AMERICAN'S TRIBUTE TO AUSTRALIANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1916, Page 6

AMERICAN'S TRIBUTE TO AUSTRALIANS.

"ROUGHEST, TOUGHEST BODY OF MEN." ' San Francisco, March 10.' Mr. Arno Dosch, the well-known magazine writer of San Francisco, and formerly a member of the staff of the Bulletin of that city, but now a war correspondent in Egypt, has found an extraordinary vivid splash of color in the advent of the Australians in Cairo, they having established themselves in the old Egyptian capital after the historic retreat from the Gallipoli Peninsula. In an intensely interesting letter which reached San Francisco on February 28, Mr. Doseh, who has strong leanings towards the Allies, gives the following impressions he has gleaned during his stay amor.g the Arabs and the Anzac ages old that can afford to wait. It is waiting with the patience of a country ages old that can afford to wat. It is conscious of its position in the war. It experts the German-Turkish forces to plunge towards the Suez Canal, and it is ready for them. But it awaits the event with an Eastern calm on which is superimposed a British calm.

"Here in Cairo I feel I am in closed territory. After being raced across the Eastern Mediterranean in a P. and 0 l!ner with an honest fear of I was dropped at Port Said, and there was an ordinary train, dining car and. all, which hustjed us on to Cairo, skirting the canal and the desert, which wer« not at all as ordinary. Once in Egypt I, or any other one, can move about anywhere. It is easier to knock about on the delta of the Nile than in Frande or England. Still, one i» never quite unconscious of the desert that hems us in, and all the,unknown things which are going on in that district. "Imagine the most European of Cairo's streets filled from the steps of the hotel to the arcade aprdss the way with swaggering men in khaki. They walk with "a swing and a "cheero," their spurs jangling, the emu feathers in their hats waving, their level eyes a head above even the tall Egyptians. To anyone used to the areas of Europe, they strike you like a fresh wind off the mountains. For those are the Australians; the roughest, toughest, fit and fighting body of men I believe the world has ever seen. All the vari-colored, fascinating life cl Cairo is swept away by their virility. They seem fairly to swell through the streets. I, for one, have never seen such men outside of a cow. town in our own West.

"Imagine this ancient and secretive e»ty bursting with the heroes of west* efn romance, with their pockets full of money, and itching to spend it—to blow it in in a ferge conspicuous'manner, They fill the Bidewalks; flicki«g , 'tfith their swagger sticks at the bare legs of th ?,. 9 PiiS of I;he, Prophet, , w Jio :wriggle, andong them .keen on baksheesh, • arid offering to sell them what they will. The', sons cf the Phophet rub their smarting cah'o3 and follow them with voluble curses that fSU o'n indifferent ears. The streets, 100, are full of gharrys, bearing forth linperial Australian privates outfor their evening's entertainment. "The steps of the hotel are lined with military police, soldiers wearing the red and white btassure of the P.M.'s' guard. They are here every night. For that matter they are to be found everywhere in Cairo to the number of 1,500 to keep the same Imperial Australian private in order. But to-night they are particularly vigilant, as an order has been issued declaring Shepherd's and the Continental Hotels "out of bounds" for anyone under the rank of an officer. The order was. issued because the Australian privates were monopolising the two best places in town to dine. Two of these Australian boys, lean-flanked horsemen from the plains, free men in the very carriage of their heads, started to mount the steps. 'Pull them up!' the lieutenant of the P.M.'s guard snapped out. For a moment I thought we would have a scene, but the two boys, who had not heard the official order, listened with faces as cold as marble, and, without losing a trace of dignity turned and walked down the stairs. I wanted to cheer. The landing at Anzuc was easier for them than to walk down those stairs, but they did it like cowboys and men. "Most of- these Australians have plenty of money, and there is no telling by their rank how much money they have. One private has rented the most expensive house for rent in Cairo, and has a retinue of servants. He is the son of a pearl king. The democracy of this army shocks some British officers, and delights some, others. Usually they like it, because the type of British officer who has been sent to Egypt is usually a man who Ims knocked about the back countries, and values men for being men. * "An Australian told me a story of his colonel. They were fresh back from (iallipoli, and ordered up for review. So the colonel gave, them a few instructions in the family circle as to now they were to behave, and ended by saying: 'And for the love of Mike, when the general is here don't call' nje Bill.' "I can quite believe that story. After seeing the joyous Australians, it does not seem a bit out of the way."