WITH THE N.Z.M.R. IN EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2941, 29 November 1916, Page 3

WITH THE N.Z.M.R. IN EGYPT

Y.M.C.A.. SECRETARYS' EXPERIENCES

TROOPS ON SINAI PENINSULA

The work of the Y.M.C.A. field secretaries is'always strenuous, and when to the discomforts of active service conditions aro added the rigours of a sevcro climate, the task requires all the patience and cheerfulness that can bo brought to bear. Writing from Egypt, Mr. F. A. Parry, field secretary with the mounted forces there, says: "I have been out on the very front lino of defence, so we have had no j chance of providing big entertainments, establishing Bible classes or undertaking evangelistic campaigns. We once did advertise a kinema entertainment, and an hour beforo it was timed' to start an order came for the men to stand to their horses and he ready at any moment to engago tho enemy. After ten days of knocking about Cairo, Tel-el-Kebir, Ismailia, and Kantara, I left Kantara baso "on a.Wednesday afternoon in June for Komani railhead. For several hours, beforo tho train started, I had been on guard over a consignment of canteen stores in the sweltering heat of a desert day, I found that the only way to get a little shelter from tho sunshine was to stack a few cases together and place somo seats and tables across the space between the piles of cases, using one case as tablo and another as a seat, I wrote my first letter homo to New Zealand, after having landed on tho Sinai Peninsula. These same cases of stores I escorted to Eomani, sitting on tho top of a loaded truck, which swayed and bumped and rocked its way along tho metals. About half-way along the railway we passed a blockhouse, where a few men were, keeping guard over the water supply. A broken .case of lemons was at Tiand, and Mr. Asche, an Australian secretary,- and I threw out some of the fruit as the train rumbled past. There was a rush and a scramble, and words of. thanks were shouted after us. Mr. Asche promised to throw off some magazines when passing there, next day. ' . ■ "About six o'clock that evening we arrived at Eomani railhead, where we obtained a fatigue party of about 20 native men to unload our truok and transfer the stores to camels for transport to Bir-el-Maler. Amid much noise and clatter the unloading was carried out by these coloured men, who, by forming what is known as the Egyptian Labour Corps, are doing their bit in the great struggle. After borrowing a horse from an Australian corporal, I set out with forty-three camels, each carrying five or six cwt. of goods. It was only a short desert journey of three miles or so, yet it seemed liko ten miles, as the way was strange and the camels travelled slowly. An. armed guard, escorted us. And here I have to record an experience* I shall never forget. One of the sweetest experiences of my life Near the end of the journey,' iii the strange stillness of the desert night, there floated to us the strains of a well-known hymn, and presently we recognised the "air as that fino hymn "Abide with us, fast falls the oventide." It was being 6img by between fifty and sixty voices in the Y.M.C.A. marquee, where Mr. Frank Wilkinson was conducting Na' mid-week service. ' The Now Zealand Mounted Rifles wer.e moving out from El Maler, and wore returning to Hill 70 for a rest' in the course of a day or two, aiid -Wilkinson was going with them. One regiment, however,' tho Wellingtons, remained, and were attached to . the ':, 2nd Australian Light ■ Horse' Brigade.'. These, together'.with/'.tlie. 1 6th and 7th Light Horse Regiments', formed the brigade among whom I worked for about eight or nine weeks. It was during this, time that I had the most exciting experience of my life. On Friday and Saturday the N.Z.M.R.'s went out, and by Sunday morning tho Australians had settled down in their new quarters. The brigade numbered about 2000 men, and these, with about 600 Scotch infantry, \ who were manning redoubts near the camp, came in for their share of comforts and luxuries which the Y.M.C.A. is able to supply. That.these things are appreciated by the men finds proof in the oft-repeated phrase that the Y.M.C.A. is a. godsend to them."