AFTER THE PENINSULAPARADISE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 169, 28 April 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

AFTER THE PENINSULAPARADISE.

Y,M 9 O B A, QANTEEN IN CAIRO. SOLDIERS' LTI. IGIKS. DETAILS ()!•' A SPLKXDID WOHh. The fo'lowinsj letter was received I; 11-1 mail hy the 7«ation.nl Committee of the Y.M.C.A.. from .Mr. James L. Hay, of Christchurch, the first represcntutive of the committee sent to Egypt with the Second Reinforcements :-- Ezbekiah Gardens, Cairo, l'eb. li). 1916. "Since last T wrote many important changes and developments have taken place at the club. In one or two of my letters to you 1 mentioned the uosriibdity of our starting something in the nature of canteens, to be connected with our club, and to he under the control and direction of British and Colonial women helpers—voluntary helpers. The Ksbokiah Gardens Canteen has now been established, and a., you have doubtle-i-i heard from oilier sources, has proved an iili(|iialdiei! success. The women helpers tome from Kng'and. Scotland, Australia and .New Zealand, and the canteen they run has proved a great contrast to the restaurants run by the natives, which wire previously the only places ,n Cairo where men could gel refreshment*. To such an extent has the work developed llu.t we have found :t necessary lo make extensive alterations and we have jn.-t taken <|iiitc a large portion o; the Kubokiah Gardens to accommodate the nun who frcipient the (lull, it is rather significant that we should have been allowed to take (his ground, as it is Government property. but when the Mini-tor of Public Work- was approached, he (jiiite readily agreed to g ve us a-s mm h ground as we wanted entirely free ol rent. Oi course this exton-ion involve- a oonsidorab! itlay of money, but knowing how (he work i., appreciated by the -oldlcrs we i'e'l iu-lilieil iu going ah.■ad with the alterations, from your letters to me I bad sufficient lull ient on tliat the peep'o of New Zealand arc at the bin k of us in this linden iking, and 1 am confideni that tlie mom v could be expended m no belter way. The women helpers (wl'& i!i< hide six o!' the New Zealand Vnliinteer Sister-) are doing inagnilicent work, and on all sides on ■ hears nothing but the highest prai-o from the men. These few comments taken from the Visitor.-' Book are suffic'cut evidence ol that : " A home Iron; Heme. Sweet Home;" " Very n'ce. very clean, very good, as the Araiis -ay :" "'l'he soldier.-' place oi ri i and cheer;" " Be.-t, institution in Cairo:" "An oa-i- in jhe Ihnert of Cai-o:" 'Y..M.G.A. doing grand work here:" "When hungry vi-if the Y.M.C.A. canteen;" "After t!ie Penin-, ,!a. this i.- Paradise:" "A irreif lib-sing lo the troops and a reminder o 1 Home;" "Are I heme from home;"

"Good luck to the Y.M.C.A. canteen :" '• And so say all of us;" "0.K.:" '-Can't bo beat: host place In Cairo;'' "Cheers for the Now Zealand girls hero:" "Y.M.C.A. appreciated by all denominations of Mildie;.-, and l.y many of us ■Jewish soldior.-,;" "Never thought to see a hit of homo in Cairo:" "Tip-top;" "Al." To g.vo ynii some idea of the amount of food wo put through I may mention that on any ordinary Saturday our takin-s run tc over L'il/O made up of piastre (2',d.) and 1-pia-iie (lid.) purchases. We estimate that this mean, at least (3.01 H) men served with refreshments in the one day. We make a point of supplying the fund to the men, the very liest we can procure, at a price barely sufficient to cover uur expenses. During the Christmas Holiday- we d ; d everything possdilo. to make the club attractive for the. men. and as you can imagine we had largo crowds right through the whole of the holidays. I had the club specially decorated w th e'ectric light, and the men seemed to appreciate our endeavours to make them feel at Inane. You may be interested to know that wo organised a choir or soldiers, and during Christmas those men visited several hospitals, including Pont-de-Kubbah (No. 2 Nov. Zealand Hospital), and whofnir they went they wore much appreciated" Sonic weeks ago - \o had rather nil unusual request, ,'v; ."i p.m. one evening one ol flio officers Iroin the Sentt'sii Horse Brigade came to u-, and asked it it \\<':\ possible for us to provide tea and bun- for his regiment (iL'Od men), which wan arriving at

Cairo from the. Daidniiello. ufc five o'clock in m niornini;. We put the Jul) up to the latins, ami like true sports they said unanimously, "Ye-.' In lev. ime than it i;'.!:.;.- i.-i to 1 .!, no had ordered him.-. Mi be baked U.r tiii-, crowd ci niiMi. and made an ar.tjements ahont

supp t!u> tea. It meant an nilni;;ht job, lii i tile appreciation of the men wa» ample compensation for all the work involved, li was a told night, and the men woic mighty pleased to receive a cup of hot tea iiiimed'ately they disembarked inun the train. I enclose a i opy of the letter we rtuived from the regiment, thnnkim: us for our trouble.

Our postal business has now grown to enormous proportion--, and in addi(ion to having had in make extensions I ir our can I .' en tvo have had also to extend ihe facilities for writing and posting letter.-. This involved an expenditure nl Soil, but as I have said before 1 consider it money we'd spent. A few week- ai.'u we took a count o. the It i tcrs put through in one tveek. The total was ovi r L'.l.miil. When you consider that each of tho-e letters has t i he franked and signed, you can form Mime idea ol the amount of work involved We supply the men with paper and envelopes, pen ami ink, and writing tables, s m ( | , v< ry letter is sent 1»).,| free. This ; - due to the courtesy of the hval chief postmaster. who h.-u- been a very good friend to iiii right through. 1 siippi se Mr. Jamit son ha- rd'erre 1 to the He-t Hostel, which the military authoritiiti have a-ked us to co-oper-ate with Umiii in kite bl idling and

maintaining. As you may know, a large number ol men come to Cairo from the surrounding camps, having been granted twenty-four houiw' leave, and aij hotel accomodation at Cairo is anything but good, it is very desirable that some such place should uo started. Men are also granted a few days' sick leave, and want some suitable place in which to stay. This Rent Hoi-tel will prove u veritable boon to many thousands of soldiers. We hope to be able to acromniodate one thousand men nightly. A large building known as The Hoarse will probably be taken over, and within a few weeks everything should be in full swing. Tin? spiritual welfare of the men has been the subject of earnest consideration, and we an' having a good deal of Kuocess iti the vftirioii'S meetings which are being conducted. Our Sunday afternoon tea has developed into quite a splendid meeting, and I am sure it is one of the most appreciated ot' nil tiic activities of our club. We can only accommodate (io men al prcseiit. The' ladies set the tables, and servo the tea, and altogether there is a genuine home touch about the whole tiling. I'he-e teas are made po-vible by the generosity of various private subscribers in Cairo. The Sunday evening meeting., are now well attended, and the men seem to appreciate the services very much indeed.

1 am still receiving n very large number of enquiries irom Now _ Zealand about wounded, killed and missing men, and for a long time now I have wanted to establish some organisation which will deal with these in some adequate manner. Art you know, there is no New Zealand branch of the Bed Cross Society in Cairo, and all New Zealand enquiries are at present handled by the British Red Cross Society, which also has to deal with huge h-ts of enquiries in regard to Brit'sli iiiou Australia has a separate branch of the Bed Cross Society, to deal with Australian enquiries, and Australia i" therefore in a much better way of getting information about her own nun But Xew Zealand is not so fortunate, and all New Zealand enquiries have to be made through the British Red Cross Society. 1 have been cons derimi a scheme for obtaining personal details from nun who are actually now Hi camp round about here, but up to the present my difficulty has been the getting of sufficient help to prosecute these enquiries ia an adequate manner. As you will know. Mks K. A. Rout, of Christchurch, is now in Cairo, and after talking the matter over, she has kindly consented to undertake th secretarial work in connection with these New Zealand enquiries. !>y next mail we hope to have this scheme in full working order, and be ..hie to send away our first lot of reports r-nd replies to many anxioin enquirers. We feel that this work is partb.ilarly i rof the Xew Zealand men are in > r int in view of the fact that the whole Egypt, and may be shifted at any moment, so we are going light ahead with the scheme immediately.