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The War Effort of New Zealand

The Torquay Depot

The Torquay Depot.

Few tourist resorts in England vie in popularity for placid beauty, warm sunshine and blue skies, with the sea-fronted, hilly, quaint Devonshire town of Torquay, the locale of the New Zealand discharge, or evacuation, depot. It was here that all our men were sent who were boarded permanently unfit for further active service; and when instructed in hospital, convalescent camp, or command depot to pack his kit and proceed to Torquay, the soldier experienced the happy feelings of the voyager who has secured a passage to his native home. Torquay is a town of 38,000 inhabitants. In the brown, upland moors at its rear are the scenes of incidents familiar to readers of "Lorna Doone." It has great coastal beauty. Many white-sailed fishing boats ply about the sunny—for it always seemed sunny there—open sea, and on the waters of the pretty bays. page 271It was among the hillside suburbs of the pretty sleepy town that New Zealand had her depot.

It was not possible to establish one camp to accommodate all the men. The "depot" comprised nine large houses or villas which were secured for the New Zealand authorities by the War Office. One of these houses was used as a depot head-quarters, another accommodated officers, and the remainder were for the non-commissioned officers and men.

Hon. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes (Minister for Defence, N.Z.).

Hon. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes (Minister for Defence, N.Z.).

Four of these buildings were close together, the remainder some little distance away but in one row in a street. The men were divided into companies and allotted to houses accordingly. The system of grouping the men was according to ports of disembarkation in New Zealand. Auckland men comprised No. 1 company, and they were billeted at a villa called Hampton; Lyttelton and Port Chalmers embarkees were grouped as No. 2 Company, and were allotted "Daison" villa (both near head-quarters); the Wellington men made up No. 3 group, the biggest company, and were given the collection of smaller houses; and No. 4 Company was composed of page 272
In the Garden at Daison

In the Garden at Daison

page 273details, married men, orderlies, and head-quarters' staffs. An officer was appointed to each group and lived on the premises with the men.

The number of men at the depot naturally varied considerably, but usually remained at approximately 1,500 or 1,800. There was also attached to the depot two large farms, Heathfield and Lustleigh, at which numbers of men were employed. The former was at the outskirts of the village of Chudleigh, twelve miles from Torquay, and comprised 80 acres. Lustleigh, a larger farm of 200 acres, lay fourteen miles from Torquay. In the summer months these farms employed between four hundred and five hundred men.

If a soldier chose he could apply to be "loaned" to some local industry. As many as a hundred men were at times employed in this way, chiefly in cider-manufacture. Some of Devon's large cider factories near Torquay were in a bad way for want of labour. Others were engaged at flour-mills. These men received their wages in addition to their army pay. Besides the employment it afforded while awaiting return to New Zealand, it was also a means of education in a new livelihood.

The houses, or villas, allotted as quarters were extremely handsome residences. "Daison" where the South Island men were quartered, the property and former residence of a millionaire, was perhaps the best of them. It had all the comfort. Luxury, decorative beauty of the old English homes of those who lavish their princely wealth upon them. In the lofty, wainscoted rooms, with their heavily decorated ceilings, were arranged in rows, the men's bedsteads. Other rooms were devoted to games or recreation, or were fitted up as lounges with comfortable chairs. Outside, maintained by New Zealanders, magnificent gardens were just as they had been left by the owner—flower-beds a mass of bloom, lawns trim, hothouses yielding their orchids and pot plants or grapes; tennis-courts in good useful order; croquet-lawns; orchards with properly pruned trees mostly of famous Devonshire apples: a fernery with large New Zealand pungas and other small species of our ferns; and outside in the gardens fine flourishing specimens of New Zealand flax—real Phormium page 274tenax! In other portions of the chateau grounds the men were kept busy in the kitchen-gardens, poultry-yards, and hot houses.

The most careful supervision was exercised over the men. A certain number of parades were held, and leave was granted only at stated intervals. Every man was given employment of some kind. Officers attached to companies were responsible for them and the condition of the billets. The people of Torquay took a most kindly interest in the New Zealand soldiers—an interest which was more than commercial. Educational facilities were provided by the civic authorities, and in many ways favour was shown. The men were careful in their behaviour and general demeanour and with few exceptions they worthily deported themselves as New Zealand citizen-soldiers. The ultimate evacuation occasioned genuine regret amongst the towns-people—indeed this may be said to have been so in all localities and communities where New Zealand depots, camps or hospitals were established.

The foregoing description but briefly traces the more important of our busy centres, or training camps, during the war. Many men will have recollection of other localities to which either for special training or convalescence they were sent. With each soldier will live memories of particular places, of happy environment and kindly British hospitality, or it may be of irksomeness made bearable by the thoughtfullness of countrymen and countrywomen who were domiciled for the time being in England. In the mind of every New Zealand soldier there will be memories, dormant perhaps in these commonplace days unless specially touched, but memories nevertheless sacred ineffaceable, and pleasant always to recall. Britain was the New Zealanders' place of respite from the horrors of war, and as such it will ever be remembered as a half-way Home, or as the undemonstrative New Zealander sometimes described it "A Home away from Home."