LUXURY HOUSE-BOAT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 41, 16 August 1941, Page 8

LUXURY HOUSE-BOAT

FOR CONVALESCENT TROOPS

EGYPTIAN GENEROSITY

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) • CAIRO, July 8, One of the luxury house-boats of the Nile is being used as a hostel for convalescent soldiers of the. Imperial Forces in Egypt; and evejy week a number of New Zealanders are able to enjoy complete rest and change in pleasant surroundings. Moored in quiet backwater in one of the prettiest parts of the Nile, the house-boat, narried the Arabia, carries the same staff of Sudanese servants as she had in the days of peace, and though they can come and go as they please the guests prefer to remain. The Arabia is under the control of an English officer, and with him the New Zealanders are particularly popular. The scheme by which the Arabia is made available to Imperial soldiers originated with a committee of Egyptians who considered it an effective way of showing their appreciation of what the Empire troops have done for their country. At a cost to themselves of £1000 a month they provide a week's holiday for over 60 men drawn from the Army, Navy, and ,Air Force. Soldiers occupy cabins which in peacetime cost passengers >as much as £3 10s a day. Convalescent New Zealanders who have had the benefit of a holiday on the Arabia are. warm in their praise of the scheme, and express their deep appreciation of the work of the Egyptian committee, the interest of whose members goes even beyond placing the Arabia at the disposal of the fighting forces.