FROM THE WAR ZONE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2754, 25 April 1916, Page 5

FROM THE WAR ZONE

COLONEL RHODES RETURNS

Colonel R. H. Rhodes, who went to Egypt to report upon organisation matters other than military, on behalf of the • Government, returned to Wellington -yesterday afternoon by the Moeraki, the journey from Suez having been made in the P. and 0. Company's steamer Kashgar." ' Colonel Rhodes was accompanied as private secretary by Mr. William Crow. . Speaking to a Dominion reporter, Colonel Rhodes said that lie had thoroughly inspected the institutions and the organisation work that was going on in Egypt in' connection with the wellbeing of our troops. When he left there \was a good deal of comment in connection with the postal arrangements, which had been made very diffir cult owing to the conditions prevailing in .the early stages of the campaign. This had been gradually righted, and the Base Post Office at Alexandria was now well organised, thanks to a competent staff under Mr. M'Curdy, most of whom had seen service in the New -Zealand Post Office. Since the evacuation, of course, the task of making speedy deliveries of mail matter to the men had been made easy by the transfer of the troops to Egypt. On the other hand, the changmg over of the men from one brigade to the other, of which he had written fully to the Hon. J. Allen, would give the staff a little extra trouble, and the number of troops to b§ attended to was constantly increasing tl\e bulk of mail matter to be handled. - ' Prom Egypt, Colonel Rhodes crossed over to Mudros Island, and from there went to Gallipoi, where he spent three weeks at the Divisional Headquarters, as the guest of General Sir Alexander Godley land his staff. There he was afforded every opportunity to note the conditions under which the men were fighting, and the.- hazardous work that had to be .done practically under fire the whole time. .He went up into- the front line trenches amongst the infantry, and when lie visited the mounted men. they were entrenched at Bauchop's Hill, from where they' were removed soon afterwards to Hill 60, where they experienced an awful blizzard. He had experienced three days' cold wind at Mudros, and if it was much worse than that, as it certainly was, the sufferings of the men must have been acute, but they' came through it all splendidly and cheerfully. It was on the journey across from Alexandria to Mudros that they saw tho only sign of 'a submarine. As they moved along they noticed a vessel standing off, and \as they were watching it, tlioy saw ft submarine move away from behind it, but whother it was a British or enemy submarine and' store ship or otherwise they ablo to tell, but the\ store ship hoisted a white l ensign, which,, of course, proved nothing. Once again when they were at Mudros an S.O.S. signal was received from a vessel; the, captain of which thought he had 'spotted a submersible; but it proved to be a false alarm. Thoso incidents showed what a hazardous business was the crossing of the Mediterranean from Egypt to Gallipoli and vice versa for the many vessels which had to be employed, to keep the troops supplied with provisions and ammunition. Colonel Rhodes left Gallipoli on November IG. Questioned about the Volunteer Sisters, Colonel Rhodos said that with two exceptions, who had found work in,the hospitals, the Volunteer Sisters were employed in serving tea and comforts to the soldiers in Alexandria and Cairo, and were apparently doing helpful work. He saw a great mimbej: of our troops on tho Canal, and on the last night he spent in Egypt, at Ismailiaj ho saw the New Zealand Rifle Brigade march from ono side of the Canal to the other, and a very fine spectacle it was. Colonel Rhodes states that the Now j Zealand correspondent, Captain Malcolm Uoss, had a bad bout of dysentory, followed by an attack of jaundice. , After receiving hospital attention, he spent a holiday recuperating at Luzor, and then rejoined the New Zealand Forces in tho Canal-zone. Ross was pulling himself together when he (Mr. Rhodes) j left, but was still far from strong.