WORD OF WARNING

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2762, 4 May 1916, Page 6

WORD OF WARNING

: GENERAL BIRDWOOD TO THE , TROOPS. " On March .17, at Cairo, General Birdwood; addressed tho, following words of warning in a specially" prepared circular to. the Australian and New Zealand troops "Since the Australian and New Zealand left their respective' countries, you have made for yourselves a national, reputation as good fighters, ivliicli. has earned'for you tho esteem of our' comrades, alongside of whom wo :Will shortly be. fighting. The training that you have had will, I hope, enable you tii utilise your fighting qualities to advantage. But, in addition to these two qualifications, there is still a third which is essential to success—discipline; and it is the greatest of the three, for' without discipline the -best fighting troops'in'the world will fail at the last to aohiove success.

, "That you will respect the women I liavo not the slightest doubt, because I well know how absolutely ropugnant tho idea.of .any offence iigainst a defenceless woman is 1o every' Australian awl New Kcalarider. It is against drink, however, that I particularly wish now to warn you, and to imploro you to take hold of yourselves, and in tho case of every man to absolutely make un his mind and determine for himself that he will not give way to it, and that ho will remember,that the honour of cither Australia or New Zealand is in his personal keeping. In saying this you all know that I am only referring to a very small proportion indeed of your numbers. Tlie great majority of you want no such Warning, for I know you will already liavo made up your minds on the subject, 'and all i nch I. earnest]v beg to do what is in their power to look after their comrades, who may not have the same strength of mind as th«v have;

"Itememhcr that a few black sheep fan rrivo n bad name to a whole (lock, so let there be none such among us. and let us make up our minds that, the Australian and New Zealand Forcerare. going to prove thon'srlves second to none in the way of discipline, as they have already dtyie whore sheer hard •fighting was concerned. "See to this, boys. Ymi know you are capable.of it. if von will o»dy determine that it .shall bo so. and if'you will do this you will be able to return to Australia and New Zealand after peace and victory with an unsullied reputation, which will go down for all time in your home."