PITFALLS OF EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2635, 4 December 1915, Page 6

PITFALLS OF EGYPT

SOLDIERS.* DANGERS LESSENED EARLIER TROOPS CUIDENEWV COMERS. ; From, a leoture delivered by Captain D. Munro at the New Zealand Club yesterday it appears■that tho dangers of young soldiers falling victims to the pit- . falls of. Egypt have been'considerably minimised. Captein.Mfinro wae adjutant at the ■New Zealand Military Base,, and is home on sick leave. ■ In the course of - , Jus lecture Captain Munro observed that sopeof onr men. had returned with cer- - . tairi: illnesses, but. the conditions,- obtaining at the time the first batches of ..troops arrived there should be taken into account when the conduct of those . . men. e was considered. . Egypt, he said, , had'practically no morality, and was tho home of thousands of well-educated, apparently well-behaved women" of .all nationalities (except British), who ran an elaborate' system of agents. .One of tlioso agents,' well-dressed,- polished man, would.meet'a colonial soldier, and say;;thrit; he :was...anxious., to converse . nyith him '.in; order.;,to. accent. ■' -If tho soldier would ' favour . him with a talk ho' would be delighted to show him round the'city.. After see- : ing.the' city th'eyiwould - havis a cup of coffee, and then a glass of wine at a very fine cafe.- The man would introduce tho soldier to some beautifully •■■■. dressodi, jewelled women friends of his, ■who also would be having a cup : of I coffee. An invitation to tho private re- -- ?idence of one of these'new acquaint- ; ; ances might follow, and after leaving ' the guests house the soldier .would be ■ led astray. . ... ... . -

Soldiers had fallen upon ! these, evils quite innocently, and; without the faintest intention of doing wrongs or of disgracing their uniform. There is, not so much'risk now, however. Men of the earlier contingents act as guides to the now arrivals, and show them rho places and people to avoid l . ,-

' People had asked why the British Government had not stepped in before, •hut tho fact was that the political situation was delicate and complex. 'Hundreds of infamous houses were owned by the Greek Church, who derived a big rovenue from the traffic. That ,was a form of Christianity which' the Mohammedans wondered at. He hadl spent three weeks on a Commission, and could say - as a result that it would be •impossible : for one to believe the conditions which existed unless one saw them. People of a low order ran hotels, over which there was very' little control. ' Almost anyone could keep an ■hotel, the-license cost 3s. 6d., and the Slace was open all day and all night, t a soldier was being shown round! by a man who was in reality a guide naturally not the best of liquor would be servedv to the customer in uniform. •Probably it would be doped. Some of our soldiers had been picked up in the gutters, dosed, robbed, and diseased 1 for lifoi Tfte troops had resented this kind Of thing, and it had led to trouble. . However, the prospects of men meeting trouble now were small compared ■with ,the days of the earlier arrivals.

It was necessary to provide wholesomo attractions for the, men in Egypt, and the army chaplains and! the ■Y.M.C.A. were doing pood work in that respect—they , had done all that was humanly possible. In ■ the Y.M.C.A. buildings, besides reading and writing accommodation, boxing, music, and so :on were obtainable. The chaplains or /ganised parties to visit the '• historic '• sites. ■ ' - •' ' . '