LOOKING BACKWARD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXXI, 11 January 1916, Page 2

LOOKING BACKWARD.

AN INTERESTING LETTER

In the course of. a very chatty letter to a member of the Wairarapa Daily Times staff, Sergeant Farrier W. E. Hawke, formerly of Masterton, writes from- Zeitoun under date November 20th, as follows :— I was ■up in Taranaki when war i brok.e out, and so what could I do fcut join the Second Squadron. I was 'made Farrier-Sergeant, and so that accounts for me being still here in the land of flies, sand' and niggers. On December 3rd will make up the 12 months for us here, and when we get a shift on is another question. I can assure you 12 months under canvas in Egypt is no joke, and there are plenty of places I would rather be. Still, we are here to do our bit, and even though it is irksome we have to put up with it. We have lost very heavily, and it is heart-breaking •to look back and think of our last Christmas, when we were all together here. We have still a few of the old men here, but what a lot of fine fellows have gone; still, they were all heroes, and a finer lot a man could not wish to be associated with. Some of the main body men are back here for a spell after five months of solid scrap, and they deserve a rest after going through what they say is hell. Of our regiment only two officers and 21 men of the main body came off Gallipoli at the time they were relieved; so that you will have an idea of what it was like. I often think of old times, and wonder how people are taking the war. It must be a very anxious time for the woman folk, who cannot help, but must wait and hope. The horses are looking splendid, and are ready and fit, waiting for the time when they will bo of use. We have shelters for protection from the sun, and the natives (oneto every three horses) do the work of cleaning and'exercising. . . .We have only a few men here, so picket comes round ievery other ;night. It is the fun of tke fair to see the natives riding the horses, and I really think thei horses enjoy the joke as well as we do. The horses are ;yery. full of life, and ■ buck-jumping exhibitions are very common, usually with poor results on the vpart of,"±he natives', though they are improving.