WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1996, 28 June 1919, Page 3

WITH THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

EVENTS IN EGYPT. Extracts from a letter of Trooper Wanvick Claris, brother of Air 11. Claris, of Eoxton, to his parents, hated April 10th, at Kuesha, Egypt: You will he wondering’ what has become of me by this time, not having written for so long, though, of course, you will ha ve heard long ago of the trouble over here. You can guess how disgusted I am, and we all arc, over the business. If it had not been for these wretched Jippos, we would lie well on our way to dear old New Zealand by this time, instead of riding around here, putting the “wind up” on a lot of sulky, discontented niggers, who don’t know when they are well off. After I last wrote (January 30th), we were told that up to (he 28th Reinforcements would leave for New Zealand on February 20th. Just at the last moment the Australians took our three boats, but we were told that there would be a boat for us on March 6th. However, this transport left, but only took Main Body and sick men —but we were told that as they left we would go down to Kantara (we were at Rafa at the time) and (hat the Marama would be leaving and would take half the brigade, being a big boat; this wart even read out on orders. Then this trouble started in Egypt, and mi March ‘IT 1 h we had a short notice of: two hours to pack up all our things in our base kits and only take what was absolutely necessary. I forgot to mention that all our horses were handed in and sent down the line two weeks before. We left our camp at Rafa at: 5 p.m., and walked down (o the station and boarded the train at 12 o’clock (hat night. We reached Kantara at 10 next morning, and stayed four days alongside the canal, and got litted out with everything again, horses, guns, rations, and all the active service paraphernalia. We left Kantara in all our war paint on March 23rd, and since then we have been riding about through Egypt, going through all the villages, reading out proclamations to the niggers, threatening them with dire consequences unless they stopped their foolish little habits of tearing up railway lines, cutting telegraph lines, and generally being a nuisance, and we mentioned just casually that Allenby had taken over command again, and that it only took us a little over a week to smash the Turkish army, so what chance would they have. One of the towns we went through, called Mil Ghamar, had declared itself a Republic—they hadn’t any guns, but the blacksmiths were going day and night, turning their ploughshares, etc., into ugly looking knives. A regiment of us rode into the town and up to the Government house, got the President out, and took him away with us as prisoner. Needless to say, the town has gone back to its old regime again. The whole affair puts me in mind of R. Chambers’ yarn, “The Gay Conspiracy,”' it is so ridiculous. It was very amusing at this place —they had taken up the railway lines, we mado themqput them down again and repair; we made all the rich, fat, case-loving heads do their turn also, and put 8.W.1. (British West Indians) over them as taskmasters, and to see these black .8.W.1.’s standing? over these well dressed, fat Jippos, saying: “Come on, work!” was as good as a play, and like adding insult to injury to the illustrious aristocracy of Egypt. When we first started out, our brigadier told us that this job might delay us a week or a month at the outside. But a month has gone and still embarkation looks as far off as ever. In fact, it looks as if we are being kept on for “the Army of Occupation.” 1