OUR MEN IN EGYPT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2444, 24 April 1915, Page 9

OUR MEN IN EGYPT

GENERAL GODLEY'S LETTERS

HEALTH OP THE FORCE GOOD

TRUTH ABOUT'THE GIFTS

■Letters have been received by tho Defence Minister (tho Hon. J. Allen) from Major-General Sir Alexander Godicy, commanding the ZN'ew Zealand Expeditionary Force. The letters were written early in March. They were in ado available for publication by Mr. Allen yesterday:— _ "Wo have," says the General, "put in a very great deal of strenuous training lately, and I think this division has now reached the stage when only bullets pan make it much better. The men are .Very hard and fit and well; the officers have undoubtedly taken to their job and realise their responsibility, and I shall ho happy to take the field with the' force as it stands."

The General recommends the establishment of a small convalescent hospital • at Alexandria, for man who are turned out of hospital and are not quite ready to return to .camp. The Minister said ho had authorised the establishment of such an institution.

Colonel Will, Assistant Director of Medical Services, has gone to England to see if arrangements can be made to co-ordinate resources of. the New ZeaWar* Contingent Association with the Egyptian requirements, to look after the dispateh of military stores, and to make other arrangements. He is accompanied' by Colonel Minder,? of the Royal Army Medical Corps. "I. am very glad to hear that no sympathy has been given in' New Zealand to the men who refused to ba inoculated here," says General Godley. •"They deserve none."

Colonel Bowles nas been appointed Assistant Provost-Marshal to the army corps. "I think his legal knowledge experience will make him very useful in that capacity," adds the General. "If the people of New Zealand want to give us anything more, let them give us field filter-water carts. We can do with another twenty-five. We don't .want any more motor-ambulances."

The dentists, tho General reports, continue to do good work, and the dotails the General gives go to show that they have been exceptionally busy. The question of clothing, reports General Godley, is a most difficult one. Tho uniforms tho . men took with them are wearing out rapidly, and the High Commissioner has advised him that the Army Council, has . undertaken to see that the men will be recloth&d before .very long. _ . the "Sale" of Gifts. Many useful gifts, consisting principally of tobacco, reading, matter, and smaE parcels of' woollen underwear are coming to hand. These gifts, the Genoral reports, are carefully distributed to tho troops, by whom they are much appreciated. "I have,"-he adds, "instituted a complete system of recording the receipt and issue,of all gifts,, and the receipts of the representatives of the various units are invariably obtained for' gifts* issued for distribution. We are, however, faced with one. difficulty in that the men frequently barter gift tobacco, eto., tor other articles with camp traders, by whom they are retailed) thus giving rise to a suspicion that gifts'_ are being sold instead of being distributed. lam considering the possibility of stopping this traffic altogether, but you will realise how difficult it is-to prevent'it. Major Hall," he goes.on to say, "holds the balance fairly between the Government and the troops, and_ the interests of both are quite 6afe in his hands.' With 'a'less capable business man as supervisor the canteen question'would have been ever more troublesome." Result of tho Inquiry. 'A' considerable portion of General Godley's letter deals with the allegation regarding the' sale at the canteen of tobacco ■ which had been sent to the troops for free distribution, and which has already been the subjeot 'of reference in the Press. A Court of Inquiry was held, and .the Court reported that, after having taken evidence, it was of opinion that all the gift tobacco received, except 33 tins, was issued to the units. Those 33 tins were returned from Kubri subsequently, and sent back into store.

A total of 1940 tins was received for free issue, reports lieutenant Acland, of the Army. Serves Corps, and 1907 were disposed of as follows:—To the ■Wellington Infantry Regiment 858; to the Otago Infantry Regiment 852; to the Mounted Field Ambulance 166; to the Army Service Corps 11; to the New Zealand Engineers 7; to headquarters 6; to the Kubri detachmeut'of. the Railway Transport 7. The remaining 38 are in store. . .

As. to the gift tobacco, Lieutenant Higginson, of the Army Service Corps, certified that it was distributed as follows, and that he holds receipts from the various units for the number of tins standing against their names:—Brigade headquarters, 26 tins; Auckland battalion, 798; Canterbury battalion, 769; Field Ambulance, 73; Signal section, 17; Army Service Corps, 9; total, 1690. In the course of his evidence, Major G. T. Hall said the men brought gift tobacco to the oanteen to be exchanged for different brands, hut he gave orders that it was not to be changed. Lieu-tenant-Colonel , Hamilton said he received 8120 tins of gift tobacco; 4845 tins were distributed in camp and 3275 to the troops at Ismailia. The receipts for issue showed an excess of 322 tins over the above amount, which was accounted for by the fact that some of tlio cases contained more than 700 tins, which was what they were estimated to contain by counting the tins in one case.

Other evidence went to show that a soldier exchanged a tin of gift tobacco for another tin, and the original tin was subsequently sold. Two camp traders gave evidence that they had purchased such tobacco from soldiers, and in.one case it was re-sold to two officers who had been deputed to investigate the matter. Major Hall said lw had, instructed the storeman in connection with the canteen not to purchase tobacco from soldiers