TEMIATIONS OF CAIRO

Grey River Argus, 10 June 1915, Page 8

TEMIATIONS OF CAIRO

INTERVIEW vVITH A RETURNED CHAPLAIN TJIim'VH TO Till'; BEHAVIOUR •;*' NEW ZEALANDERS.

DIFFICULTIES OF RESCUE WORK. The Eev. Guy Thornton, one of the chaplans with the forces, who has returned to Auckland from Egypt, and proceeds to Trciitham to-night, preparatory to his return to Alexandria or the DiirdaneJlofi, gave Home interesting information to a ".Star" representative this morning with regard to the nature of si. chaplain's task in Cairo. After a reference to the elaborateness of the Cairo Camp, both in regard to equipment, and the eommiss rt riat, Captain Thornton explained that he had mainly been engaged on rescue work in connexion with the many temptations that befell our meu. when thej r arrived in Cairo. "There alO three main influences that make for the existing evil condition of things in Cairo," lie continued. "In the Jirst place the war has caused thousands of undesirable characters to flock into Cairo from Port Said Alexandria, Paris, and even Algeria. Secondly, the Mohammedan religion has Im'lmi largely responsible for the immorsility existing- there. Mohammedanism stands everywhere for the degradation of womanhood. Divorce is easily obtainable. For instance, if a man iinds that his sou]) has too little or too much salt, it is a ground for divorcing his wife. Tie only has to pronounce 'I divorc. c yen' three times and the jjivorce is accomplished. The woman has* no option but to go, :iii;l she lias no redress, and no means of earning her livelihood, save one. The third cause is the liquor trade. Almost every shop jn Cairo seHs liquor in some shape or form. Scotch wliisky, made in Egypt, is sold at about three-half pence, of our money per glass. Unfortunately in a great many instances the whisky was drugged. I had an analysis made of one bottle, and found it to be an unmentionable product. "On t3ie whole it was only to be expected that among the several thousand Mew Zealand troops there would be a certain proportion of undesirables, but to condemn the whole lift -for the conduct of a comparatively small number i.? absolutely unreasonable. Our men's conduct on the whole was splendid. One cannot deny that a certain proportion of the men succumbed to the novel .temptations to which they were exposed.- .Seeing that they came .from. J-.be cleanest spot morally on the earth and entered what is perhaps the worst city in the world, the wonder is not so much that many fell, but that so many fellows came through with their reputations untarnished." Speaking of the drugging of the drink that is systematically carried on in the city, Captain Thornton said 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 c.r rendered the victim partly unconscious, and made him an easy prey to robbers. Ninety-nine cases out of a hundred of the men who went wrong were due tod rugged drink. Under those circumstances rescue work was sift oniled with the greatest difficulties. The chaplains had to litcrallyiight thei r way into the dens of the bad character* of the city to rescue decent young fellows, declared Captain Thornton, and he grimly pointed to the evidences of conflicts of this character in the healed scars on his hands. Asked what steps were taken by the military authorities to warn the troops of the dangers o£ the city, the eh uplain said that everything tha teoudl lain said that everything that could done in the .shape of -preventing the men becoming victims of the vice of the city was done. The officers, ehftnlains, and medical men of the city worked to this end. JS T o boy went into trouble through ignorance, but either through sheer "cussed ness" or drink in nearly every case through the latter. Unfortunately the authorities were r.ot in a position to adopt rott remedies at 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 that it was well-nigh impossible to put a utop to the drink ;ind drugging evils. Now, Jiowcvcr, the position Avas changed, and at the time he left Egypt the authorities were taking action to cope with the drink question. Captain Thornton added that he mentioned these things so that the men who would be leaving the Dominion for Egypt would be fully warned, and would be wise enough to profit by the experience of others. As a tribute to | the conduct of most of the men, he mentioned that the troops were in the best of condition before leaving for the Dardanelles. Nevertheless, something should be done to prevent enlistment under the prescribed age, for mere boys simply could not stand the strain of continuous training.