DESERTED TO THE ENEMY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11784, 23 August 1916, Page 1

DESERTED TO THE ENEMY.

SOLDIER OF A WELIGTON BATMLM'. SERIOUS RESCITS. The Makura, which arrived at Auckland on Monday evening, brought the following from the " New Zealand Herald's" London correspondent, under dato July 13: — "It is not pleasant to have to mention any shortcoming on the part of any of the soldiers who have made New Zealand's name famous and respected in the war, nor would a person setting out to find causes of complaint against our soldiers have found it an easy task. Their conduct throughout has been almost without blemish, and the verdict ifiio people of, England coincide? wiilf that of distinguished commanders who have praised them >n 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 oatlis and untrue to his salt, bringing not only disgrace but also mine/ disaster in the" field upon his comrades. The man re|ferred to.has been posted in orders as. , dismissed from the service, having de--1 serted to the enemy. ' ' " Enlisted from Wellington province in an infantry battalion, his record of conduct was nob altogether good, and in June he came under disciplinary punishment for misconduct. He appears to have Bmarted under this correction and to have set his mind upon ' getting even' with his superiors, even at the exponse of the lives of his comrades. On the night of the last Saturday in June his battalion was in the trenches, and the brigade command was making complete arrangements for launching a gas attack against the Germans. The man continued to sulk, and he saw in these preparations a chance of getting his revenge, About three o'clock in tho morning, apparently when things are usually at their quietest, he escaped from his comrades and stole out past the wire into No Man's Land, and. before anyone could realise his intentions, had mad© good bis escape into the German There are more or less artistic descriptions of how. this was effected. One story is that he ran at the top of his speed across the ground, carrying a white handkerchief as a token of surrender, and his comrades only realised his inteution in time to send a. few bullets after him before he got over the Boche parapet. The Minister of Defence has ' probably received official accounts which will enable him to say all that is known. '

At any rato, there is no doubt that the traitor made good his escape'to the enemy, and there is equally no doubt that he gave them information highly prejudicial to our own plans, for with daylight the German guns, 1 which had paid no particular attention to our front line for come days, commenced a hot bombardment of our trenches, inflicting considerable castiali ties on the New Zealanders, and furj ther, by shelling headquarters, upset ! the plans for a 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 brought up in the Dominion, he is, I believe, not eren a hyphenated New Zealander. inasmuch as both his father and mother are from the Continent of Europe, on& of them being Cermau. Possibly this may assuro him a warmer welcome in tho Fatherland than ho would ever again receive in New Zealand. "The.case is a'very painful one. and the traitor's comrades feel, most keenly tho slur, cast upon their battalion."