WITH THE VOLUNTEER SISTERHOOD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2973, 10 January 1917, Page 3

WITH THE VOLUNTEER SISTERHOOD

A LETTER, FEOM EGYPT. Miss Ettic A. Rout, lion, secretary of tlio N.Z. Volunteer Sisterhood i'u Egypt, writing from Cairo on November 14, 1916, to a friend in Wellington, says: "I am still as busy as ever, and to-morrow am going from hero v.Tel-el-Kebir) to Kantara for a short time. The N.Z. Rifle Brigado have a rest tent at Kantara—just a small one —and I'm lending two of our largo marquees not required liere. From Kantara, onwards for miles and miles, the N.Z.1t.8. men (now part of Anzao Mounted) aro stringing out and further out, daily Hearing El Arish; then forward again. An ISiu. waterpipe lias been laid for many a weary l mile, and a wide guago railway, which can bo connected up with t'bo main Egyptian State railway, and will no doubt bo taken over by them in later years. At present it is merely a militry railway. On this 'great trek' there are men -who fall by the way, and have to bo sent back to Kantara—as a depot at presont. That also is the 'starting point' for tho Reinforcements after they leave tho training units at . Moascar. Thus there is a considerable floating population at Kantara with these, men alono, and apart from them there is tho Transport Service. All supplies must go via Kantara at present. I mado an attempt last Sunday to got some cake through _to the N.Z.R.B. boys, who aro right out on this desert trek. Four hundred pounds of it was baked in Cairo on Saturday night from a recipe I had given a, baker there —real home-made colonial cake-pind cams down on an early morning, train on Sunday. I boarded tho train at Tcl-el-Kebir, and got tho cake off at Kantara. Then Lieut. Wymond, ofScer-in-charge of the Australian Canteen there, very kindly sent his wagon over with it to the military railway station, a mile or two distant. We borrowed a Now Zealander from a detail camp near by to act as 'accompanist' as far as Bir-01-Abd, and from there it went on by camels. At five o'clock to-night (Tuesday) I got a telegram saying it had arrived safely, and been issued to tho men. Yes, it is 'only cake,' but if you are out on the desert living on bully beef and biscuits it is cake.

"I am making up somo parcels of cocoa, milk, and sugar next week, suitable quantities for a 'dixie,''and sending them out. Lieut.-Colonel Samuel, Commandant of the N.Z. Training Units, has kindly offered to send a man to accompany any 'extra rations' of this kind to tho units for which they are intended. Of course these aro distributed free. Often the men havo no money, and no use for it.