In the Track of the Troops.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1915, Page 7

In the Track of the Troops.

anU'.STn\KS OF THE JOURNEY. OFF Ti) TIIK FIUIXO LINK. (By ..Malcolm Ross, Ollicial War Correi spondent with the Xew Zealand Forces). I A voyage westward and northward across the oceans from the Antipodes in these times impresses the traveller not only with the vast resources of tne Empire, but also with the splendid spirit that animates our race in a crisis calling for almost superhuman energies of mind and body. Xew Zealand, everyone admits, has done splendidly, and Australia was endeavoring to get level with her in the proportion of men sent to the front, d'assing through the ports ami cities of the great Continent, one saw few signs of the war—here and there ollicers in khaki, or a platoon marching, almost unnoticed, through the streets: .but ill tile big camps at Liverpool and Broad meadows there were thousands training, and it was hoped to send in all 10t),i)00 men. On the great liner which is carrying Tun Majesty's mails to the heart of' the Ensipire we soon Ihid that almost every man—and woman—is travelling to or be.cause of tiie war. They are going in the trad; of tiie troops that have gone before. Albany, \vliere months ago the great Australasian armada assembled for it-, historic voyage, is the first milestone along the route. Tnere arc others that mirk historic stages in the great trek—the rusting ribs of the Kimlen upon the Keeling rocks; the great camps in the desert in Kgypt; the light on the Canal; and the operations in the Dardanelles. H : story is being "written in lightning flashes," ami there -will without doirbt be other milestones yet farther afield. At Fremantle. a splendid Xew Zealand rfliip, crowded with Australian soldiers, their band playing, steams out into the silver wa'ke of the setting sun. It is an inspiriting scene. The enthusiasm spreads to the passengers on the liner, and the flying cor! , s j n the well deck for'ard join in the lusty cheering., arid then burst into a. song with the refrain—■

"We will never forget .Australia And the friends we leave behind." Tiie crude poetry of the song will not find a place, in any anthology, but the sentiment appeals to the dwellers in the great sun-baked Continent, which already, almost, 'has become a nation. The Aviation Corps, which consists of a young captain, a young lieutenant, and some 158 non-coms, and men, is as keen as mustard. Drill, study and physical exercises occupy nearly all I their time. [t is only the two office ra who tly, lint what* with artificers and mule trans-port it takes another 38 7111M1 to "run" a plane in war time. They arc a fine type of yaung men who compose this corps. One of tile -Tommies" owns two large sheep stations, and is rich beyond the dreams 01 avarice. He could buy up the whole, ship, cargo and all: but he wanted to do his share in the war, and. knowing nothing of drill, decided to join as a private. ■'And," says the stout farricr-sergeant-nnjoi\ who. by the way, wears the ribbon of the 'Boer war, "he is as happy as Larry." The corps does not know I where it is going; hut it imagines it will soon be operating in the Persian G'llf.

There arc quite a" number of young rowi on board, all bound for one or other of the campaigns in. which Britain is now engaged. Two go Home to join King Edward's Horse. Two others hope for commissions in the Engineers. Then there nre several young doctors, fresh from their final examinations —among them the fast bowler of an Australian eleven. They are, without exception, fine types of the young Australian, and will give of their best in the cause of the Empire. There are also English officers keen to get to the war. The , tall, clever cavalryman at the captain's table has already been there. A horse fell with him, and lie was sent on a special mission, with two other officers, to Ibur horses in Australia—twenty thousand of them. it is a, game, at which in the past big commissions have been made, but of lute years the methods of the War Ollice have been revolutionised, and so it happens that the only tribute in connection with this .£4(yO,<WH) deal is a .box of somewhat inferior cigars pushed on board a department steamer by a, man in Adelaide, and, in addition, a glowing letter of praise from an officer high up in the Army Ecnjount Deportment. An exwP. and 0. Officer, 8.X.R., who already has bad eight co»sins killed in the war. has left his sheep station in Australia to do duty in the North Sea. illis wife and two babies are with him. A captain, who saw service with the] New Zealauders in the Boer war, and who lias since roughed it in the "Mallei'." .is returning to join his old regiment, the Hull's—or what is left of it. Ten days out from Freiiiunt'e the flashing of the dalle light, and, later, a flaming sunrise above the cone of Adams' Peak, point to other scenes — to Ceylon, which, out of her four thousand planters, lias sent three thousand to the war. At Colombo, except for the scarcity of freight ships anil the dearth of tourists, it, is a case of "business as usual." for there is now no Em<len afloat on the waters and no Germans wirelessing to her about the movements of British ships. The dalle Face at dinner is still an interesting sin-lit, and here meet and mingle men from New Zealand and Australia, from I'enang and .Singapore, from 'Hongkong and Yokohama, and even from Pctrograd and Pel;in. A chance meeting with an old friend lends to a. dinner at the (1,0.11.. in interesting company. , A clever llussian official and a young Russian from Siberia are able to tell us much ahout the Eastern campaign and to give us comprehensive details of the Jatest driving force of the Tsar's dominions. Russia can train twelve million men for this war. The figures are staggering. "But has she euouyh munitions for her 'present forces?" We nre assured that she now has. England has helped, and so has .lapiui. and even America.

shuttered houses oi tiio.-e wealthy Oermnus standing untenanted and lurloru amidst the gorgeous (lowering trees and shrubs of their spacious grounds. Their tenner inhabitants ate in an inland e.amp under strict guard. The laic manager »f the dalle Face Hotel and the wealthy niercliant are among them. Hageiiback —brother of the celebrated animal man

—was caught red-handed sending wireiss messages. Owing t. u same laxity lie is supposed to have escaped to Java, Humor states that a British cruiser went after him. What happened is known to few people. A police ollicial hints that lie did not reach Java. Some say he was i shot. After the war we may know. Meantime his wife, a gay French woman, has been living at Cairo. Prom all one hen.-s of the happen- ' ings in the Far East one comes to the .inevitable conclusion that the authorities throughout the .British dominions 'cannot he too strict in their treatment of the Ocrman alien within their gates. In some instances there has been undue laxity, and precautions were taken oaly when it was too late. It all points to the necessity for the appointment of strong and capable men to important positions of great trust in the outposts of Kmpire.

it is interesting to listen to the opinions of men and women who have seen I the troops from the oversea dominions pn their way to the seat of war. But ..this is scarcely a time for comparisons and criticisms. On the contrary so tremendous is the task before us that it behoves everyone to do all that is possible by word and act in stimulating a friendly feeling and a healthy patriotism. It may'be said, however, that one could not repress a thrill of pride .in listening to the opinions of the people of Colombo upon the conduct and bearing of the Xew Zealand troops who landed there. The Xew Zealandc.'s wherever they have been have maintained unta.nished the fair name of their line country. All that one has heard in the track of our troops is a tribute to the care with which they were selected,'to the officers who trained them, and to the stock from which they have sprung. The moral of it all is to weed out the waster, to discard the unfit. As time goes on and more drafts are required tliis may be the more dillicult of accomplishmenlt, but it will be none the less necessary.

Among the men who joined us at Colombo from the Far East was a young Belgian Consul. Several of his relatives and many of his friends have fallen in the war. He is going to the trenches. His mother, who is in Brussels, wrotthat, as he was an only son, he must come home and fight. Willingly he has lei't his .post in the East, and is hurrying to the Western battlefields.

. As our voyage proceeds it becomes more and lucre interesting, though somewhat more risky. In the Arabian Sea the south-west monsoon drives us north of the long barren island of Socotra, and we reach Aden late. Still later in the night the Salsctta glides in, bringing her load of Anglo-Indians, with piles of luggage, in which one notes the guns of the hunter, the rods of the masheer man, and the clubs of the less adventurous golfer. The stout little oM man with the eyeglass is a general from the Persian Gulf. Next him, (living into the pile of luggage for his bundle, is a sergeant of the Koyal Horse Artillery. He is here with some 20 or SO of his -men from India going to train more arti'.bry in England. He is not 1 troubling much about the war. War is his job, and he ' will take it as and when it comes with the calm -philosophy of his type. Meantime, it is the necessities of the moment that he is thinking about, and he delivers with much -metaphor and-appro-priate adjectives a lecture to all and sundry- upon the blighter who has "pinched" his straps. A grey cruiser from the Persian Gulf has poked her nose in under 'the shelter of the old rock, and as the shore searchlights pierce the darkness this ship, and other craft of varied kind, are revealed with startling suddenness. On shore the garrison is strengthened, and Trig Sikh sentries bar your progress on the upland paths. Pcrim, with its lighthouse and its caJile station, stares at us as we enter the Red Sea. Here are more soldiers. AU' that night, the lights along the Red Sea, formerly in the hands of the Turks, flash brightly, now tended by British hands. Here we meet and pass the converging traffic of Easl.and West —a tank steamer with engines far aft, carrying oil from Java; a hosiptal ship going to the 'Persian Gulf or India; a Dutch steamer with her colors and nam,: in huge letters so that the German submarines may not sink her, and many others, all travelling in comparative safety by the grace ot God and the exertions o'f the British Navy. 'Hie Canal to-day is a sight in itself, Port Said is more interesting than ever, and Alexandria provides scenes never to Ibe forgotten. We have conic these thousands of miles in the track of the troops, unescorted ailU without a mishap; with never a German Hag in sighiS —a tribute surely to the nation that still rules the waves. And throughout this long trek across the oceans, at every port men are joining us eager t(. take their places in the fighting lines. From the fertile fields of New Zealand, from the sunbathed plains of Australia, from China, from tndia, from Ceylon, from the Malay Archipelago, and even from Somalilaud, the young m«n are answering the call, with the blood of their fathers still strong in their veins. They are travelling westward in the tra«k of the troops who have gone before.