THE ARMY HOUSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 281, 23 August 1919, Page 6

THE ARMY HOUSES

THEIR. FATE' IN EGYPT. -' Mounted men recently returned from Egypt do not fonfirm the official statement that the horses used by the Anssno brigades are being adequately protected. They state that there is substantial reason 'for believing that some of. the horses that carried New Zealand soldiers to vic--iory ii'i Egy.pt::and 'Palestine will find their Vr'ay eventually into' the hands' of the natives, ■ who are notoriously cruel in their treatment of aniuijils. 1 "We handed over our horses to a greatremount depot," said one of th(v returned men to a Dominion rejwrter. "The depot took all the horses, good, bad, and indifferent. We were given to understand that the animals suitable for further military service would bo taken over by tho British Army authorities for use in the East. The other horses were to bo sold. It was stated that there would bo safeguards to prevent their reaching native owners of the lower class, bill it seemed to me that this statement was inero camouflage.' What safeguards wouid be, possible when the horses were sold in the open market to civilian buyers? The remount officers might place somo check 011 first sales, hut they could have no say regarding resales, and it is after the horses become worn out and consequentlv cheap that they reach the hands of the worst 'element in the native population. As a mailer of fact we saw exArmy horses drawing native cabs in. tho streets of CaiVo before we left kgypt. ■Tho drivers scarcely use the reins. Ihuj drive with the whip."