MASSAWA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22709, 23 October 1935, Page 10

MASSAWA

LETTER FROM A SHIP'S OFFICER DISSATISFACTION IN RANKS Interesting first-hand information of the confusion and congestion at Massawa, the chief port of Eritrea, where Italy's troops are being landed for the Abyssinian campaign, are contained in a letter from an officer of a ship trading from Bombay to the Gulf ports, to a relative in Sydney. The letter, which is dated September 8, emphasises the difficulty that was being experienced in providing water for the Italian troops even before the fighting started, and the dissatisfaction among the Italian labour corps. "We have been calling at Massawa during the last six months," states the letter. "This voyage and last voyage we had a dickens of a lot of cargo for that place, including a few dozen motor lorries, both built up and in pieces in crates. Such is the state of chaos and congestion there that each time we spent a fortnight in the place. In normal times it would have been two days. The harbour is only small, yet inside Massawa Harbour there wen- about 30 ships jammed in hero, there and everywhere, and moored in ways which you dare not mention in Board of Trade examinations. The difficulty has been to get boats in which to discharge the cargo. Native craft (dhows) are used for all ordinary cargo, and we managed to get about three per day; but were their held up for lighters into which we could put all the heavy stuff. However, everything must come to an end some time, and we eventually got away. " Personally I do not think that Mussolini stands much chance against the Abyssinians, and would not be surprised if he had serious trouble among his own ranks. Tlie Italians might make considerable advances from the south, where it is flat country. There lias already been a serious strike among the Italian labour corps in Massawa and Eritrea generally—a bad sign. "Apart from sickness and disease, which is accounting for perhaps f>oo a week—and they haven't started fighting yet —the other big difficulty is the water supply. They have just started making some of it in Massawa, but most of it has to be shipped in. I suppose that every Italian ship which arrives brings as much as possible, but they also have some tankers running to Aden and Port Sudan for water, and in each place they are well charged for it. In Aden, where all drinking water has to be made, they are charged a gold sovereign per ton, and spot cash, too. "There must be about half a million troops in the country now, and I believe they get a quart of water each a day, which has to do for everything. "I have seen something of the utter confusion and congestion in Massawa, and if that is typical of the way in which the Italian Army looks after things, well, they are beating themselves in this war."