TEMPTATIONS OF CAIRO.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15299, 8 June 1915, Page 4

TEMPTATIONS OF CAIRO.

4 —. INTERVIEW WITH A RETURNED CHAPLAIN. TRIBUTE TO THE BEHAVIOUR Ol<' NEW ZEALANDERS. DIFFICULTIES OF RESCUE WORK. (sr-Ecr.iL to "rnE rasa?.") AUCKLAND, Juno 7. The Rev. Guy Thornton, one of tho chaplains with tho forces, who has returned to Auckland from Egypt, awl proceeds to Trentham to-night, preparatory to his return to Alexandria or tho Dardanelles, gave some interesting information to a ''Star" representative this morning with regard to the nature of a chaplain's task in Cairo. After a reference to the elaborateness of the Cairo Camp, both in regard to eouii*ment and the commissariat, Captain Thornton explained that he had maiuiy been engaged on rescue work in cor. notion with the many temptations that befell our men -when they arrived in Cairo. ''There are three main 'influences that make for the existing evil condition of things in Cairo,'' he continued "In the first place the war ntc caused thousands of undesirable characters to fleck into Cairo from Port Said Alexandria, Paris, and even Algeria. Secondly, the Mohammedan religion ha 3 be**n iargelv responsible for the im molality existing there. Mohammedanism stands everywhere fo r the degradation of womanhood. Divorce i s easily obtainable. For instance, if a man finds tnat his soup has too little or too much salt, it is a ground for divorcing h;s wife. He only has to pronounce 'I divorce you' tliree times and the divorce is accomplished. The woman lias no option but to go, and she has no redress, and no means of earning her livelihoou, save one. The third cause is tbe liquor trade. Almost every shop in Cairo sell:; liquor in some shape or form. Scotch whisky, made in Egypt, i.s sod at about three-halfpence of our money per glass. Unfortuuatelv in a great many instances the whisky was drugged. 1 hau nn analysis made of one bottle, and found it to be an unmentionable pro-

duct. ' "On the whole it was only to he expected that among the several thousand New Zealand troops there would be a certain proportion of undesirables, but to <-ondemn the whoio lot for the conduct o.' a comparatively small number is absolutely unreasonable. Our mens conduct on tho whole was splendid. One cannot deny that a certain proportion or the men succumbed to the novel temptations to which they were exposed. bo<in~ that they came from the cleanest spot morally "on the earth and entered what is perhat>.s tho .worst city liitnc world, the wonder is not so much that many fell, but that <so many fellows came through with their reputations untarnished." Speaking of tho drugging of the drink that is systematically carried on in the city; Captain Thornton paid that it was, of course, done with a specific object.'One drug used was for the purpose of assisting the traffic in another form of vice. Others quickly made men mad drunk or rendered the victim 'partly unconscious, and made him'an cafcv prey to robbers. Ninety-nine cases out of a/hundred of the men who went wrong were due to drugged drink, under those circumstances rescue work was attended with the greatest difficulties. The chaplains had to literally fight their way into the. dens of- the bad characters of the eitv to rescue decent young fellows, declared Captain Thornton, and he grimly pointed to the evidences ot v conflicts'of this character m the healed scars on his hands. Asked what steps were taken by the military authorities to warn the troops of the" dangers of the city, the chaplain said that everything that could bo done in the shape of preventing tho men Incoming victims of the vice of the city was "done. The officers, chaplains, and medical men of tho city worked to this end. No boy went into trouble through ignorance, but either through sheer "cussedness" or drink, m nearly every case through the latter. Unfortunately the authorities were no', in a position to adopt root remedies ct, the outset, owing to the fact that the capitulations were still in .operation, and had the effect of preventing action against the offenders at every turn. Corruption was everywhere rife, so thao it was well-nigh impossible to put * stop to thc drink and drugging evils. Now, however, the position _ was changed, and at the time, he left Egyptthe authorities were taking action to cope with the dnnk ouestion. Captain Thornton added that he mentioned these things so that tho men who would lie lea vine the Dominion for Egypt would be fully warned, and would be wise enough to.-profit by ti« experience of others. As a tribute to tho conduct, of- most of the men, ho mentioned that the troops were in tiro best of condition before leaving for the. Dardanelles. Nevertheless, something should be done to prevent enlistments under the prescribed ago. for mere boys simply could not stand the strain of continuous training.