The many who will never return lie far away. In years to come wandering New Zealanders may visit the shores where their graves are thick.
Their memory will be unfading, but our perpetual reminder of the war will be the soldiers whom war has maimed.
It is nothing short of appalling to think of the number of men who, when peace has once more descended upon the earth, will carry for the rest of their lives the cruel scars and mutilations of war.
The people of New Zealand must expect that they will have their share of such cases to provide for, and it is a sacred duty imposed upon them to ameliorate the lot of these gallant men who, in fighting the battle of the Empire, have suffered serious disablement and for whom life can never perhaps be the same again.
If the effort which the community is making to raise funds for supplementing the assistance which the State will offer to the wounded soldiers and their dependents receives a stimulus from the arrival of the Willochra with her complement of war-scarred humanity, so much the better for the inauguration of the task of paying our national debt to those who have helped to win for their country a new tradition of glory.
If the return of the Willochra is an event of somewhat melancholy interest the picture has its brighter side in the thought that the home-coming of these seriously wounded or sick soldiers - themselves, it is gratifying to know, all manifesting a cheery courage - means in many cases their reunion with relatives or friends and their convalescence under the most favourable possible conditions.
When in Wellington last week the Mayor (Mr J. J. Clark) made arrangements that he should, as early as possible, be supplied with particulars of any Otago soldiers returning to the dominion.
Last night he received a telegram stating that the Willochra brought back 61 Otago men invalided.
Forty of these are quite convalescent, and it is expected that they will at once return to their homes.
Twenty-one have not yet sufficiently recovered, and will be brought to the Dunedin Hospital for treatment.
The committee recently formed for the care of the wounded soldiers is arranging, in conjunction with the defence and hospital authorities, for every comfort and attention to be shown to the men.
Motor cars will meet the steamer and convey the men to the Hospital or their homes.
For those who have to stay in Dunedin for a day or two arrangements will be made to provide them with suitable accommodation.
The public may be assured that everything that is necessary for the comfort of the men will be supplied by the Patriotic Association.
Mr C. Ayson, of the Hakataramea Hatchery, is meeting with splendid results in collecting trout eggs (says the Oamaru Mail), in fact it is the most successful season he has ever experienced.
Mr Ayson has been operating in the Temuka, Opihi, and Waitaki Rivers, and all fish trapped were in beautiful condition. In the Opihi and Temuka Rivers alone he captured 2700.
Orders for 1,190,000 trout eggs have to be fulfilled, in addition to which another half-million order for the North Island is expected.
An order for 100,000 trout fry has also been placed by the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society.
The reserve stock at the hatchery at the present time of trout fry amounts to 1,200,000. - ODT, 16.7.1915.
