BACK FROM NEW GUINEA

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2407, 12 March 1915, Page 7

BACK FROM NEW GUINEA

'A NEW ZEALANDER'S ADVENTURES. Mr. M. Healy, son of Mr. W. Healy, of Brooklyn, a member of the Australian (Expeditionary , Force which captured .'.German New (guinea, who is at'present 'on a. visit to this city, has : some interesting stories to tell of the capture "of that" slice of New Guinea over which '"until a few: months,ago the; German ■ l ilag waved. Mr. Healy left Wellington two or threo years, ago, and had •nip to the time, of tho war been engaged in commercial pursuits • in . Sydney. ..When the war Broke out he 'was one iof the first, to enlist in the first Australian Expeditionary Force, ahd-some ;\veeks later was bound for German New •Guinea. Among the first of" the troops ito land on the island. Mr. Healy found (himself engaged in the somewhat dangerous .'occupation' .of outpost- duty, nnidst the dense tropical.growth on theisland. Already some of the shots' from flhe .Germans had taken effect, and stationed on a strange.island,.m a spot which provided ample -scope" for the wiemy to hide and indulge in' a. little : "sniping,". the.situation was one to reimember. Although there was comparatively ■ little fighting the occupation of the island was full of incident. One.of sthe . detachments landed, states Mr. 'Mealy, had a'miraculous escape from 'death. They had been instructed to 'march over a certain road which, unIknown to them, had been, mined by" the 'Germans. By a mistake of an officer ft ho troops chose tho wrong road, and ;so the German mines were wasted. 'Shortly after the occupation of the i&■'laud a squad, of men, Mr. Healy among i'them", were "dispatched to an old -building where they were informed some German escapees were biding. Elated with the expectation of an encounter, the atitackers cautiously approached • the .building. They were within a few yards ■of it, and still the Germans made no ■sign. Suddenly scratching and rustling Hvas heard, and the men rushed the {building. The door was burst open, but inside were no_desperate group of Germans. No, only a small colony of fowls. ;The building was a fowl-hoiifiol

Mr. ETealy speaks feelingly- of the mosquito pest.. . Then there was fever, •■which accounted for more members of the Australian Force than the Germans'did; The mosquitoes aofc as agents for the spread of fever, and are particularly dangerous, for the reason that V-'en they bite any person afflicted tiith the dread malady they transmit .'the germs of the disease'to the next ' victim they alight on. Beyond insects, ,m-ith which the island literally ewarms in all their myriad variety, there is practically no animal life. Mr. Henly arrived in Sydney from New Guinea on February 18 last, and is now here on leave on a. visit to his relations. He leave 6 for Sydney on March 19, where ho will join the next Australian Expeditionary Force.