26/5/1916
Dear People,
Another day is about to draw to a close & a very indifferent one it has been. It rained very heavy most of last night & today was dull and rather cold, but it has turned out warmer this evening & looks as if it will be, a big fat day, tomorrow. The order of things for tomorrow is a route march of eight miles in the morning & a half holiday in the afternoon, or in truth washing day. This morning a new order came out to the effect that running parade before breakfast is cut out till further orders that means we can be in bed till half past six. But we must be up then for we have to have blankets rolled & gargle parade over before breakfast at seven. We are told by other reinforcements here who have observed us drilling that we have been pushed on faster than any other draft that has come into camp & we ourselves are of the same opinion. So you see that there may
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be something doing & we might not have to spend as long here after all. This has been the worst week so far for fellows cracking up but after another few days I think all will be in good going order. So far as I myself am concerned I am quite, all right, but for a slight cold. This I could hardly miss as nearly every fellow in the hut has it & there are some real hummers. I am going to procure a bottle of Woods Peppermint tonight. The thirteenths leave Wellington on Mon and I suppose the seventeenths will be leaving down there on Thursday and arriving Trentham on Sat. There is not to be any mounted this time I believe. It is rumoured up here that we are to be the last of the Mohicans. Anyway we are having a special badge struck for ourselves, do not know yet what form it will be. It has been suggested that we have a trooper or horse back inside a stirrup iron. Our commanding Officer is Mr Hine of Parliamentary fame & he seems quite a decent sort.
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The inspection of which you read was a great affair, all the troops were lined up & I think the Parliamentarians viewed them from about a hundred yards distance, at any rate I have not spoken to anybody who saw any of them. Now I am going to enclose a note in this for Tom to take to Dunedin if it arrives in time & if it does not, then it can be carried on till further orders. What I want him to do is divide it in half, put the first half on Tunrest and the other on Spanish Princess just to make it interesting. If any comes of it you can just carry on with it till I come home on leave. That is a long way yet but if time goes as fast all the way through it will not be long. Another thing I want my football things sent up just jersey & pants & belt. We are going to have a little competition here shortly. Lin & his crowd came came back from Popawai tonight they are the next lot to leave & they all seem as fit as fiddle’s.
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He left me his kapoc mattress to sleep on the week he was away and now that he is back I do not relish the thought of going back to straw. Got your last papers alright and observe that all is going on well, also got letters from coronation last night, George has evidentally been along. There is no more to write about just now except to say that if the weather is a sample of what they always have here it is no better than Southland. How is Jack Thompson getting along, not having any boils I hope, tell him I might write him a line some day if I can find time. I will not close this till I see if the mail brings anything. It might be in now but I am not at home & the last one comes about nine. It is now eight fifteen. Nothing arrived.
Ever your Brother
Charlie
