15 Oct., 1919.] The Part of Department of Agriculture in War. 581 



LAYCOCK, Raymond S. Formerly a Jmiior Clerk in the Corre- 

 spondence Branch, was attached to the 7th Battalion when he 

 embarked in August, 1915. Owing to his small stature young 

 Laycock was unable to enlist until the required height was reduced 

 to 5 ft. 2 in. In his nineteenth year he was serving on Gallipoli. 

 He took part in both the Somme offensives, and after Pozieres was 

 made a Corporal. In the advance on Bapaume in March, 1917 » 

 he was promoted Sergeant on the field, and awarded the Military 

 Medal. Sergeant Laycock was killed in France on the 23rd 

 September, 1917. 



OLIVER, James D. Was a Dairy Supervisor in the Live Stock 

 Division. He enlisted immediately after the commencement of 

 war, and left Australia in October, 1914, as a member of " B " 

 Company, 5th Battalion. In Egypt he contracted pneumonia, was 

 invalided home and discharged, and for some time acted as House 

 Master at the Viticultural College, Rutherglen. Mr. Oliver en- 

 listed for the second time in December, 1915, and embarked in 

 May, 1916, as a Sergeant in the 39th Battalion. In France he 

 became a Commissioned Officer in a Trench Mortar Battery. Was 

 killed in action 4th October, 1917. 



PRITCHARD, Leslie B. (B. Ag. Sc). Enlisted June, 1915, became a 

 2nd Lieutenant in the 22nd Battalion. He held the degree of 

 B.Ag.Sc. of the Melbourne University, and during most of the 

 period of his employment in the Department of Agriculture was 

 engaged in plant breeding at Werribee. His training and point of 

 view made him eminently suited for the experimental work allotted 

 to him, and, as in the cases of Corporal Allan and Sergeant Gillespie, 

 his death was a great loss to our State Agricultural interests. 



ROWLANDS, James D. Was a Clerk in the Accounts Branch. He 

 was a lad of manly and self-reliant spirit, and has left a memory 

 honoured not only amongst his office associates, but throughout 

 all the Department. Sergeant Rowlands enlisted 14th July, 1915, 

 and left Australia as a Corporal in the 24th Battalion. Was 

 severely wounded at Pozieres at the end of 1916. After several 

 months in hospital Corporal Rowlands returned to France, where 

 he was killed on the 5th October, 1918. 



TURNER, R. Was employed as a Carpenter at the Research Farm, 

 Werribee. Enlisted 17th July, 1915, and embarked with the 5th 

 Pioneer Battalion. Was killed in France 9th March, 1917. 



