OUR TROOPS AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1915, Page 4

OUR TROOPS AT THE FRONT.

"PURE GOLD." By Telegr*ph.~Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. In the course of a letter received in Wellington, Major C. Guy Powles, Bri-gade-Major of the New Zealand "Mounted Rifle Brigade, pays a high tribute to IKe men composing the New Zealand eypeditionary Force. Referring to the landing at Gaba Tepe, he says:—"Nothing you have read is too good for what they did and how they behaved/' Proceeding, he states:—"We generally manage to get down to the beach far a swim about 0 p.m., often with shells going overhead, but one getß absolutely indifferent to them, as one soon learns their direction, etc. '•July JO: Here I am out in the bay for a forty-eight hours' spell. It i& simply delightful out here, no flics, no heat, no shells, etc. One might almost be miles and mileo away from any war, except for the d.Mar.i boom of great guns now and again. I ant full of the greatest admiration for our men. They have come up to the full expectation for the pluck and endurance that belongs to British traditions, One can truly say that, as a whole, our men are pure gold. The patience and fortitude of thtf wounded is wonderful. One could never have believed it unless seen with one's own eyes. We are very well"fed. Our rations consist of biscuit, bread about three times a week in lieu thereof, tinned meat, ako a little bacon, rice, dried vegetables, and sometimes figs and often onions, all of excellent quality, but, of course, men get awfully tired of the same diet every day, and a canteen where tinned fruit, lemons, etc., could be bought would kety many a man healthy. AH our water comes from Lemnos or Imbros in tanks, and is run off into cans (milk cans) and carried up all the lulls to the trenches. It is good water, but the ration is limited to half a gallon per man per day, not very much for a man working hard on a hoi day!"