THE ENGLISH " TERRY " A CHRISTCHURCH SOLDIER'S APPRECIATION.

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

THE ENGLISH " TERRY " A CHRISTCHURCH SOLDIER'S APPRECIATION.

WHAT OUR MEN OWE TO HIM. The New Zealand troops in Egypt have reason to be grateful to very many people, both in New Zealand and other T>arts, and they do not disguise the fact that they have received very many favours during their 1 comparatively short period of soldiering (writes a correspondent of the Christchurch Press from Zeitoun). Many residents of Cairo ,have been especially busy in attending to our social wants, and their time is taken up in entertaining us. However, the man for whom we will always have a. kind regard is the English Territorial, and what he has done for us is not generally known to anyone else. The first day we arrived here he constituted himself as our guardian, our guide, and as a general encyclopaedia. He had experience of Cairo for a few months before we arrived, and he was well aware of all the pitfalls that beset the path of the new chum. Only for our friend the "Terry" we would have^ been rooked on all sides. Even the " clean boots " boys wanted to charge us double rates, the shopkeepers charged iniquitous prices, and some of the hotelkeepers would have filled us up with poison. Not with the "Terry" as a guide, however! The small boy was usually dismissed with a smart application of the cane. A shopkeeper might be charging us a certain price for an article when one heard a voice at his shoulder. " What does 'c want for it, lad?" If the price was not correct then there was usually a row, fpr, with all his virtues, , we regard the English "Terry" as very quick-tem-pered, and he flares up in anger in an instant, but he calms clown almost as quickly. He is the most observant of men, and it is just- as well for us that he is. He watches every movement, and it is a very well-known saying in our camp: "If in doubt, ask a Terry," and it is a sentence that is lived up to. In his drill and general behaviour in camp he is smartness itself, and in this respect he will show any New Zealand regiment points. His buttons are always nicely polished, and never a buckle is noticed out of place. He takes a pride in his personal appearance, and generally sets an example in neatness and completeness. On leave he is as happy-go-lucky an individual as you'd find anywhere, and joins In. the fun like a schoolboy. In physique he is nothing out of the common; in fact, he is much smaller than the average New Zealander, although he is wiry, and will stand just as much in the way of hardship, etc. He takes things as a matter of course, and nothing appears to worry him except the fact that he might not go to the front. He swears profusely (what soldier does not?), but at heart he is as kindhearted and generous as it is possible to imagine. In fact, .the English "Terry" is an openhearted, wiry handful of contentment and good nature.