Mails arrived from Australia every week or ten days, and were heartily welcomed. Those who received newspapers handed them round for others to read. The Australian proved himself an inveterate letter writer and found much to describe to his relatives and friends. The signallers were rather noted for the amount of work they gave the officer who had to sight their correspondence. They seemed to devote much time to writing and to have a large circle of lady friends. As a rule, the soldier observed the censor's injunctions, and, in doing so, made the work of his officer light. Occasionally a transgression came under notice. In such cases, the letter was either returned to the writer or the offending part struck out. In one instance, the soldier had drawn attention to the harrowing conditions under which he said he was living--working from dawn to dark, with little or no food, and without pay. Questioned as to his reason for this action, he confessed that he was short of money and had intended to so play on the feelings of his friends as to prompt them to send him financial aid. Censoring letters was a valuable education for an officer. It gave him a deep personal knowledge of the men he commanded and was to lead. It also enabled him to realise that in most situations there were points of view other than his own. He was the better for the knowledge. There were many letters to read. Most had a grave earnest tone running through them. Some were pathetic. Others were humorous and, again, others cleverly descriptive of the passing life and scenes. The trend of thought of some soldiers will be illustrated by the following:--In 1916, whilst assisting to hold the trenches in front of Messines, a member of the Battalion wrote a lengthy and comprehensive criticism of a recent book dealing with the Darwinian theory. About the same time, and from the same place, another member--a brave and sincere man, but a little pharisaical--violated the censorship requirements by criticising the army system generally and his own comrades in particular. His company commander adopted the unusual but effective punishment of reading the letter aloud in the presence of the writer and the fellow members of his platoon. A story is told of a padre of the 5th Brigade who, whilst censoring, discovered that one man had declared his undying devotion to two different girls, and to each had repudiated any allegiance to the other. The censor was so indignant over this act of treachery that he transposed the envelopes of the two letters, before sealing them down.