FOXTON BOY ABROAD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1924, 9 January 1919, Page 1

FOXTON BOY ABROAD.

LETTER FROM RIFLEMAN FURRIE. Writing from Broetou Camp under date October 27th, Rifleman K, Furriesays: — “Although I have been a ‘tourist’ for some considerable time now, I have not forgotten our little town, and nothing has yet come near convincing me that (here is a better land than ours in the whole universe. In fact, the more I see the more I am convinced that we dweller’s under the Southern Cross have a great deal to be thankful for, and the title bestowed on our lovely little country by the late R. J. Seddon is fully justified. It truly may be called ‘God’s Own Country,’ for although I have seen a, little each of Australia, Ceylon, Egypt, Italy, France, and now of England, (hero is not one to equal it, and the sooner 1 can gel back to it (he belter I will be satisfied. This ojHiiion is shared by practically every New Zealand boy here, and if a vote was taken I don’t think one in a thousand would desire to stay even in good old ‘Blighty’ twenty-four hours longer than is necessary. Considering the number who have become possessed.of a ‘belter half here, (his is a big thing to say, but I’ve not heard even one of (hose say they prefer to stay here when this great upheaval is over. This is a grand old country, and for beauty it would be hard to beat, but the unanimous opinion is: ‘Give me New Zealand.’ Our boys have been a great advertisement for New Zealand, and provided they can be spared, there will be a rush of immigrants from this country Avhen the shipping becomes normal again. From what 1 can see, the males will not have the monopoly of the available space, for the ‘diggers’ seem to make a hit wherever they go.

“There is no doubt our boys are a fine looking lot, and as their uniforms are very distinctive, (hey can be picked out in the biggest of crowds. They gel a great hearing wherever they go, ton they have made a name for themselves in morn than the fighting line, and a boy with the peaked hat is welcomed even more readily than his comrades from the other Stales and Dominions. Why it is I don’t know, but the fact remains that they have the name, and are (rusted when and where the others are not. “When we left New Zealand the ‘nip’ was in the air, but from all accounts you have passed through a very severe winter indeed, with heavy losses in live stock from floods and snow. Wo went due south for a couple of day,s and ran into some rather severe weather for a few days (freezing cold, (do), but from the end of the first week we It ad an ideal trip. For a start, abont seven-lenths of our bids were very sorry they’d left left their little hack rooms, but when the weather brightened their spirits revived (appetites, too), and we were a happy crowd. 1 was one of the fortunate ones, for I have never been seasick in my life, hut I could sympathise with the poor helpless ones that week, for there w'ere some bad cases. They were lying round in all directions, wanting nothing but (he feel of a piece of solid laud, and not earing whether there were rocks, mines, or submarines in onrpalh, so long as the old ship would stop. Nothing did stop us, and, us 1 said, they soon revived, although while it lasted the storm was severe enough to knock a few seamen about who were out tying down stuff liable to be washed overboard. M We reached an Australian port after about nine days of travel, and

the excitement was great at the prospect of a run ashore, but our hopes were dashed when the port authorities came aboard, for leave to soldiers in that State is absolutely prohibited. Here wc were, ‘all dressed up and nowhere to go,’ but finally we got ashore for a route march, and went right through the town to the beach. After visions of ham and eggs, etc.( and more especially the etc.), it was hard to march right through at attention, for the people were prepared to give us a good welcome had they been given the opportunity. About twenty got away and took ‘French leave,’ but they were all rounded up with the exception of four, and for their brief spell of liberty they got twen-ty-eight days detention, with consequent loss of pay. The other four are in all probability Australian citizens now, but we can do without men like them, anyhow, for when they shirk their responsibilities at a critical lime like it was then they are not much use to us. There are men in the hut here with mo now who were at the landing on Gallipoli, and they are preparing to-go back into it again after a brief spell; but with a few more like the tour mentioned, these tine lads wouldn’t even get the chance of a spell; but ‘citizens’ of their calibre wouldn’t care much about that, their argument being (hat they didn’t start the blanker war, so why tight the battles of others? “In Colombo w'e lost one man only, but he came on later, as he was having a sleep when we weighed anchor, so missed his passage. We saw him rather early in the day ‘doing the heavy’ in a rickshaw, but although a monkey he’d purchased came aboard, lie was no’ able to be there wi’ us! lie’s in Sling now, though, and doing well, for he had no intention of deserting. “Colombo was the richer by some hundreds of pounds for our visit, for the amount of silk goods, curios, and fruit that same aboard was surprising. The first afternoon, as wa were at anchor in the stream, we were ‘good goods’ for the niggers, for they got every penny that was aboard the boat, 1 believe, and we certainly got our money's worth in fun, 100. They came off in boatloads, and the jabber beggars description, but there was no doubt as to their wants. ‘Give me penny,' was the cry, and to see them diving and scrambling was too funny. After seeing them, there is no doubt in my mind as to who their ancestors were, for they resembled monkeys in their looks,- their actions, and also the way they stowed the pennies more than anything else. After skinning us out of pennies they disappeared for a lime, but hack they came with some bananas and cocoanuls (bought with our money), for which they found a ready sale at (id dozen and 3d and Id each respectively. Pineapples were' rushed at (id each also; but when we got ashore‘next day wc bought tons of assorted fruits at one-tenth the price. Bananas Is to Is (id per bunch, the eocoanuts for lAd to 2d each, and pineapples at 2d and 2LI each. As we tiled along the pier coming back, each and every soldier had a bunch of bananas, or a rice bag (‘rammed with pirteapples, eocoanuts, or some fruiter other. I thought I’d never look a banana in the face again, but a dozen just now would be a little more than welcome. There is no fruit in this part of the country at all, and the tomatoes are 3d and 4d each, so we don’t go for them. In London peaches are Is 6d to 3s each, and other fruit correspondingly dear, but although the boys are liberal spenders, they don’t rush (hem at that price. “Colombo used to be a good hunting ground for the ‘tin fish,’ for there are a good many skeletons of boats they have wrecked, but the devices for catching them are so effective that not many operate far from home now, and very few even (Continued on Page 4.)