TROOPS IN EGYPT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23617, 29 March 1940, Page 4

TROOPS IN EGYPT

" DOING THE SIGHTS" ] POPULAR NEW ZEAL.AN DERS OPTIMISM AND GOOD HUMOUR j [prom our own correspondent] CAIRO, March U The New Zealand troops have soon ' settled down in their new quarters and, so far as one ran judge from eonver- i Ration with them, are generaJly happy. '( Some of them, no doubt, would have liked to have been ir, the thick of it § immediately. But they have acctpted philosophic- I ally the advice contained in a recent ' address, following ail inspection, by Lieutenant - General Sir Archibald Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Near East, that ! they must be prepared to stay in Egypt for some time until there is some indi- I cation of how the war is likely to | develop. | However, the camp is situated 6uffi- | cientlv close to Cairo for tlieni to fill 1 in their leisure time "doing the nights," 1 with the result that the New Zealand | uniform has become both familiar and 1 popular with everyone. East Meets West For the benefit of those at home who do not know Cairo, it should be ex- 1 plained that the Egyptian capital, I which according to the last census had I a population of roughly ] .250.000, is a strange mixture of East and West: p picturesque mosques and buildings of f Eastern architecture lost in a sea of I. skyscrapers, and the last"word in Ameri- I can motor-cars side by side with the | more humble camel and donkev.

Incidentally, 3js regards traffic, many p of the visitors have been greatly in- | trigued by the gharry—an open two- I lior.se carriage—which in recent years I has been fast disappearing from the | streets in the face ol: the taxi but has [ now taken on a new lease of life with I so much popular demand. The gharry- I driver is also obliging to his new customers, and one ni«;ht several of the $ latter were to be seen riding postillion r! fashion down one of die main streets. Pyramids and Sphinx I The sights which appear to be most . f frequented by the troops are the § Pyramids and Sphinx, the museum, § with its fine Tutankhamen collection 3 and other interesting finds of Pharaonie I times, the mosques and. bazaars. A 1 friend who was on top of the Great j§ Pyramid the other clay was very much [ amused by one soldier's comments. The Pyramids, of course, are not ? smooth, as they generally appear to ; be in photographs. They are made up ! of huge blocks of granite four and five ■ feet square, and now that the outside casing of rubble has worn away it is i'-i laborious work climbing these big step-ping-stones to the top. To slip would | almost certainly prove fatal. Tlius the soldier. 011 reaching the |; top. instead of admiring the view across | the Nile valley as is generally done,- K appeared to be lost, in contemplation | of the rather treacherous ascent, when ;■ suddenly he exclaimed: "If only I had S Hitler up here with me!" 1 Modern Skyscrapers I But it is not only -historical monu- jg ments in which the soldiers are inter- p ested, although they are still busy with | their cameras in this direction. It has f been a general complaint among Euro- I' pean residents and- visitors for some I years that Cairo is rapidly losing its F Eastern appearance with skyscrapers | springing up ailmost overnight. p Strangely enough, however, the soldiers f: seem to come dovm heavily on the |" side of the latter, winch they generally j admire. ' They also appreciate the services |; which residents have long since taken j for granted and criticised.- Thus one f soldier remarked that ho thought the j railways in Egypt very good. The rail- 1 ways here, it should be added, are State-owned and for . years it has been alleged that roads were being studiously neglected in order to hamper road transport in favour of the rail- >j ways, which, in the absence of com- l petition, did not keep pace, with the times. Therefore it was nice to hear some- :i one say a word of praise in favour of the railways, and an interesting discussion 011 the , subject followed. The soldier explained that in New Zealand 3 he had been accustomed to narrowgauge railways, so that' he had been much impressed by the heavy freight and passenger trains of Egypt, which are on the English model. This is only one instance of how residents and soldiers are benefiting from a mutual exchange of views. Lectures by Visitors Already some of the visitors have obliged with lectures 011 New Zealand. They also report that they have found willing guides among university students and schoolboys, so that language problems present no difficulties. The bovs are anxious to have first-hand knowledge of the Dominion, and are therefore only too keen to be in the soldiers' company and to show them the city. Indeed, never before have the Dominion soldiers been so popular in Egypt as they are to-day. Moreover, since the last war Egypt has gained her independence, and to-dav Egyptians welcome the visiters as Allies in the great cause. Of course, human nature being what it is, some of the soldiers feel little homesick at times and thirst for news and papers from home. In this latter / respect, however, the Y.M.C.A. is doing its best, and a club has been 6et up close to the camp where' the men j can read the home newspapers and j write letters. Cairo Seums Gayer ■ There is also, iit seems, an urge among some of the men to see something of their old trades. Thus the local English newspapers have been inundated with visitors anxious to takfl a busman's holiday and try their hands again on the linotype and stereotype machines. , All are in the best of humour, and somehow Cairo 6eums to have become much gayer since the New_ Zealanders arrived. Their optimism is infectious.