WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 229, 6 March 1915, Page 5

WAR NOTES.

IN EGYPT. WORK OF THE Y.M.C.A. Mr iWilliam Owens, 8.A., special Secretary with the First Australian Expeditionary Force, writing from Cairo to Mr Gillanders, general secretary at Sydney, writes:—? "Things are going exceedingly well here. In the shade of the Pyramids the) Y.M.C.A. is doing its much' appreciated work. When we landed in Egypt the Y.M.C.A secretaries got together ts decide on operations. It was impossible to obtain large tents from the military for the simple reason that they vera not obtainable in Egypt, so we decided to build large native huts capable of holding 2000 men at a push, These were put up in quick time by native labor, ami soon ready for ths troops. After paying for furniture and equipment, etc., the expenditure was well on the way to £IOO, but if ever money was well spent this was. "Cairo is a city teeming with vice. There is everything there that will make ' a man physically and morally unfit. Our problem was to make life in camp after hours attractive. In addition to that, to tell the boys straight what were the moral dangers they were faced with. This we have done, and the result is the Y.M.C.A. lias attained a higher prestige among these men than ever it did before.

RECRUITING IN AUSTRALIA. Speaking at a civic reception given last week at Maryborough (Vic)., the Commonwealth Prime Minister, Mr. Fisher, said no matter what statements were made, the Government was not going to depart from its recruiting policy. It was not the business of the Government to go cautiously into a crisis such as the present, but to go daringly, and take all liaiv-j that were in tlv! public interest. 1 * fi'.v as lie was concerned, he was no; r.ne of those who thought that party crii.ic'?ni sii"ild cease in i.i'J crisi 3 It wna a known tact that c-T'Mticn had cn-pt in br'loro. in such a in a nation's history, and. the Government would tako pten' _'nafc such woui- 1 not be the cape in the present crisis. It would keep a watch even 011 t'.ie most patriotic of people. It was the bound.m duly of Australia to provide adequate homo defence, and to do someUVn-; more than had beeti done for the Mother Country, which Uad done so m e!> for this. land.