A SOLDIER'S IMPRESSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1918, Page 7

A SOLDIER'S IMPRESSIONS.

j DODGING SUBMARINES.- „.J I FIRST 1 IMPRESSIONS' 01? ENGLAND. r liv the course of an ; interesting, letter :;to relations in New Plymouth a New ,!Zealand soldier writes:— As soon as we left Halifax all the boats kept zig-zagging, and with the boat getting along at a'good rate and with a heavy sea running at times we couldn't keep our feet. Of course it. was quite on the boards that we would strike a submarine any time, and as a result lights were out at 4 pjn., and we ran after that without any lights showing at all. The cruiser sent us the message by lamp and by hoists, and we could usually read the messages which interested us signallers a good deal. A sno- ! marine guard of 150 men wr>- on guard ' continually, and we had V,rer> false alarms, so the Captain at hv-i wouldn't |have anybody but the specialists and 'artillery on, as he said the infantry ;weren't there for shooting practice. One ;night I had to sleep with all my equipment and overcoat, book, etc., on and 10 irounds of ammunition in my pocket, but ]1 nevertheless had a decent sleep. I- think? it was three- days off England wfieit one- of our. signallers (an Otago boyf got- meningitis and died within 24 hours.- It was very' sad and the burial at sea was very impressive. He was only 2fr and didn't smoke or drink. The inexi- morning at dawn we made out the ! destroyer* on> the horizpn—we could only ! malce them out by the/ smoke. Of course I I shouldn't kncfsv this but. ; it is quite jtrue—we picked call jfrom a- boat-within,2'o.miles,, of ,us,~which | was being chased; ;: £y ,4 .submarine. It j was chased! for, two- sent a [later' message- to> say i'£Ms escaped. It ,was a big! American steamer. We our? (selves'- pasaedt.-freer: thist spot,two-, hours ;later, and,from we were ;in waters! which -blristled,,-wiiih suhmar.in'es, but tneyhaye avgreai -fear of the [destroyers, and!- didn't, worry, vs. There. jwa9 one' 3ery : dftngeroua ..spot,' between ;ttco etc...-in- lejuch". two boats [had been sunk, the; jlighthefore. The sbe'st time for the «übmari'nesj,,-to attack is between* the,; Ijghts, namely, from six till ciglit flsm.i,,and:,,f,our, till'sjx p.m., .when tlicy <M,n-.pick-,u>p.a Ijoat wjten it■self is not visible ...tnorffj. than a few yards away... •-. We steamed into JLiyespool on the of 7th January, doing the trip in exactly seven weeks, which is consideredrfKf&s.fc passage. Liverpool is Jfldecd-, a, huge. port, and possesses a wonderful jjarborj'.in which were simnly. hundr?d§.,,,of of all descriptions' ; ..,lt' and bitterly cold ..wjien: got, there, but occasionally the, '.sim peeped 'lip, and it wasn't a tithe'as'Wad as Halifax. Thousands of pretty, seagulls of all kinds flew around us all the' while^Sno;these and the ferry steamers which ' passed' about every two imniites kept us amused. Here we saw the '•yaterland.'' : -'lt- is a tremendous size;, although not quite so big to look ki' as' one wcHM imagine. She is f15,000 tons, and is a great height out of the -water, and has foiir funnels. The. Germans tried hard to mine or submarine her, and scattered a great number of mines at the entrance to the harbor. As it happened a pilot boat was mined, all on board being lost. The day before we arrived 40- mines were swept up by trawlers, so we were lucky indeed. Liverpool stands on one side of the river and Birkenhead on the other. The river where we anchored was only 300 yards wide. We pulled inta the- wharf at noon the following day, and were pushed straight on the train, which steamed out on our long journey at about 1 p.m. We travelled 3rd class, and it was much better than New Zealand first class. Each carriage is divided into compartments and there were six of us in each compartment and we; had ample room. Everywhere the girls aTe taking the places of meny and they work the milfe, railways, and in the fields. I was. much amused to> see all the girls fa men's, rig, and, to say th& least, I must say they [looked charming.. The country, except near Birmingham, was under* snow, tat what surprised me was the T>eautiful :paddocks and lands which stretched for miles. Even hero on the Salisbury Plain there are- the same rolling paddocks, and it seems increditable that England cannot keep herself in food,, but ■I suppose labor is the trouble. In other |parts there are great coal mines and ground Birmingham, which we reached jabout 4.30, you can see the furnaces of !the different work 3 for miles. At Birimingham we received a great reception 'from people just getting home from Work, but otherwise there was no more excitement till we got to Sling itself. You get out at Bedford and Walk about a mile to Sling—the same Sling is absolutely the last place on earth. We get up at 6 a.m., parade ((with fouttons,.equipment, etc., spotless) at 7.30,. dinner 11.45 to 12.40 p.m, finish of parade at 4.45, tea at 5 p.m., and the rest of the night special parades or cleaning your web icqufpment for the morning. It works .'out at about sixteen houra a' day.