ON A "REST" ISLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16097, 10 December 1915, Page 8

ON A "REST" ISLAND.

NEW ZEALANDERS AT EASE. WELL-EARNED HOLIDAY. FAR FROM THE BATTLE'S DIN. ! " For the last four weeks now it has seemed strange to visit the trenches at intervals, and to find no New Zealanders in the firing-line," says Mr. Malcolm Ross, official war correspondent with the New Zealand Forces, writing on a trawler in the on October 4. ■'! " For five months since the ' memorable 25th of April— have been , continuously under fire. Like others, they , have had their short spells away from the trenches in one or other of the so-called ■ Rest Gullies, but even there the shrap- ' nel and the high explosives and the dropping bullet have found them out. Once, , for a brief space, they had a spell on ! Imbroe, where a somewhat improved commissariat and the delight of seabathing unmolested by the enemy made a pleasant change. At Imbros they were . i still within sound of the guns, and even I the dull crackle of rifle fire was often , waited on a favouring breeze across the Sea of Saros to the tented field which . they had exchanged for the zig-zag trench and the hillside dug-out. " More recently, however, the situation has permitted a real change and rest on ' an island, where even the sound of the guns cannot be heard. A voyage of 100 miles by sea— and back —in an uncomfortable Hull trawler, crowded with '. | officers, soldiers, and sailors, going about , i their master's business, enables one to I visit them. A four hours' journey takes \ you from divisional headquarters to i Imbros. Next day you board a trawler, ' and at dusk find yourself, after seven j hours' steam, entering a netted harbour, where lie a hundred ships of many kinds— ' French, Russian, and English. There are j battleships, cruisers, destroyers, hospital ships, tramps, and store ships. Towering ! above all there is a mighty -funnelled 1 j leviathan. To any aeroplane or spy that ' may chance this way, it must be an object- ' lesson of the Empire's power. 1 In the New Zealand Camp. i "In a-quarter of an hour after landing > at one of the several wharves that have , sprung up as if by magic, you axe in i the New Zealand camp, where the tired , veterans of the war are lazing in their 1 tents, and the reinforcements, recently 1 arrived, are lying on the ground beside : their packs and blankets, where they ' have bivouacked, for as yet there are not enough tents to go round. But it is no hardship to bivouac in this mild i air, for the dew of night vanishes with the morning, and there is no occasion ( to duck for a dug-out in order to avoid the bursting shrapnel or the high , explosive. Now that you have been in , ■ the th'ck of it on the peninsula for , some months, you are impressed with the , almost supernatural calm. "Then you begin to note the difference [of the men. What a splendid type of , manhood these New Zealanders are ! Their , rounded limbs and healthy, ruddy features contrast with the leaner muscle and ' t the thinner brown faces of the infantry, . who have, for months past, been fighting , the Turks, and the flies and the dysen- , tery. At the head of the little vale the , brigadier and two or three members of , his staff are resting. Half-right on the ■ hillside, a few hundred yards away, in a separate camp, the remnant of the Mounted Brigade, who have fought so magnificently, are taking their ease. ' For the first few days—the mental and bodily strain relaxed—the men were quite devoid of energy. There had been some fatigues, some physical exercises, and a little drill. At first, too, there were numbers who went sick. ' How do you account for that?* I asked one man. «Well,' he replied, the only thing I can think of is that many of them who v?ers too proud to 'go sick' in the trenches ' collapsed when they got here, and suddenly found themselves out of the real thing. I know the case of one man who was fighting against dysentery on the peninsula for three weeks,' he added. 'He used to get two of his comrades to help him into the trenches. Finally the doctor spotted him, and sent him off. As a Health Restorer. "In the rest camp the men have been well fed, and, for a few days, they were supplied with malt liquor —a perfect God-send under all the circumstances. Fresh meat and bread and tinned milk also helped greatly to brace them up, and now they were showing more energy, and cricket and football and quoits were being indulged in. A band that had come along from Egypt played inspiriting music This ako was a factor in their recuperation. It was strange *° hear music race again, (all the familiar bugle calls of SJS2S -9T L as if on to* suddenly dropped into another world. ™.'!JK5 l . e r B, 2 g 80m . of the new men marched in to the music of their band and ~l? S * their «**««*« already in £?£ %™ w^- e m L eet with old friends, and inquiries about others, who alas I were well dug in fa their last trench. There were tales, too, of glorious deeds— modestly told—done by the living and the \i£L «TO ' he ste and narrow vales of the Peninsula. These were often simple epics that will one day adorn the pages of our history in a far land As I left the camp and waded back across the estuary, I could not help thinking of a % remark made by the brigadier: The mothers of New Zealand can hold I their heads high.'" :