OUR SOLDIERS IN EGYPT.

. Writing from tho Soldiers' Club, Tel-el-Kebir, to Lady Godlov., who is now iii London, Miss Ettie A. Rout, hon. secretary of the New Zealand volunteer sisters, gives an interesting description of the work being doneWor tlio colonial soldiers still m Egypt. .Miss Rout says:—. . ■ • -

rho colonials in Egypt-have a deadly job—-seemingly .quite worthless, and yet important to keep being done, but boring and brain-soddoning to the last degree. A good many patrols start out or pass by hero—sometimes they have been cut 20 hours on the desert—and of course this place- is- a god-send. When they go out before 10 p.m. they come in for cocoa- and sandwiches; after that, I send these to the camp as a rule. If you are wakened up at'l a,m. for several hours' patrol work, it is decent to hsuve a nice little snack ready waiting, and of course it is very attle trouble and expense for me to prepare it. Oh mercy, I don't know why we don't look after our menfolk better. I suppose it is because there, are not enough women connected with the commissariat department of military work. The. human care of men, sick and well, has been our job for millions and millions of years, and when the mere male jumps our claim he is •bound to get out of his depth. Still, as you say, it is immensely difficult to get the right "kind .of women. But when you do get them, it is wonderful what they can do. Take that, Scottish Women's Hospital Unit attached to the Serbian Army, to which J sent Sister Kerr and Miss Stephens. They are doing everything with women—women doctors; women orderlies, women, chauffeurs, etc., etc. Dr. Agnes Beninett, of Wellington, New Zealand, is m charge, and Dr. Jessie Scott, of Auckland, New Zealand, is also there. There is only one New Zealand man our volunteers have met (and he comes from Christchurch and knows me), all the rest are Serbs and. French-^not even any Britishers; and yefc there are these women toiling away, bringing freely their stores of professional skill and womanly sensiblo care just because —oh, well, just because we are the guardians of the torch of life anywhere and everywhere. But I realise it is not all women who can act effectively on these broad Kiies, and I am glad you think it would be better for the IN.Z.V.S.'s now in England to work among the New Zealanders. I think that too with regard to those of us in Egypt, we ought not to get out of touch with our menfolk, as "we certainly would do if we all went over to Salonika. In any ease, we could not finance that easily, and I don't want to be =tied up with "management" work, and unable to do anything myself individually. I have therefore thought it best to advise tho acceptance of the offer of Giza Red Cross Hospital to take our women on permanently (some ten or twelve of them). They are. doing very good work there, having been there for over 6 months in some cases, and if the hospital wants to keep them I think it should have first" call.

.Thank you for the inquiries made about the gramophone. Yes, I would like to have it here as soon as possible, with a good supply "of records. I can't get any athletic goods here, so I would like to have two or three good punchballs, with ■ strong rubber bladder; also a set of 6oz boxing gloves. Please send everything addressed care Y.JM.C.A., Cairo ; they are very good and prompt in re-directing letters, etc. 1 can send you a bank draft for cost of these- things when 1 know the amount.

There has been a delay in my getting picture- film outfit for the Australians at Mo'ascar, for reasons which I cannot detail. I may change the plan, and get one or more pianos instead. The movement of troops is partly responsible for this.

I have received quite a number of letters from mothers of soldiers in Australia. One came this week, about the youngest of three soldier-sons this woman has given to her country. "I know you will do 3-our best for my darling," she says. Isn't that one of those profoundly beautiful things women say —and none but women can say? The complete faith she has in appealing to another woman is just, ab beautiful,as the deep simple revelation of her mother lave. But, oh, the sacrifices these dear hearts have had to make —worse than their own lifeblood. I suppose it is a new birth for all of us, more especially i'or those of us who belong to the'younger nations. And if blood be the price of our nationhood good God we'll pay it in full. The colonies a.re certainly taking the war much more seriously now than formerly. Formerly* quite a considerable section looked upon it as a cross between a gigantic adventure and a private plant for the excitement am.benefit of rhemselves. But it is amau'■p'X that so many folks" can'go on and ..........;>g what they are pleased to regard as their "lives" in these days — how they can .stay "out of it" is* incomprehensible.

Bister Kerr writes to from Salonika thus:—"We are as busy as ever here, had to turn away our first batch of wounded last week, as our operating surgeon was ill with malaria and .-jaundice, and the camp too full of sickness to admit them. It was ..a horrible- disappointment to everyone, but there are a number of other'hospitals here. Did I tell .you; .Dr. Bennett, has 'lent' all her; sisters (bait me)"to the British Hospital for Sorbs. ThWy are getting patients in at the rate of one hundred a day, and not a single sister —only. R.A.M.C. orderlies'. It. is getting more and more difficult to get sisters from Homo. Tim military authorities will not let. them leave. The six sisters to come here have dwindled down to two."