THE CITY WITHOUT A KICK.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14042, 27 April 1920, Page 1

THE CITY WITHOUT A KICK.

(By Percival PhiUips.) . { Old travellers come ashore aiid smile sadly.. New travellers plunge into the stronghold of curio merchants with,surp'rise and disappointment.'.■y.v'Pp'rfc Said, ,like the rest of the world, lias -been changed by ihefwar.-.Port Said, to be .quite frank, has been ; Cleaned Up- • -Time was when a brief . saunter through", the ramshackle bazaar meant a terrific battle t with touts.. Shady gentlemen of .all'nationalities, most of them'known to'?the police of two continents, plied their disreputable- trades, with impunity. An incredible>amouTit J of rubbish was carried awayl by tourists in meu?ory..of a."few hours' stay: Murder was a pastime after dark, and ma'ny ; sinister stories were told in the smoking-rooms of departing liners, .of Port Said's wicked ""Now this gateway to the. East is as safe as Streatham, and nearly as respectable. The hand of the A.P:M; has been laid in no uncertain manner on the underworld 'the real Port T - Said. Deportations 'eased; the town of its international' rogues/and vagabonds. A passport control sccoiid' to none' in effectiveness keeps a tight, ■'grip onthe polyglot population. . even routine robbery, which was a staple industry on steamer days, ; ,js' discouraged "by the representatives of. British rule. .'.■".' 'f Gone, too, : is" "the -atmosphere of piracy and . pillage . maintained by' l brazen guides, and other . varieties -of profiteers/ - They "were wont to seize on amiable and inquisitive visitors with- ■ the persistence of a leech. They would ■ extract ; money by argument, threats,"even violence". Now. the touts and trinket sellers and ragged bootblacks approach' their prey with marked diffidence. A single sharp refusal .usually suffices to turn them, ,off. They drop the trail immediately they see that no business is to be, done. 7.- '. • -

•"They never know," said a evnical English resident, "when thev urc.likelv t0 rni Un a S a i»st an Australian in mufti." -the. -Australian,, it appears, discouraged their attentions!jn- a"simple, direct fashion characteristic, of the breed.- A blow squarely on "the-point ot the jaw usually followed the third for alms loh a refusal' ■'■ buzz off." Broken heads were plentiful in Port Said until the naiive parasite and his Levantine-brother learned wisdom. .'•'•.- :-■■■.'- '■■'-■ - : ~>: : ■■■■■*'

The lesson sticks in their minds Achiried :»-ill plead for patronage for his harbor boat; Mohammed'; trots beside you with a plaintive appeal to be allowed to "show, you all the citv"-- th© : little Aehmeds and Moha.mmeds still race through. the dust meanwhile adroitly scattering it ,on:,.y6uiv boots—with shrill offers to "shine Jem up, ail bright," but they keep v a.wary; .eye on walking stacks, and soon drop ?awav. P»rt Saidis down-at-heel than it before the war. The dingy, unpamted wooden buildings, sprawling.against each otheijf then- 'verandahs: littered:with everv variety of rubbish, give its, principal street;the appearance of a ihird-fate Ead : s Court at the end of i a>l Jiard winter. Shops crammed with tawdrv wares, calculated to catch the inexpertejiced eye, still fill it from, end to end.' Fat Levantines peep furtively through half-open doors, ready to pounce, on the first; traveller who hesitates h'efore the window. • c The hotels on the water .front house an ever-cEs&ging, ever-gloomy horde of travellers. They come from Cairo and beyond, hunting for a. berth in over•crowded ships* They wait the pleasure of dirty little coastwise cargo boats, iii which, they are to be carried up to Syria. They learn the value of patience; and the'.unwisdom of trusting,any prophecy as to the date of their departure. Life in Port Said is just one postponement after another. ...';.'.:. A few soldiers wander about the streets; occasionally two mounted nolice in khaki ride along the harbor front. Officers.who seem steeped in a gentle pessimism give each' other .tea outside the Eastern Lounge, and talk of being "demobbed." No one seems particularly cheerful. Reformed and chastened as it is, Port Said cannot be called an ideal spot. 'The men who must stay here look enviously at the happy tra-vellers-who pass through day after day homeward bound.

"Cheer up," said an officer to his companion in my hearing this afternoon. "The-sun's shining -here, anyway, and that's more than it's doing in London.'.' "Take the sun," retorted the other, "and give me London wet or dry."