Entrenching Battalion. Baxter was said to have been diagnosed as suffering from melancholia. He was returned to New Zealand, but during the voyage was diagnosed as being in good mental and physical health. He arrived on 21 September 1918, and returned to his Otago farm after the war. The physical treatment given to Baxter can to a large extent be directly attributed to the attitudes of the Minister of Defence, Allen; the Commander of New Zealand forces based in England, Brigadiar-General Sir George Richardson, and General Godley, Commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. Godley gave orders that if Baxter and the others failed to comply, they were to be "summarily punished or dealt with at reinforcement camps, where they are now, and that they are not to be sent up to the front." Neither Allen nor Richardson had any such qualms and were likely to be the reason behind Baxter being taken to the front. Reaction in New Zealand and England Concern about the fate of Baxter and the others sent to France began to be raised by the Dunedin branch of the Women's International League. The Canterbury Women's Institute also wrote expressing concern. In late 1917 English Quaker and wife of the late John Ellis, Maria Rountree, wrote about trying to find the fate of the 14 objectors, only to be stonewalled by the Commander of the New Zealand forces, Richardson. Harry Holland MP, citing an article in the Dominion on 21 November, deduced that the British Government had condemned the New Zealand government's sending of conscientious objectors to the front. The paper had written, "the Imperial authorities have no wish to be troubled with men who will not fight,..". This effectively ended such deportations, but did not mean the release of those already in France. In February 1918 the National Peace Council of New Zealand, wrote to the Minister of Defence, James Allen, expressing concern about the treatment of Baxter and the others. Of particular concern was the sending of the objectors to the front, where they could be court-martialled and shot for not fighting the enemy. Harry Holland MP also took up their cases, writing to the Prime Minister and newspapers. As further news came of the inhumane way Baxter had been treated by the military, it was the subject of a Women's International League delegation to the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Sir