IN EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2369, 27 January 1915, Page 6

IN EGYPT

: WHpNSTMHS WERE CHANGED . EOBD- KfTCHENEB'S PROMISE ~ i Tho stcsjr- of* how-tho 'Australian, and v Zealand tcoops came to be sent to Egypt ifttoS by Captain Bean, the offi- : cial correspondent with tho Australian forces, in" a letter from Cairo, under . >dato of December 26. ;• V Sir George Reid, High Commissioner : jf° r Australia, spank the ' WlStraliaJii troops,.and during liis .visit. ; (Captain Bean secured from him' the : jstory of how-the-change in tTie deatinattion- of the_ two forces, cuno "to be I; hnada. ■ He writes. \ ( , Sir Eeid made it quite clear ; Fthai -' '. Anstralian Government was' .■ rniost '-ftSae!in falling in", with the • jfcion.tibat.. this, force should' train.,■ in i '.17 it I ; >teafiy "became obvious-iJiat' some change ' fo; the original plan was desirahle. The ; " UsusfcraEaiiß Tvete to lwvo ootno to Salia- ;_ ii)irry Plain for . training, but as time y jweni on it "became more and more ceiv ,; /tain that the arrangements on the (plain' could slot possibly be ready by . [tho- rime of onf- arrival' The site is ! We oi the bleakest in. England. The ' Weather had beaii miserably wet, and • Salisbury "Plain -was \juick\y degenerat- . log into a sea. of mild.- ' The 'provision ?. i>fhuts, whioh -was 'absolutely necessary. ; r Jor troops arid horses coming 'straight] .oi'"tSio' tropics lor a lengthy "stay," V-tonld scarcely keep pace" with the .heeds i lof. the troops'alr«idy' there,' and, as : it I : /'happened, on this very day, (November;, r CI 7) . Sir George" Reid had received r&- ! jrports. from .offioers of.the Commonwealth, ) ,■ . who had .visited .the plain ..which "made. , ,diim very anions. It seemed certain ■that if our .force camo straight. from | the tropics on to Salisbury -.Plain, in '.■. •tthose; conditions there' must be' a Huge ! floss of Inen;'but on the. same : day on I which these reports came to hand, Sir t 'George .Reid'recerved a ring "orf""thetele- . • phone.; ( 'It was from' Lord Kitchener,' : -nnd he Sad rung pp to ma,ke'the ; sug-: i , gestion. that. the Australian force should I > tnunjin'.Egypt. .The Australian*Govern-. ! /"iraenfe. .heard the; facts,. fell; in i ; .with .the antingements .immediately,- and ] i. it piay .be added" that"the men of the •force themsolves are perfectly satisfied ; with the decision.' 1 Newspapers and let- ; ■ ters from England have made the condition of Salisbury . Plain well known :• -amongst, them, and' everyone, realises that thei change was a right one. Sir :. George Eeid has Lord Kitchener's word ' that tfae force wiirbe sont to.the front. f .Thcro is. a certain amount of proviI' 'sian—not absolutely essential, .'because i. -/theforoeisafighting'.foroe, as it is, and : . (is already, being relied -on for the de- ! fence of Egypt if the Turks invade it-— r bsrt provision which it is very advisable , '.to mike befoi© the men go to the front, ["--fin tie present-state of affaire it is hopei [less to think of'getting those things at [ ■ ('the. last moment—if they are to be got, i; Hhe.only;way is to. make arrangements i t as, soon as possible to get them by what- ' : over means the ingenuity of these in the t : camp.can .devise. Sir George Eeid came i '|;to Egypt with' Major Buckley, in order I |-that such supplies could be immediately I upon and arranged for. " Our force has had amplo instances, of ; ;the valne of secreoy,, and Sir • George : ;Reid says that. Great Britain was kept absolutely m tbe dark as to our where- • ■f abouts, and that it was the greatest sur- ; .prise ,■ to find : wo; had .reached Egypt. : Jjetters had arrived telling df our hav--1 sailed—probably written some , time before wo actually did sail—and there ' was a great amount of discussion, as to : . where we woro._' We were, not connected \ with the sinking of' the Emden, : and some people thought it impossible that _ wo slionld coino by the canal route. i i GENjEEAL BIRDWOOD'S-STAFF Hena Canip, Cairo, December 23. ► ■. : LieutenantrGeneral Birdwood, who has i . arrived from India to command : the ; Austraßans and New Zealandors,' was : present at the . march of the troops r through Cairo to-day. General Bird--1 wood's staff, whidi has oome from. India • with hint, includes Brigadier-General ! j iWalker, Chief of Staff; Lieutenant-Col-/ : : .-rouel A.- Skcen, General Staff Officer (1) • Ma]or'C. H. Villiers Stuart, G.S.O. (2): Captain "Wagstaffe, G.S.O. (3) .- Colonel i .A. Oarruthers, D.A. and Q.M.G.; Major Leslie, D.A.Q;M.G.; Major Hancock, ( D.A.AIG. ;" Colonel A. C. de Joly-Ijoth- : iniero (reattached); Captain M'Conaghy, i . Camp Commandant; and Lieutenant ' , Onslow, A.D.C. I General Birdwxiod is one of the young- i . -est ■ generals in .the army. .He. is of middle.height and fair; haired Ho is 'light in build and quick of manner, and looks, as he is, a thorough cavalryman. ) ; (Acting) ;,Birdi wood has-ivith 'him Brigadier-General'rW. i G. Waflter,'T.C., Gurklias : ißifles; his chief 'of' Staff is' Brevet Lieu-

tenant-Colonel i A. -Skeen, twenty-fourth r (Panjabis; and on his staff.'are Major 'C. H. Villiors Stuart, fifty-sixth Pan'-' ;■ Ijabi Rifles, general staff officer; Captain ; Wagstaffe; Deputy Adjutant and Quar-, ;■■■ hermaster-General, Colonel A. Carruth-. < (era; Deputy Assistant Adjutant and' iQuartermaster-General, Major Leslie; iDeputy-Assistant Adjutant General, Col- ; jonel A. C. de Joly-Lothiniere. Major land Temporary Lieutenant-General ■ LBirdwood is now in-his fifty-first year. . I'Colonel Walker is mamwl to Vdaugiiter ■ ';;''iyf;:the .late Judge Molesworth.] '' . I'-.V-:'"- ■'■ f ' ... AWAITING THE CALL v • ' ■ -- ~ i ; fCOIIPENSATIONS OP SOLDIERING: j ; WSydney "Telegraph" Correspondent) ' V Mena Camp, Cairo,. December 31.— | (Instead of• the crematorium some had i peeked for,- we have found Cairo —at | (this time of year at least—a sanatorIt is Sunday afternoon, a glorious, bracing 'day in early winter. Sit- ; fting here, perched oil a, ledge of volicanic rock midway between the Great" i, [Pyramid and the camp, ; 'one feels that jsoldiering has..its,^compensations..,Of. [the 20,000 Australians who were on (church parade in the forenoon perhaps jone-half have deserted their' tented rtown/for .Cairoj and / the " pyrainids.' iTroqps are packed on the summit of jChebps, and scores of them, looking in : line distance like yellow'ants', are still ; ' | crawling up . to, enjoy the; most .magnii- . jrficent view that '.Egypt affords. It is ;■ a stiff climb, and the soldiers poo- • !fpooh the notion of Arab guidos who • forco their company -upon the ordinary .tourist. We have been here a week now,rand our earliest impressions of the great ' ;sandy valley which is to be our home' >until the call comes for Europe have :been altered. , For four nights we bi-;-vouacked, and it was difficult, even wiifh /three blankets and. great ooat per man ! Uo keep numbness away from half-fro-■zen extremities. At first glance, the camp recalled Do Aar, that vile, sandswept British base during the .Boer .war; but the three pyramids, the camels, the quaint, narrow Egyptian carts- * find their' tnrbaned Arab drivers, the i; -' yelliilg donkey-boys, the picturesque . wator-carriers (Sakkabs), their goat- ; skins'filled with Nile water, dispel the illusion. Best of all, there has been no wind—the nor'-west Khamsoen is not due until March—nothing beyond fresh, gentle breezes coming over the plateau from the north-west. Our Australian White City, now so placid and restful, will be a hive of activity soon . after daybreak to-morrow. 'With reveille it springs into being. Mess orderlies first "show a leg" and bring - hot tea from tho cooks' lines. Bandbegin to play, ftnd drowsiness ' vanishes as an Alexandria Arab who has just sold sou for 3s. a Black ftud'

White whisky label round a bottle filled with oold tea, or merely water. After breakfast comes the morning parade, •and as each battalion moves out to a drill ground its band supplies martial musio. So it is that soundf from a dozen bandß struggle for a fair hearing, and regimental buglers practising their calls on an adjacent hillside add to the .general cacophony. . The men have been spared very hard work, so that they might lose their sea legs, and as • a rule leave' to visit Cairo is granted from 4, till 10 p.m. to 20 per cent, from each company. In respect of leave the O.C. of each battalion has his own rules and regulations. Some companies have had to suffer because of the escapades of a few,'.but a useful course of pack-drill and a shortage of funds have brought the wilder; spirits back' to a normal frame of.,mind.

.- It costs, soldiers only one piastre (2id.) to travel' six miles second class by train to Cairo. The run occupies about forty minutes, and at the few stoppage© hordes , of itinerant dealers and youthful vendors of oranges (three for a piastre), sweets, cigarettes, etc., | attack them. The. Tvorst attack comes when, yea alight at t&e Gbo.tinsn.tal i iTkitel in tho contra oi tho city. Here | if you stand for ten seconds an urchin will havsi started in & businesslike way I to polish j&ii boots (this costs lid.); I others aro coolly demanding backsheesh-, | guides, so-called interpreters, porters, fortune-tellers, dragomans, • and dozens of others,.who in ordinary seasons fatten on the unfortunate tourist are of the'motley throng seeking their victims. --'.-And'amongst' the lot you will not find one pair of good eyes in three. One might i think it was the fashion of the country' "to have boss or squint eyes, or one"eye only, with weak, watery eyes as.the,next best!thing.- They are all rascals, charging different prices, according' 'to' the judgments they form through their evil eyes. Nearly all of our fellows were easy. prey for. th© moneychangers; wlio never gave more than 18s. in tho pound. The local English paper published a warning,' and now the Australian assumes that every Egyptian approaching him is'a rogue., vendors of sham antiques did a roaring trade until our fellows saw; the folly of paying halfra-crbwri for rare Ejjyptian coin imported direct from the Birmingham manufacturer last year. The men of the Manchester Territorial Regiment, which has been quartered here for three months, cheerfully guide' their new-found comrades about the city.' The "l'erriers" draw . comparatively little pay, and look' upon our fellows as men of wealth, who would rather hail a taxi —these are very cheap, about. 9Jd. per mile—than walk a few hundred yards.- Surely no more awful dens of iniquity are to be found in any part _of the world than in the slums of this great city. I thought Paris bad enough, but here vice unmasked is unspeakable. There are beer oafes without number—dark, .insanitary ' taverns many of i'them, into which even a stalwart. Australian would , : not venture alone. Since our arrival drink "palaces''have; been renamed "Australian Bar," "New Zealand Bar," "Old English and so forth, and certain shops advertise a special 10 per cent, reduction to soldiers: . The morning I arrived in Cairo day was breaking, and hovering over the railway station yards were dozens of brown hawks, .which swooped down at intervals to scavenge. The human hawks rose in their thousands soon afterwards: " The two species somehow j eke out a living, . .J