GENERAL CABLES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 481, 3 July 1915, Page 2

GENERAL CABLES.

(PRESS ASSOCIATION— cop v»I OPT. U Before the Privy (’cnncil, in the Xew Zealand appeal, the Kiirn; v. Broad, judgment was reset-■ i<h In the Federal House i f R».‘jj rest'jptatives' the Referenda Bills ■ wei-o read the third time. The ()ppos;t.i.-,-u , refused to participate.

" Ze v land Army Corps, acting in <>>njtn»ction with English. French, an.i Indian troops, has be.- n allot tod v.hat up to the present is vm‘<.'.:bt< <l!y the most picturesque, a-, it i- t! ,■ m-.-i hazardous, undertaking <>f th- war. In that, undertaking <*ur men bar.already earned immortal glory. and have added to Imperial hi-toiy a glowing page <.f heroism anil se.tsacrifice.

Streams of wounded have been arriving here, and though new hospitals have been quick!, ofganisr-d oil a large scale, ail are already full almost to overflowing. It i> the same at Alexandria, and even a: Port Said wounded are be.ng .r. a:> d in all the hospitals. Othr- w-I have been taken to Ma t.-'. In the brief space < t time at my disposal since ai riving here. 1 lri\e visited seven hospitals, and have found the great majority of the wounded cheerful in a remarkable degree, and most grateful for all that is being done for them. Doctors an<l nurses, of whom there are all too few for s-idi a percentage of casualties, are working iiiuin.ne. noon, and night, and the women of Cairo—both English and French—have responded nobh' to the call for help. ■THE WHITE Cl RKHAS. ’ When onr men were leaving Lemnos for the actual front they were told by an <x-New Zealander that a dozen shins would take them <l,.wn. but that they would b.- able to come back in fire or six. They knew they were in for a tough ji b. • > prov -d tougher than anyone exp, tied. The casualties an* huxeK in r-xccss < t the estimated pei-veal The magiiitlc a: cmiraue and fighting qualities displayed by Australians and New Zealanders a ik * have astonished tie most »xpe: ir-m-ed soldiers, and have drawn forth unstinted praise from the famous v. ir correspondents of the London press. Indeed, so terrible was their onslaught that the Turks promptly named them “the White Gurkhas.” The name will probably stick. In one hospital the English Tommies, when a batch cf wounded colonials was brought in, sat up in their beds and cheered “the White Gurkhas. ’ INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH. It was the Australians v.ho had the post of honour m the colonia. landing, and they it was who the back of ths* fust resistance, though at a terrible sacrifice. Every New Zealander is unstinted in his glowing praise of how. after being riddled with shot and shell in the boats, they dashed up the beach and into the 'iurkish trenches with the bayonet, scarce halting to fire a single shot. It was the only thing to do under the circumstances.

Later in the day, in storming the heights, the Australians and New Zealanders got mixed up and fought shoulder to shou.der under any officer who happened to be there. This also was inevitable, because the nature of the country prevented close touch being kept in this first terrible climb through the scrub, all the time under shot and shell from a well-placed enemy in superior positions, and superior also in numbers. As they went forward to c.iff after cliff and on from height to height, “against the cold machines ’—a haii of bullets and fierce shrapnel fire—these young colonial troops, in action for the first time, might well have faltered or even retreated. But never for one instant did their courage fail nor the speed of their splendid assault slacken. Competent critics have declared it to haw been the finest feat in the war. and men who were at Mons have told me that there- was nothing like it even in French’s famous retreat. GERMAN FRIGHTFFLXESS. The Turks, well trained in the school of German frightfulne><. did MOt scruple to set all the rules of modern warfare at naught, even to the extent of using explosive Utt.lets, poisoning ih** water, and firing on the wounded. For all this the colonials exacted a terible retribution. ami little or no quarter was xiven during the firs; few days of fighting 0:1 those from wooded heights above rhe Gulf of Saros. Headquarters staff, officers, men. mm! stretcher-bearers never span d themselves, bat 10-.igbt on bravely through the h-ng days ami the longer nights, never dreaming <>l dt-iem. thinking onlv I

MALCOLM ROSS' STORY ARRIVAL IN THE WAR AREA. ; After leaving Alien began to get in tench with ii.e war. A junior officer cam« down in.rn th<» bridge at midnight an t woke up a friend sleep ! ingen deck. "It might interest y-Ai ' to know." he said, "t-hat we Lite just passed through a Turkish minefield, on which halt n dozen sweepers. protected by two cruisers, were ’ at work." The friend thanked him. anti lay awake fot an hour or so, ' listening for an explosion. A.t Suez a young naval lieutenant came on board on crutches. He had his fool in splints, rather badly shattered, a bullet wound in his arm, and a healed <*ut on his cheek from (mother Turkish bullet. They had been on a • “political show" to n village in the I Bed Sea. On the beach were two j

77coys. Before the ship’s bi.nt cmtld land, Turkish bullets were whizzing into the hnilinu p:i’ty. Two men were kJ 1 ' I :”:<i i.’.'mr- wounded. The hi.Het ■ v.ei< o;-, !|o.;e<h ;md as they ! wen; thioitgn the boat before finding ,h< it Itumai, Lillet. h may He judge.l tha. the wounds were rather serious. The 'finks paid later for this. The (’anal. Mhicu we went through with the bridge -ari-1 b.igged, was a wonderful siifhl : Im; in these days when histon is la ing written “in lightning tlasbes” in D :i .am He-.. one must not ;> io write a chapter that in othtr times would be of intense interest. AT PORT SAID. At Port Said we landed late at I night, ami endeavoured unsuceesstftiin to glean some reliable news about the ligating «.f our men in the Daet'-niieilos. N<xt moming a big Castle liner with a green stripe and red cresses along her sides, and a Red Ctoss Hag at her masthead, poked her nose into the ( anal ami, steamed slowly past our anchorage. | At every point were men with Lan- j daged hands and heads, waving it> acheerful greeting. In other cabins I there were others who could in.! j raise a face to the window. A mother! and her htisban 1 weie anxious about their soli ill the Ct C.niterhuiy Regiment. which. tiny surmised, was with the ot:>.e>- X.-w Zealand forces at the D:u daniies. "Have y ou tmy New Z< ulau.h rs < n L-< ud .'" we •t« u(< -I acres' the water. Yes. they had. The parents dished round to where the wounded were being landed and found a group already standing ai.otit or lying < n the grass. Tney were wn -i.tim'd. but cheery. They were mo-th kng.ish Tommies and .\t.-trafiaii-. 'liar. was one New Ze.ilamk r among them. He I was a private tiitni .1 j-hetwood, of lhe Ist Ca:itei>,!ii'. but born in I \\ ••Hingi' i. ami he was nursing a ! hau lage.l b ” :• i through which a Turkisn »uliec had Sound its wayearly in the fieht. In his other hand he had the hoot of a ehum with two holes in it. tluoutdi which an enemy bullet had bored its way . That boot will find its way back to New Zealand. Ti.e motile'- asked if he knew her sou. Strangely enough, she had picked on the one man in all the ship out of her son’s company. The son. he was-able to tell her, was wounded, but alive, and likely to recover soon. The mother had to leave in half an .hour for England. The father was going to the front. Next day he spent searching unsuccessfully through the several widely separated hospitals for his son. (In the second day they had an accidental and extraordinary meeting. But that is another story, and not for publication. iVHERE ARE THE GOI t F LINKS! While the wounded were being landed from the hospital ship at Port Said, some English officers anil men of the Dorsets. en route to the Per sian Gulf, landed for a brief run ashore. I Lad a few words with a young lieutenan; a mere lad - hu: today he was not bothering about the war. What he wanted to know was. where were the golf links When the time came for action in 'The Gulf.’’ however, he was just the type of young sporting Englishman who would l>e leading a forlorn hope, if necessary. Yet tne contrast between the stained wounded return,ng from tia- Gallipoli Peninsula and this clean-looking, neatly uniformed voting Englishman going out to war, out now looking for the golf links at Port Said, set one thinking about >ttr race, and how it must be that in the end the modern Huns will be rm match for them. Such sang troid is surely an asset. St GTdl CORPORAL’S STORY. On the train to L’aiiu, in the same caniage with me, was a- wounded corporal. He was a young Scotchman vv'no had joined the Australians in Perth, where he happened to be when the call for men came. His test itnony is the more valuable because, though of the Australians, he was not himself a colonial, and had not been long out from Home. Describing the wonderful valour shown in 'the landing and I hn.ughout each succeeding day , he said it made him proud to be a member of the Australian Forces. ■’We were told.” he j : aid. “that we should have a rough 1 time. But that the work hail to be j den-, and the Australians and New i Zealanders did it, not thinking at the j tline that we were doing anything |My um<-h mu of the i rd: nary. G told.’’ he milled, “that the war■liiki' would take us there, but that

'tlicy would not hit after about six hours’ fighting. It was hard lines, and 1 was inclined tn grumble about, being put out of action so soon after eight or .nine ini.ui iis of t raining. I >:d you feel the suspense of t.’.c t. ait ing •> cry much Ye ;itv. as jit-it like a nightmare. Tita! feeling, however, soon wore off when the time, for action came. Yi.ti had a sort of an idea that the liillcts were th'-re. but that t hey would nm touch you. The first lot v ent ashore iii the early morning, "ith Layohefs fixed, iheering mil shi-ntuig. “Australia!" 1 don t lintik the Turks like, the somul ol that word now (hi r men did not wait to fire. but. dropped their packs ami rushed upon the Turk;, with lhe bayonet. As they Lad rm cover it, was the only thing to <lo. Many were bit in t’!ie boats, and many fell in the bayonet, charge, but here was never a sign of faltering: the gaps were filled up from behind, and stu-h of the Turks as were not bayoneted turned and fled from the trenda. Here the first machine gun was captured by the Australiann. Deeds of great valour tiiat would have won the Victoria Cross on tiny past l.attlefield were being done on ia< it hand. < trie man who bad got safelv from the boats went bohllv, single-handed, for nine or ten Turks with his bayonet, and such of them as he <lid not gel left their machine gun. which hail all the time been playing on lhe landing boats. The •middies’ and the sailors guiding the boats were splendid. One man 1 saw urging his men forward was shot through the leg. He never stopped e’.iem iug his men on. He was afrnio if I.;- did so iii.-tl ii might put a damper upon the troops. Ife need not have worried about that, as h< l.iir. 'df soon discovered. HEROIC DEEDS.

Aiming the deeds of heroism tb.ni. crime under f.iis young Scot stmtn's notice a tew may bi- cited. .\ platoon had lost all its officers in advancing upon a position, and found an officer of another comnanv returning fmm farther up the slope wi'h a wounded mail. The officer remarked tiiat there were two more wounded fnrt’ier <m. Two men from iii.- platoon sprang up and said :

•Well get lhe::i.’’ The others, all the while under fit'.', waited for them but they never camo back. When the platoon advanced later in tinday t-.iey found the four lying dead

•mb* i»v stih'. T!ie fighting ;:t llii> .‘-ips.''* was at very clm-.e qtmrfer.s. A; am>t!icr j>!.u-e a lauee-eorpora! <••’ the !»th Battalion was working a mticliine glut, vvii’t ait ofii< <f a lev.vard.s on his tight, giving him iii--range. The whole of his gnu section were laid low by the Turkish fire, lhe tojporal got hit in the He bound it up tntd went on fiiing. 'i’iien h>‘ was bowled over by a shnl in the leg. The officer look lite wounded corporal’.-- ftlace am! car-i<-d on with the gun. “I don't know hov. he got on," said the y<nmg tseot.

Doctors right up itt t lie firing line did splendid work. So did the sr.etcher bearers. Even the parsons vere iu the thick of it. A Catholic priest helped to carry out t he wound- • •<!. "Why don’t you have a go yo’.’.rsfif, father;’’ said a passiii;, piivate. Later op. it is stated, the ret erend fathe? was seen vhargtiu'. forward witli a riiie in 'a:-; Itatid and using language >l!.at was scarcely prie.-t.y. and not to be found an;."hire in tin- prayer-book. “One ot tlie doctor- I do not know who Ito "as. ’ added the lance-cotporat, ’ after lie had used up nearly all bis clothes ii r bandages, went in will: the rifle." DOWN A DEADLY CULLY. Down one gulh ail the long day ; came a stream of Au 41 alian ami .hew Zealand v>ouml. <i. ’1 tn te v.as only slight slielter. and the Turk:hail the range of it. Some of Unwounded were v.ounded again am. some- of them were killed. It was down this cleft in the sleep hillside tiiat nr.-, friend had come. It is a wonder any of them were left alive, for it was swept with riflh- and shrapnel fn-e. "Both the Australian*; and Xew Zealanders.” said my friend, "will go through with anything. It they are told to get there, they wiil do it absolntgly. .Vo matter what they are up agaiusl. they will go through with it. and no questions a'd.f-d." “U it. fine,” 1 qtietu-d. "that, the Ansi raiiair-. in their excels <,» zeal and i-nergv. w. nt too far!” "Perhaps they <i;d,” he answered; but, anyhow, they uewv et’.me bark - they held their ground."