THE AUSTRALASIANS RIVALS IN EFFICIENCY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 57, 9 March 1915, Page 4

THE AUSTRALASIANS RIVALS IN EFFICIENCY

jIFROM OUR OWN CORRBSPONDfiNT.) LONDON, 9th January. Observers of the Australasian troops in Egypt are 1 agreed as to the excellent state in which they landed and the healthy rivalry which exists between the New Zcalanders and the Australians in the general task of getting ready for Flanders. A personal friend, who has had excellent opportunities of seeing both bodied at work, writes to me : "Your men are looking splendid — a fine, well set up, well, equipped body of troops. Of course the proximity of a big pleasure resort like Cairo has it 9 difficulties, which you will imagine, both for the Australians and the New Zealanders. I have spoken to the officers of both forces, and naturally each force thinks that its general turn out and discipline are a little better than that of the other. As an independent observer, I don't think there is very much to choose between the two. Each has its outstanding good points', a-ud, provided they are kept at work on a progressive scheme of training and given enough to do, I don't think there will be much wrong with either of them." AN ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT. Tho correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, after commenting on i the fihe efficiency of the Lancashire Territorials, says : 1 "By-and-ty it is possible the men fi'om the Mother Country may have to yield the palm to the young Britons' fi'om the Southern Cross. At present they have the start of them, but they j will have to continue their hard work to keep it. Physically the Australians ' and New Zealanders have the advant- ; age. Nearly all of them are big, deepcheated men, and the average age would probably be nearer 30 than 25. Some i of them are townsmen of all walks of j life, professional men - standing in the ' ranks with the horny-handed, but the majority have left up-country homes, where a life in the open air has made ; them hardy and fit for any trial of ' endurance. Like the Territorials, they \ have enthusiasm, and they will cheer- \ fully undergo the long hours of work r which will render them wdrthy of takj ing a place beside tho British soldier. They have entered upon their task with energy, and now that the Christ- • mas holidays are over, and the men ' have seen the most of Cairo, there will ' be long days of drill and musketry in the desert. » "The Australians ar& in camps with- ■ in sight of the Great Pyramids. The ' artillery and the infantry divisions are 1 near the Mena House, the big hotel known to all visitors to Egypt. This establishment is now a hospital. Across the Nile at Maadi is the brigade of Australian Light Horse, which will presently have added to it the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, now in camp with the New Zealand artillery and infantry at Zeitun. Every regiment in . the Australian and New Zealand defence forces is represented here. | "The love these men have for their ; own, country is only matched by their affection for the Motherland. They deI sire to excel as Imperial troops, but 1 there is just the requisite amount of ; rivalry between the Australians and New Zealanders to promote efficiency. '. The New Zealander aeks for the opinion : of a Britisher upon, the merits of the I two contingents, and what he thinks ol the condition of the horses. The Australian is equally anxious to prove' his superiority, but both are desirous of showing that the Dominion of Canada cannot furnish better-trained or more loyal troops for the King's service. " All will do well— anybody who has seen them can have no doubt of that — i and the Colonial forces in Egypt only ask for an equal chance for all Overseas , Britons. The best friend the Australians and New Zealanders have is the man who declares that when their training is finished in Egypt they are certain to go to France. They are content to visit the Old Country when they have gone through Belgium into Germany." THE HORSES IN EGYPT. - Captain Alex. Taylor, of _ the New Zealand Veterinary Corps, who came on to England after the latiding in Egypt, tells me that the horses stood the voyage remarkably well. In fact, he thinks that on the whole they were better at the end than at the beginning, largely owing to the hard food they had been fed on. There were, of course, the usual cases of indigestion, to say nothing of sea sickness, but these were not serious. One trouble with the horses when they landed in Egypt was the disposition to eat sand, a practice which may be due to the taste for salt. Sandeating brings on a form of colic which is sometimes serious.