TROOPS IN EGYPT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 198, 30 January 1915, Page 3

TROOPS IN EGYPT.

A LEAVEN OF "WASTERS." WEEDING OUT UNDESIRABLES. A CANDID STATEMENT. . (From C, E. W. Bean, Official Reporter with the First Australian Expediditionary Force i n Egypt.) Mcna. Camp, December 20.

It would be a deceit upon the people* of Australia if it were reported to them tl it Christmas and the approaching New Year have found the Australian Imperial Force without a cloud in the sky. The weather was perfect—Christmas morning itself broke as clear and crisp as a mid- winter day on the wrong side of the Darling River, and one cannot imagine any better praise than that. AH the camp looked ideal, with lines as straight as an architect's drawing, and streets and kitchens, which the medical officers, by dint of a good deal of insistence, have managed to maintain as clean as a model dairy. The big new white; wooden mess huts, which are now ready for most of the corps, and which are being provided for all, were decorated with palm and eucalyptus; and some of the men who take a pride in their regiments had marked the mess tents of. the regimental boundary with designs in white and colored stones and pebbles as neat as a Roman mosaic. A Christmas dinner has been provided in many eases by funds subscribed by the officers, and in many others by the men themselves—often plum puddings with other extra courses, and sometimes extra beer. The columns that swung down the hills from their various church parades, with their big shoulders and long Australian limbs all swinging together, look half as powerful again as ordinary regiments. General Birdwood watched them all till the last man was digging his heels into the sand at the rear of the last company, and one could not help wondering what he thought of them. He has seen many sorts of soldiers during his short and brilliant career, but one could not help wondering whether lie has ever commanded a more magnificent force than this. He may turn tV.cn\ into that, perhaps, but, although to the casual observer everything was right with the Force, the last week has been one of some anxiety to those who have the. good name of Australia at heart,

REGRETTABLE SCENES. Cairo is one of the great pleasure resorts of the world, and a place where the soldiers in any neighboring camp can alw.-.ys have a reasonably enjoyable time during their hours of leave, provided they exercise the same amount of restrainst as the ordinary tourist, but certain scenes have occurred, and have become more common during the past few days, which go a good way beyond that, and which are already affecting the reputation of Australia in the outside world. It is idle to contend that the Australian is at present making quite the impression which Australians hope it will make either on civilians or upon the great soldier", under white eyes they come. I was spcr-king tin j other day to one of the nix-.-, distinguished men :n th : British Army. "They are as fine a body of men physically sis I r i '. e ever ■••'•. n " h< rp.id "\\\\i do all I J-\ ttralian - ; drink so much;' ') !;, truth] is that there are a certain number or men in those who were accepted for service abroad who are not fit to be seat abroad to represent Australia. They may, some of them, have been men who had seen service in South Africa or the regular Army, or they may have appeared hard bitten, and used to hardship, but in recruiting an army, just as in picking a football team ' to represent Australia, the inclusion of a man who has not got the necessary moral qualities, however splendid his physical qualifications may be, is apt to do more harm than good. ' There is only a small percentage—possibly 1 or 2 per cent.— in the force, which is really responsible for the occurrences about which Cairo is beginning to talk; the great majority of the men are keen, intelligent, well restrained young Australians, who yuu will meet enjoying their hours of leave in front of the cafes, or in the museum, or the zoological gardens, or the postcard shops, dressed as neatly as any of i the other soldiers in the town, and behaving themselves in the way in which any rational Australian on a holiday would behave. Th»v have the material in them not merely for as good a force as the New Zcalanders. or the Territorials, but to one's own thinking, of a better force, because the Australians here, besides having the best physique, are, man for man. more highly strung, and if anything, quicker witted. But there is i n the Australian ranks a proportion of men who are uncontrolled, slovenly, and in some cases, what few Australians can be accused of being-dirty. In a certain number of cases it is noticeable that these men are wearing the South African ribbon. Possibly they are the men who since returning from that wur have never had any settled-occupation, and who were therefore the first to enlist when recruiting for the present force was begun, or it may lie that the discipline in the South African campaign was verv much slacker than that required of troops before they will be permitted to go to the front in the present class of warfare. Or it may lie merely that a certain class of old soldier is given to the verv childish habit of showing oil' before the younger soldier, and giving himself examples of the sort of thing that he thinks may with impunity be done by anyone that knoivs the ropes. Whatever the reason, it has been noticed bv too nianv people to admit of doubt, that whilst many of the most capable and splendid members of the force are men with South African experience, there is a class of old soldier who. so far from bring the most suitable member of the force. i= the least suitable of any. Many young soldiers take these men at their worth.

LOSIXC cm ill XAME, '■Tt's Hi.- likes of (hem tliat are to spoil tile frame for the rest of us. an.l lose us our leave," T heard one youngster sav a fov (lavs since. ''The fellows are .irottiiij; a'bit fed ii|i with them doivn nmoiifrst our lot." F'lt they are really doing si nuieli more serious tiling than losin" other soldiers iheir leave.' Tli-.v are iosin;; Australia \cr flood name in tlie outside world, and those Australians who happen 'to be living in Cairo, or in touch with the world outside the camps, have the mortification of looking oil whilst dav l>v ilttv the reputation of' Australia sloulv' vanishes hefore the actions of a handful of rowdies, who do not really represent the country. The Territorials have not our physic|ue, and some of the Lancashire rciiiiicnts seem to 1.0 composed lar-elv of mere children, hut l.v dint of hard work they have become thoromjlilv smart .-.oldies, and. altleil'di both amonust them and Urn New Zcalandcrs tle-iv has been a certain amount of hard living, which will always lie found where ftreat numbers of iii.ii are collected, nolle who is not deaf can hide from nini-vlf (he fact that ihe talk at iircsent curreiil in Cairo attaches to the Australian force rather ihan to the Territorial*, or, as far as 1 can judfro. lo the Xew Zcalandcrs. One .locs not wish to frive the impression that thinffs have reached the sta<;e of a scandal or anvthinir approaching it. Step, will doubtless be taken to correct it. as thev have been taken before, anil the Australian force will be doing itself credit before it lias liniahcd its

training, and will be worthy of the miljority of the men comprised in it. The. New Zealanders have just taken steps [ to get rid of a eertain number of men who were doing little good in their force,' and the same, or some similar step, will no doubt be taken with the Australians. But it is just as well that the Australian public should be aware of the reason for the return of the majority of the men who are returning or have returned since the expedition sailed. It is easy for a man to return to his native village and reap a certain amount of hero-wor-ship on the ground that he was invalided, or to pitcli a story before an admiring crowd at the local hotel of how lie showed them that he was not going toj stand any nonsense and finally pitched in his resignation. The facts are a certain number of men have been invalided through serious sickness or accident, neither of which were their own fault. A certain number also were also sent hack some time ago from. Albany and Colombo because some of them, no doubt, on'conscientious grounds, and others for reasons best known to themselves, refused to be vaccinated..A few others have been and will be sent back because they have contracted certain diseases by which after all the trouble of months' of training and of the sea voyage they have unfitted themselves to do the work for which they enlisted. And a percentage will probably find their way back from here, the reason for whose return has been that they have damaged their country's reputation, and a few of them have been got rid of as the best means of preserving it.

TROUBLE IN INFANTRY. Although the Australian Light Horse camp at Maaui is nearer to the city than Mena camp, and infinitely easier to leave without permission, there seems to be little trouble from rowdy spirits amongst the Light Horse, or, for that matter, in the Artillery, part of which is at Maadi. This may be partly due to the fact that a certain class of waster, some of whom managed to get into the infantry, never gained entrance to those corps, but. I think, that to some

extent it is due to the fact that whilst I Mena is away out at the Pyramids, | with only an Arab village in tlio neigh-1 borhood, the Light Horse camp is next! door to the now garden suburb - f Maadi, where many of the English in-1 habitants live; and those inhabitants! have gone out of their way to provide I attractions in the camp, of which I have heard both men and officers speak most 1 warmly. At the entrance of the cam)), for example, they have set up out of J the funds raised in the suburb a huge,] handsome, open Arab {oiil for the. men, fif t'.',l Vfit'n tables and chain* for road- j ing and writing accommodation for a hundred and fifty men. Near it is a smaller tent, supplied with all the English newspapers for the officers. Next J door to this is a stall with a stock of' tobacco, post-cards, writing-paper (with the camp address printed in the corner), which is run by the Maadi people themselves, one of their own number acting as salesman. The camp is not in every way ideally situated. Tt is on dusty ground,-for one thing, rather than upon desert sand, as the Pyramids" camp is. The horses trample this into a fine powder, and on windy days, or even still days, when the horses are being led to, water or exercised, the clouds of dust raised as they come into and out of the lines are apt to cover everything in camp; but Maadi lias made the best of it. The lines are, if anything, even more neatly picked out with borders of white-washed stone and devices in front of the tents than they are at Mena. They have even planted a few palm plants in improvised garden plots in I front of some of the more important quarters of the camp, and T saw a map of Australia sown in barley dropped from a fodder bag already springing into existence. They are still somewhat short for tents in some of the light horse troops at Maadi, but T have not heard a single complaint. The inhabitants have given them concerts in the camp, and hav-.\ eve" arranged for the officers and some of the men to get an occasional warm bath in their private houses. The V.M.C.A. representatives are undertaking the: provision of somewhat similar nm'ort- at the Pyramids camp, and the hioortnnco of it at b big permanent ramp cannot be overrate!. As one i>:i..hy<; the tent 't M*n.li en tlie aftcrnc-.ui u' flexing \~)iy i nilfull of Lighthorsonren writing letters to Australia, one could not help wondering how many families will receive in ! > t that s!"uld r.' vcr lupt Iv'nnl if it had i:ot I" en foi ik publ'.l s.u':' :f the p.oph' of Jt.-at!' t se.tti-v. up tint tent.

LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS. That reminds one ■■' anoth ■» matte;. Knerm.,us t mil. r- i: I. ttcrs 1,,,-ve lie i written by the Australian force abroad —over 30l\00l. wire estimate.! I.i have passed through the Army post office before we reached Egypt. Of late the New /cuhinders and Australians have been sending cable messages to an extent tvhich has never been approached in Cairo. The normal number of cable messages from Cairo to Australia before the uar was from two to five per day. Since the troops have arrived it has risen to 40 or FrO, but in the five days preceding Christmas it rose from 42 on December 20 to 123, l!Ki, 312, and 4(i(! nn Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day itself 135 were sent. The number received from Australia had averaged about 30. but during Christmas week it, rose to about SSO. On Christmas Pay 310 were received, and a message came through the day before from Adelaide, to say that a thousand messages were waiting there to be sent through to us.

It is probable that tlic mails from Australia will hav: 1 been proportionately quite as heavy. Olio thing which poo|*.lt- at Home can do fur the men of this force is to write to tlicin. Tlio anxiety witli which the men look forward to letters from home cannot bo exaggerated. Every day men come n]) to me under (lie impression that T know more than they do about the nini's, and ask me if 1 have had any news of their letters, and when they are likely to receive them. Part of a mail arrived from England on Christmas T)ay. Tt was the latest we have received, and it left Australia just after we did. Several mails must have passed through the f'anal since we have landed here, and gone on to England. Perhaps it was inevitable, but if they were i„ special bags, as they surely should have been, it is hard to see why they could not have been landed, The men are remarkably patient in this matter—they take it as one of the unavoidable incidents of war. Considering what help a letter can be to a man under circumstances like these, one wonders if this particular incident was unavoidable.