<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side two <&>11:50 well to to put it plainly there was so much v d among all the <,> troops that you got lectures <&>12:00 before you left <,> and i never met this lady but <,> it was a er a big fuss about her here <,> er miss ettie rout the man that used to do the lectures in <.>ov over there at etaples he was um <,> er a man named hornibrook he was a physical culture <,> er man i believe he had a studio in christchurch <,> and anyhow this this miss ettie rout <,> i never er came in contact with her but if you were in london there she'd just our own the new zealand boys she'd <,> just say <,> are you prepared digger <,> if he said digger said no <,> she'd hand you a little parcel <,> and there was er <,> here <,> there was oh there was a a a <&>13:00 terrible <,> ruckus here about her and she just sort of <.>as she didn't wasn't part of the army or anything <,> she was just i believe on her own and she just wore a khaki skirt and a and a digger's hat <,> she wore and what was the troops' attitude to her and <{><[>the work that <.>sh <[>what was the what what was the troops' attitude to the work she was doing i think they were all in favour of it <,> but of course now i was going to say now there this <,> er hornibrook he was employed by the government here i don't know what his ranking was but <,> you <.>c you were <.>l every morning if you might have been in the camp waiting to go across <,> er <&>14:00 to britain you see and you got the lecture twice a day troops were coming in and that and then <,> when you <,> marched out of camp to go down to the the er ships <,> there er was this big <,> er double gate when you come out double file <,> and <,> whether you liked it or not you were just handed a package <,> and <,> so er that was that did you hear one of fred hornibrook's lectures realise what did you hear <,> fred hornibrook lecturing <,,><&>3 did you hear <,> <.>fr one of fred hornibrook's lectures <.>whe <,,> can you tell me what fred hornibrook was like as a lecturer oh yes he was a good lecturer <,> he was very straight and very forthright can you describe him yes he was a big man <,> and er <,> he was er <,> <&>15:00 very forthright <,> in his language and there was nothing <,> it wasn't a a speech that a <.>mis minister or a parson'd make to you it was very straight and <,> and that you know he just said don't take any notice of the <,> the girls whether they're nicely dressed or <,> or not course mind you <,> london was rife <,> there when er when that sort of thing <,> on the er <,> when you were on leave i suppose it was we were only there on leave but i suppose there was the same troops on leave there all the time <,> and er <,> i believe there was quite a lot of course in france <,> they had special hospitals for <,> for that complaint <,> the er and they weren't allowed out they were all behind wire <,> we used <&>16:00 laughs <,> we had a cook with us <,> and er <,> he went er <,> used to say when there was <,> perhaps someone <,> er prominent in the <,> er the battery or that you know and he'd he'd say i'll find out if they're all right and he'd cook curry <,> that was the <,> curry or something like that where they wouldn't eat <,> odd man but it was amazing the the number of er hospitals there were there for for that do you think that when the men were warned they took the advice oh i think so <,> i think <.>ha half of it was they perhaps got full of <,> grog you know and <,,> and that <,> and er back here <,> when we got back here <&>17:00 lady stout i think it was lady stout she started the white rose league <,> and um <,> she wanted <,> er before the er <,,> before the girls married the troops to make them get a er a certificate a clearing <,> certificate that they weren't didn't have that complaint how did the troops respond to that white rose <{><[>league <[>oh they all spoke <.>very oh THAT oh there was <,> there was all sorts of things well as a matter of fact it was put to me <,> and er <.>i i was up at the <,> my fiancee's home there and this woman i'd never met her before she was one that came up during the <,> war and she thought it was a great idea oh yes they all this <,> thought it was a great idea so i said yes i <&>18:00 wasn't married i said yes <,> might be a good idea but i said <,> i think and if if i was asked that i said i would want <,> my girlfriend <,> also to get a certificate i said there's troops <,> all in the camps here <,> course then it wasn't rife here like it was overseas <,,> the um now when you said that london that prostitution was rife <{><[>can you describe <,> the behaviour of <,> um london women on the street it's something that is often alluded to <,> in by politicians <[>oh yes yes it's er <,> well their attitudes on on on the street they'd just come up to you and <,,> just ask you like to come home with me or something <&>19:00 like that <,> that's like er the granddaughter was er telling us she's living in er <,> melbourne she and her husband were walking down there and a girl <,> just <,> came up while they were walking along alongside of bev and she said what about coming home with me <,> so this was only recently so bev said <,> go away she said he's MINE <,> and er anyhow the girl said i don't want him she said i only want his money <,> laughs so <,> but er <,> tut that was that <.>w <,> were french women a contrast to that? <,> <{><[>how did <.>th <[>ah oh oh yes in in the towns over there <,> yeah but of course in the towns in in france there was the the brothels there <,> <.>o on the road with the red light out <&>20:00 you know <,> so <,> you didn't strike a great number of them on the street <,> there <,,> but er did you hear of ettie rout's work in paris did i hear er of her work? in paris no <,> i don't know whether she was there or not <,> so er <,> that was that but anyhow when we joined the battery over there we went to the um er base camp at etaples and they just drew on there <,> for the troops <,> what they were short of so many men to a battalion or that and after er <,> any trouble they er you just beeped no doubt you were taken up to the wherever the <,> troops were that <,> you were to join <,> you <&>21:00 joined the battery <,> or we did <,> and we never did any drill <,> after we left new zealand not the artillery <,> except er when i say we never did any now there was the um <,> when we were in in britain <,> just the guns drawn on the ground <,> but you see with the artillery <,> you you'd not only er troops <,> but you had the horses to look after <,> and the horses were looked after far better than WE were <,> the er and then not only that <,> you had harness cleaning <,> all everything was <,> kept up to the knocker even with the mud <,> and you had stables like we had here three times a day <,> that was in the early morning <,> before breakfast that was you got a <&>22:00 cup of tea if <,> you got <,> rolled out early enough and then there was <,> again before lunch and again in the evening <,> and then at night there was always er four men on what they called horse line picket <,> that was to <,> look after the horses at night any of them get down or anything like that now could you describe to us what etaples camp was like what could you describe to us what etaples camp was like er not a camp what camp etaples a CAMP etaples camp an ENGLISH camp? <&>writes down etaples could you describe what it was like etaples yeah oh the camp there yes it was just like the ones here <,,> yeah would be just like the <,> one here <&>23:00 mind you but you had er er you were er drilling and when i say drilling i er physical jerks they were very tough on that was it rigorous eh was it rigorous training oh yes it was <,> and <.>o over in um <.>i in britain there oh oh we moved down from chadderton we moved down to newshot <,> and newshot was four miles from oldershot <,> it was a barracks opened by the kaiser in nineteen hundred they told us <,> that was a beautiful camp that was i mean as regards the equipment huts <,> was <,> and the er <,> the but now <.>i <.>i in france now the infantry had the <,> <.>cam what they called the <&>24:00 camp cookers <,> you know you see them going along the road cooking well now that was a new zealand invention <,> a man named roberts <,> in willis street opposite the y m c a had an engineering <,> business there and he designed those <,> those er <.>c er camp cookers well they had to have so many men <,> for er to get a camp cooker see they they'd cook going along the road they they it was just like the old fashioned <,> milk carts that cooked was there <.>ea each side a range and cupboards and that you see and that was drawn by horses by a horse well we didn't have one of those because we didn't have enough men <,> to er have a camp cooker and we used to our cook used to carry two lengths of iron <,> and all our er cooking was done in dixies <,> you know that's the the <&>25:00 <.>cir er semi circle <,> er pots with a handle over <,> well then we'd in the mornings we'd get issued with our daily ration <,> of er tut in the mornings we got porridge <,> and you got you got it all at once it was dished out to you you got your porridge <,> and you got your bacon with it too at the same time in your dixie <,> and er then <,> and another thing we used to get that you'd er with the <.>ra it all depends how many much rations came up to the line <,> you would er there might be three or four men to a loaf of bread <,> and that'd be cut into there you had that all day <,> it was issued all day <.>i in the morning to you and the jam that was the trouble the jam er it was all <&>26:00 cross and blackwell stuff we got <,> but it wasn't in tins <,> it was in er sort of er the the same as a tin only thick cardboard <,> well then to to give you your ration they used to cut that across <,> most of us used to eat it with a spoon right away because laughs you couldn't keep it <,> in your <,> your dixie but we had a a a dixie <,> and our dixie was different to the infantry one it was a flatter one <,> and it had a water bottle <,> well then in the in the winter time <,> of course <.>w <.>w we were all up there round on the ypres sector and that where you're up to your neck in mud <,> and er see the um <,> and er <,> er what was i going to say i'm forgetting <,,><&>5 um <&>27:00 when did you first go into action where what when did you first see action see action just after the battle of messines <,,> that was in the june <,> that and er anyhow you saw the the the action when you went up there now most of the artillery up there <,> up all round ypres it was up in <{><[>er <[>do do you mean messines or passchendaele no passchendaele was later than messines <,> passchendaele was in eighteen i think it was yes <{><[>something like <[><.>pa i think you're talking about passchendaele october nineteen seventeen oh yes that was er that was in the wintertime at christmas just before about november i think it was <,,> in passchendaele you've got here in your notes that <,> more soldiers drowned in the mud than were <{><[>killed <&>28:00 <[>yeah there was well we got instructions there when taking ammunition up to the guns there that if you the horses got down in the mud to shoot them yeah you didn't have a show of getting them out <,> and they reckon that <,> in passchendaele there was more men drowned in the mud <,> than what was <,> was killed got down wounded now a lot of the men a lot of the men we have spoken to have talked about the artillery bombing THEM rather than the germans if they what the artillery bombing the new zealanders rather than the germans and it also there's a lot of references to that in history books and also in soldiers' diaries and letters were you aware of that at the time you know that i don't get that the bombs bombing the the artillery bombing the new zealanders rather than the germans bombing well they say that often happened they reckoned putting down a barrage you might get a <&>29:00 er see a barrage <,> LIFTS when you start off <,> with a barrage down now before er anything like before the troops were going over say for instance they're going over tomorrow morning well the way it was worked <,> er time <,> clocks and watches were set <,> clocks were set at divisional headquarters all right well then the commanders of the different battalions they all went to er headquarters and they were um is it okay er er they went to headquarters and they would get the correct time from headquarters and they would come back and it went right down to the guns <&>29:57