DAY BY DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13891, 17 October 1918, Page 4

DAY BY DAY

The Australian troops have won two reputations in this war i The —one for courage and j Australian initiative, the other for ' Troops. lack of discipline. According to Bishop Long, who has been at the front, the latter is as undeserved as the former is deserved. At first he held, the common opinion of Australian discipline, but after he had seen the men in France and listened to the comments of regular officers "who know what real discipline is, and the ends for which discipline exists, men who do not mistake the trappings for the reality," he changed his opinion. He quotes a General of the regular army, a taciturn, shrewd officer who had commanded men in'all parts of the world: "Stout fellows, high-spirited, yes, need proper handling. Undisciplined, no! good, com-mon-sense, stout fellows! Fewer crimes since they came here than ever before. - ' An assistant provost-marshal described them as "the best boys 'in the world." "You can do anything with them. They are the most responsive and reliable men I have ever handled when taken thp right way." An Eng/sh officer who had been with the Australians from the beginning, declared that the Australians' discipline was the most wonderful thing he had ever come in contact with. As this might be taken in two different ways, the Bishop suspected that his episcopal leg was being pulled, but the officer was in earnest. He meant their frontline, fighting discipline. A casual free-and-easiness was observable both in officers and men, and between them, when they were not fighting, but when once business was afoot there was unswerving obedience, and each duty was carried out with the minutest * care and the finest spirit. The Australians have no doubt suffered, as have the New Zealanders at times, from the many tales current as to their manners and methods when off duty, but judged by its results—the only adequate test that can be applied—the, discipline of both is all that it need and should be.