SEEING THE JOB THROUGH.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 December 1915, Page 6

SEEING THE JOB THROUGH.

NEWS OP TARANAICI MEN. Writes Private Percy Hawkins to his people at Okato:— You will be glad to know that I am now out of hospital and am feeling fairly fit. Since arriving at the front I have been some 15 weeks in hospital altogether, at throe different times. 1

note that a lot of New Zealanders are: returning by the Tahiti, and I suppose, they consider themselves lucky dogs. We had a lot of casualties in the other day. The first name and number I saw was that of my mate, the chap 1 had '"bivvicd" and "tuckered'' with all the time I was oil the I'eninsula. ile was in splendid .nick when I saw him la"t, but must have been killed soon afterwards, J have ncn heard up to time of writing how or when he met his fate, but I bet my boots he was shot from the front, for he was grit right through. His name was Qssv Leeks. Billy Surgenor, who used to work for Mr. Fox at Okato, is reported to be a prisoner at Constantinople. Colonel Jack Hughes is in charge of the Canterbury (Battalion, and during the August "slap-up" he did great work. •Some of his men, who are back wounded and sick, reckon he is the coolest little devil on the Peninsula. I used to see him myself cutting about in "slacks" cut off above the knee, no coat on, and always with a substantial waddv. He was the only colonel left when I came away, so he is pretty well a moral for more honors if he can pull through. Bob Woods, of Stratford, and another man whose name I cannot remember, were the only chaps left standing out of the Wellington Battalion on September 14, when the New Zealamlers pulled out for a rest at Lemnos —1 mean the only survivors of the main body Wellington Battalion that left in October, 1914. So you can bet your bottom dollar here was no "picnic." God alone knows how glad I was to get a short respite away from it all. I slept for 15 hours on end as soon as I got aboard the old tnn that bore us hack to the land of Egypt. T saw in a New Zealand paper where some bloated fire-eating coon (who had been invalided home) said that he was frothing at the mouth to get back to the front. You can take it from me that he was either a fool or a liar. No man froths at the mouth to got back. We all go back, not because we like it but because we are going to see the job through.

Before I left we had extended our left and pained a substantial lump, and 1 believe that since we have made further gains and are at present consolidating our positions. Tlicre is a rumor in tlie air to-night that the Frariconia, with the whole staff of the No. 1 New Zealand Stationary Hospital has been torpedoed and sunk. The hospital was being shifted from Port Said to Lemnos, I think. Anyway, the staff and nurses, orderlies and all passed through Alexandria about a week ago en route for their destination. Bert Lewis was in the hospital at Port Said, and he said that it was a fine outfit, all New Zealanders. Dr. Wvlie, of New Plymouth, was on the staff. If the authorities sent those women to their death on an ordinary transport someone ought to be hanged for it. There are hospital ships limning back to Lemnos at least twice a week, and they go back empty, as they cannot, of course, carry troops. There is no reason why those girls could not have been taken over on one ot these. Apart from the fact that every precaution should have been taken for the safety of the nurses, they are the piece of the Ked Cross organisation we can least afford to lose. I expect you will have full details of this tragedy by the time this reaches you. I wish I could find out for certain the truth of this affair, but we get no definite news of anything here, at least not till we get tlie New Zealand papers. In Egypt, as in New Zealand, the effect of the war is not felt, at least no bad effect. The great amount of money put into the country I>V the troops is a God-send to the natives. Although there were stacks of first-class tobacco and cigarettes given by the New Zealand public to the"boys and sold in the canteens in Egypt, while we were on the Peninsula tlie tobacco and cigarettes issued to ns were rubbish. Several times the tobacco issued to my company was so mouldy as to be absolutely unsmokable, and the men refused to take it. That meant that we went without a smoke for a week so you can bet your life that it was pretty crook stuff. The issue per week \va-?'2oz. tobacco or four packets of cigftMttQi P«r man.