in every other British service are "run" for the soldiers, were in this case run, by avaricious New Zealand merchants aching to extract the uttermost farthing from the soldier. No man who knows the facts will deny that the greedl of these contractors swamped every sense of loyalty and made them poisonous parasites. Fortunately, this paper is not cut off from the troops, and therefore the news that greedy persons continued to "take it out of the hide" of the New Zealand soldier per the ship's canteen until the troops were landed in Egypt, will be of special interest to people who subscribed to the Patriotic Funds. The news; one would wish to be circulated! throughout Australasia is this, in; the soldier's own words: "Yester-r day two> boys went to the canteen.' One bought a pack of playing cards, the other a writing pad l . Inside the cards' was a note like this, 'Will the boy who receives these cards kindly write a letter to Mrs , Dargaville, Auckland Patriotic Fund.' Inside the writing pad was a note, 'Will the lucky boy who gets this write to Mrs , Ponsonby Road, Auckland?' " Just fiancy! The things that were given to> be distributed among us are now being sold at the canteen." Apart from the fact that women put those intolerably advertising notes into the packets, the fact remain® that these free gifts were sold and that somebody of a commercial tendency reaped the cash. May one say in passing that the excessively forward girls of Ponsonby and Dargaville should be resolutely deprived of possible husbands. If they are typical givers—God help the recipients! I As a matter of fact the running of. the gift business is an exact replica: of the thieving that occurred during the despatch of contingents to' South Africa. Business people looked upon the soldier as a "soft thing," and

lie certainly is the softest thing that ever happened to the dishonest trader because he is not a free man. In the South African bother he was robbed of everything from Pianos k) biscuits and from shirts to socks. As arexample of tto superior honesty of Australians it is We stated that the Australian troopship canteen sold cigarettes to soldiers at _d a packet, but that cigarettes freery given by Auckl'andere to the Sid Irs were sold to their brothers and sweethearts at 6d a time Why Nei Zealand permits this abominable dishonesty to continue is past Wit is absolutely national and characteristic that the Pettiest commercial transaction cannot be undertaken without barefaced theft.