Aust & N.Z.
Base Dêpot
Monte Video Camp
Weymouth
30/12/1915,
Dear Everybody,
Well here we are with another Xmas over, & one to me, well spent in Old England. To say that I was very surprised to get leave is to put it very mildly indeed. Right up until the morning of the 23rd I was attached to a draft, & had absolutely no chance whatever of getting any. However on the night of the 22nd, fresh orders were wired through from War Office to the effect that 1100 men & 16 officers were to hold themselves in readiness to embark immediately. This meant that all 3 drafts here at the time, would have to go out together, also that the numbers of the men would have to be increased, & that of the officers cut down. Consequently all officers who had been here longest had greatest claim & I happened to be one of those cut out. I was keenly disappointed at not getting out with this lot, because there were quite a number of our own regt. going out & the officers were a god lot too. I had put in a good deal of time & work
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with these men, to say nothing of the opportunity it afforded of one getting back to his regt. However it is the way we have in this army & one must put up with it. On top of the order for the draft, the O.C. of this camp issued a circular stating that officers who were previously attached to a draft & not able to get Xmas leave could if not attached to the new draft, apply for the usual leave. Being disappointed in one direction I was not going to be in another, so sent in to O.C.N.Z. details a written application at once. I even went so far to see that it was recommended by him & despatched to Base Dêpot orderly room. After that something went wrong, it got lost or something, & it did not reach he Commandant at the proper time. The result was that when the list appeared there were no N.Z.s names on it at all. Thinking something had happened I visited orderly room, & found that our applications had never been considered. Wanted to know the reason why? “Oh! They did not reach this office in time.” I was able to contradict that. They side stepped for a bit, but finally granted us the leave, minus 1 day.
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There were only two of us, & had we got from 23rd to the 28th we might have gone to Scotland, but when we only got till 27th we did not think it was worth while going beyond London. By this time it was 11.15 A.M. & the train we wanted to catch left Weymouth at 12.29; meant bustling a bit, just got it a minute before it moved out. Arrived London 5. P.M. & went straight out to Blackheath. Had rung the Hoopers up from Weymouth, & they were only to pleased that I should cast myself upon them for as long as I liked. Spent the night of the 23rd at Blackheath, & on the afternoon of the 24th proceeded to Reading as they had previously arranged to do, to some friends of theirs, Darwall by name. What a time we had, would take a little book to write it, so will have to hang on to it until such time as we can talk it all over. The Darwall family is a very nice family indeed & treated me handsomely indeed. There are five boys & only one girl, & she the prettiest little thing you ever saw. About the same age as little Jessie, & such a charming manner, & very clever too. The boys were very nice indeed ranging from the ages of 18 downwards.
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The oldest one is at Sandhurst & will be joining a regt. in about a months time. He may be in the firing line a month after joining. The second son is just finished his public school career, & is passing into Sandhurst going into the army. He may also be in the firing line in 6 month time. The other boys are all at school, little Margie as they call the girl, has her own governess. She has only had 40 hours instruction & it is simply marvelous what she has done in the time. Reading is a fine town indeed, on the main road between London & Bath & is the capital of Berkshire, some 300,000 of a population. Although the weather was not as we usually have it in N.Z. it was quite pleasant on Xmas day, we used our time to good advantage in having a good look round the place. Reading, unlike London, is a blaze of lights at night, a privilege they are not to enjoy much longer, lighting restrictions to be put into operation on 10th Jan. We returned to London Mond. morn. 27th arriving there 10 A.M. What a day & what a crowd, we were simply some among millions. Everywhere you went there was nothing but seething
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mass of people. We did not go straight down to Blackheath, but busied ourselves in trying to obtain seats for a very fine pantomine, Puss in Boots. This proved hopeless, so we had to content ourselves with going to another, Peter Pan. This old pantomime has been running in London at this season of the year for 11 years. It is an awfully pretty thing, & just the thing for children. The place is simply packed with mothers & fathers with their kiddies, & it is just splendid to see the way they enjoy it. Alywin Leslie who went to Brighton for Xmas joined us for this. He left for Weymouth by train leaving London 7.P.M. he reporting himself for the first time. I did not leave till 9.50 & arrived at Weymouth 4 A.M. just 2 hours late. The train was simply packed. On arriving at the station no cars were available of course, & I had to walk the 2 miles to camp, making it just five when I turned in. Oh! I sent you a cablegram from London on 24th hope you received it all right. Have had no mail this week but had a letter from Rothie dated 4/11/1915. Annie was the author, & according to the contents everybody was in the best of form, & spirits. I can well imagine the scene with all the young fry in the house, for you had the Orepuki family round.
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I am pleased indeed to hear there was some luck at the Winton races. Have not received the Witness with either Gore or Winton races in them yet. They ought to have been here long ago. Spanish Princesses day is coming, & possibly her number will have gone up before this reaches you. The parcel that was to have reached me for 19th Sept arrived the other day in good condition & for which many thanks. Those dispatched & to arrive here for Xmas, have not turned up yet, may come any day. The mails are arriving very badly indeed. However we must not complain, very lucky to be getting them as well as we are. The N.Z. section of this camp is to be shifted up to Hornchurch, a place some 16 miles out of London. The change is to take place in a day or two, for which we here are all very glad. We will all be very pleased to shake the dirt of Weymouth from off our boots. It is splendid landing so near London too. The Aust & N.Z.s are to be run separately, & a good thing too, it is hopeless trying to keep things straight the way we are now. The Aust. are to be left here.
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It was the fun of cork getting the draft to the station last night. Some of the men of course, had drunk too many healths & were not in a very sober condition. The last roll call took the biscuit, everybody was singing in fine style & many of the names were never answered, however the men were all there & we move off up to time. It was a pitch black night, & this coupled with the sobriety of a number of the men, mad a march almost hopeless. I was detailed to follow on in rear & collect all stragglers, & of cours saw all the sights. It was just like following a mob of sheep, the men were as happy as Larry, & just strolled along singing like fun. When we got to the town it was still worse, they occoupied the whole street, & walked in & out amongst the crowd the same as if they were all on a holiday. We couldn’t do anything, if you said anything to any of them they would invariably reply, “all right sir, I’ll be there, trust old Anzac” etc, & they would trot up lik any old sheep that lags behind would do. Anyhow we got them on the train & everything all correct which was the main item, some of them
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Some of them will have sore heads today but I suppose they will think it was worth it. Where they are going to we have no idea but strongly suspect it is Egypt. Well now if this is to catch the mail I must be off. I have had to write it in a hurry, or else miss altogether. I trust you all enjoyed the Xmas as much as I did
Au Rêvoir
Your,
Affectionate Brother
E.S. McI.
