Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/37/1 - January - February 1916 - Part 2

 

9

condescension wh is flung at her

by / authorities o / mother country

as a gift from / gods. I suppose

I dislike / man so intensely 

because one can always see

best those weaknesses wh are ones own.

The Australian soldiers in /

streets seldom salute an officer

unless they know & like him.

The police under Capt. Brown have,

I believe, bn given instructions now

to arrest & punish any man who

doesn't salute. Its a very foolish

order & I hope they dont try to

Enforce it - but I think Brown is

rather an injudicious sort of chap.

However, its a difficult job. We have

70 or 80 police at Horseferry Rd

who are really a branch o / London

military Police - or of the

metropolitan Police, at present.

They can arrest any soldier,

but if they get an Englishman

they generally hand them over to

the British police- & / British

10

police hand our men over to

us. Wherever an Australian

gets into trouble the Australian

police are now sent up there 

to take charge of him & he is,

if possible, dealt with by /

Australian authorities. The British

authorities have bn very wise in

this. The chief offence by a very

long way is leave - breaking; &

the most serious the alteration

of pay books, or / forging of leave

certificates. The alteration of

pay books has become rather too

common & some cases have bn

handed over to / civil authorities

to deal with.

There is generally a girl

yarning to / sentry in front o /

Commonwealth military

office in Horseferry Rd. The

office is a training college for

Wesleyans - a rather handsome

college building of two quadrangles.

11

in wh are / offices of / base, (pay

dept, records, Commonwealth Bank,

Post office, etc) The cubicles o /

police, & some for medical cases

(which used to be under Jack.) The

Guard 100m is an old lecture

room. There is an inquiry office

full of maps, plans, guide books 

for telling men & officers where

to stay (at Xmas time there was

hospitality for very many more

men than offered). And off /

back quadrangle a passage

leads to the Anzac Buffet of

8 rooms - a restaurant for

Australian soldiers where ^ light meals

tea & so forth are provided free of

all charge to Australasian
soldiers.  Australasian ladies

do all / serving all day long &

everyday for no motive except patriotism

& Australian singers & pianists

Constantly are at / piano in /

reading room. The Australian
war contingents Ctee in London

provides / funds; also / Colonial

office working w an Australasian

12

Ctee has provided a Boarding

House for our men, Peel house,

near by where a bed & breakfast

costs 2/- My cousin, Reimer

Maxwell is in charge of it.

The Anzac Buffet, wh ws / only

one I saw, was in style,

quite up to the standard of a 

first class tea room - no

Pearce & Plenty or Lockhart

Cocoa Rooms about it but

such a tea room as the upper

classes wd use in England,

with a comfortable sitting room

besides.

Jock tells me tt quite a

few of our men have bn marrying

English girls. These marriages

are rather lightly undertaken in

some cases, I fancy. One of J.s

men in the 3^rd Bn - xxxxxxxx A

a most stolid dry bone of a

chap rather like the depressing

Peter Doody in the Arcadians -

came back to the office / other

13

day - & after much scratching o

his head he blurted out that

he too, had bn married in the

interval.

"Quite a nice girl, too, " he

said half to himself, reflectively

fingering / back of his head.

The next week he turned

up on sick parade wh ws

being conducted at one o /

two Australian hospitals in 

/ Country (Abbey wood, I think,

not Harefield where Birdwoods

little daughter of 20 is / idol o / 

men) - and was seen by

Sergt Wolsely, Jacks little

right hand man.

xxxxx He confessed in

/ same dry style tt he ws

suffering from a dose of gonorrhoea.

"Why, who gave it to you,

A______ ?" Asked little Wolsely

"Not your wife surely?"

"Well - no - as a matter of fact it

was the chief bridesmaid", said the bashful

14

A_______ mournfully

These Australians !

Now for the Anzac Book.

I had corrected the M.S.S. on

the voyage home. As soon as we

arrived in England - on the morning

after my arrival, as a matter of 

fact - I went to the High Commissioner's 

office to find if they had done

anything about it. I thought that

after White's letter they wd at

least have made some inquiries

a & to / names of publishers -

But George Reid had done

nothing As a matter of fact I

xxxxx I was disappointed

as I thought tt although we had

not written him further particulars

as we sd we shd he wd at least

have taken some sort of action

to help us. White is a pretty

distinguished Australian & one

did expect tt something wd be

done on / receipt of a letter from

him under such conditions.

15

But you can only trust George

Reid to help you if he knows tt

you can help him. I have known

George Reid a long time, & small

Fry tho' I am, he knows tt I

understand him & he understands

me & there is no real cordiality

between us. Indeed it is a 

curious thing that tho many of

his subordinates have a great

respect for Reid's capacity- Smart

& Collins, for example - & are

very loyal to "the old man,"

yet I do not know of any 

real friend that Reid has or

ever had. There may be some -

I have never heard of one.

Heney Editor of the "Herald",

warned me many years ago

about Reid when he left me as 

The S.M. H's correspondent in

London. "You will find George

16

Reid useful to you," he said,

"as long as you can be useful

to him". And that is true.

The moment you cant be useful

Reids interest in you goes out

as completely as the flame of 

a candle.

Well - Reid was giving

up the High Commissionership

within a month or so after getting

White's letter - & when Reid

gave up the High Commissionership

all Australians ceased to be of

any use to him - unless

possibly it may have been

some who could help him in

standing for the British Parliament

 - which he was doing forthwith.

Consequently when I rang Reid

up about asking the King if he

wd give us a forward for the Anzac

book (which the King wouldn't do, in

the event, because he didn't want

17

to break a precedent in case he

was bombarded with requests

for similar prefaces) - George Reid

got quite testy over the 'phone -

at least there was a distinct

testiness in his voice "You know

the King can't do these things - He'd

be asked by everybody who had

a publication - Its quite a 

necessary rule - Besides, you

know, I'm not High Commissioner

now -" which is all true. But

George Reid might have sd it

in a different way, considering

what the book was - rather a

sacred one to any genuine Australian

which Reid isn't; & moreover

altho' he wasn't High commr

George Reid cd still have 

helped us - as he very well

knew.

Two days later G. Reid ws 

elected a member o / British 

Parliament. It is pathetic to

hear how British people

speak of him as "The representative

18

of Australia. "I hope

Australia will appreciate /

compliment wh we paid her in

giving Reid this seat," Steele

Maitland sd to me. "You know

the war ^its always looked on as the best seat / Conservative

party has - a perfectly safe

seat & conveniently close to 

the House".

I knew tt / people of

Australia wd not at all appreciate

Sir George Reid having stood for /

Conservative party; & wd not

appreciate his standing at all

as "the representative of Australia."

There wd be a feeling that

amongst many tt they were

not sorry / old man had won this

seat & his 1400 a year after / rather

shabby way / Commth Govt

had treated him. He was known

to have saved very little money &

altho' he wasn't a man of any convictions

or to whose character or unselfishness

anyone looked up - still, such as he

was, he had served Australia very