Y.M.C.A. WORK.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14590, 27 April 1918, Page 4

Y.M.C.A. WORK.

TUB TROOPS ' IN PALESTINE.

Tjte . V.M.C.A. commissioner,. \ Mv, M. "W. *P*'< Liscell'es, of , : Timaru, ; who went to England 'lastly ear, at'his k>wn expense, as a Y'.MlO.'A. commissioner,: has a^pi^y. interesting, story 'Hoi'telif of ' his expejfoenoes. following -letter? he gi^es a brief account of ?his escape N from t a torpedoed 4 ship m the Mediterranean^ and of > a -visit -to thejHoly - Land. *He £ gives t some idea of what is being done v for our boy s^> ln* the *followingy letter, "'■which.* was addressed to the. national ' '/' 'general secretary^ of '■'- the V.M.C.A., v /he .-.' jj writes: "Before 'l 'leave the" shores of ' this old land* (Egypt) I send .-you 'a* few jf impressions; about ■•.the work being .done ,' here for His -Majesty's troops. -I ■ landed vat A^— ■ on December 30. For the previous v- three "weeks I had beeiv on i troopship which left — — with 250 C troops on board, I set myself '\>ut to be of servic© r to the men. In 'supplying them with, gdmes 1 and stationery', also , reading material, I begged" "some, and bought the rest. At—^— the Red Cross were very goodin giving me a- splendid lot of stuffs this was < much appreciated by the men, many of whom were Vfed i.p" witW th-j long time on board. The delay was necessary owing to the adverse reports about the Mediterranean. The 30th of D,ecember opened with a lovely day attd everyone on board was elated with the > fact that we should be on shore for lunch; When about fifteen miles ; from' -r-: — we were torpedoed, > one. jconvoy, immediately came to our assisfc ' ance,V ; arnid very* sobn was crowded trith • soldiers.' 'Fhe convoy then steamed' a short t distance and' waited' by us, "and shortly after was; struck with a toirpedQ. Both ships soonjsank.i- I remained s on the troopship till the water dashed over the stern deck, where I was stationed, and then dived off, and I- could see it would take i me all my time to swim far enough away to* get'clear of the' sputotion, when the steamer went down. The loss of life was great— this -fact made one very thankful that they had been spared, I havtj met • many of -'the' boys Binee m Egypt and' Palestine, arid it was very ■ touching 'to see howNglad .they were that I was well. One day while walking •m the street at - J met a group- of the chaps and was accostedy "Well 1 done, Y:M., we are to. see you pulled through." VVe bad held -meetings every evening with the boys, avG<E: pudr© on board had taken a keen interest m tbe work, and we had also joined together m service m the saloon • on ; Sundays. Our last meeting was a very hearty one on the Saturday evening, and as we ; parted, little did we think that before the next night life's journey was to be over for some who were present. 1 tell you, it made one feel that they had "been pf.'soine service to these lads. I cabled^ to you advising the erection of buildings at the Ifew Zealand base camp at —^-1 From enquiries r have made, j this is lifcely- to be a used for demobilisation -purposes, our men will be there to the very last. • In my jcable ti asked /for J^1500; to-day • 1 heard from- Cairo that the lowest tender Was £2500, so I" sent word to 1 Mr. Jessop to cable you iiotifying the fact, • . and also to send you a copy of the plans. The Australian National Council have spent £10,000 on 1 a rest camp at* — - t and £3500 at ■■•''■ ,■ another important militaiy centre. I thiiik JTew Zealand should" atarid : the building at — — . In Egypt Y.Mi-wofk is m a different position front niost other, places. No local support ' iis igiyen 1 at all ; the Egyptian ijommittees 'receive contributions / from Britain, . America, ' Australia : and New Zealand. • Mr. Jessop feels that it is; not wise to treat the work sectionally, "but aa one- Y;M.C;A. j there isia good deal m his oontentioiv. The Egyptian, committee havei-dorie splendid work iii Ejgypt and PaJestineV; The war zone is under the supervision of an Australian secretary; ,W. Owens. He is a splendid worker, with not a la^y bone m his body, and the military authorities have the fullest confidence m him, and practically give him all he asks for. I have seen a ddal of the' mail, "and -have every confidteiice iii him. Mr. Velvin spent £900 on our men with Christmas gifts. The New Zealanders have had a very trying time. . Travelling through the desert was most tedious, and m Palestine the rain and; rtiud ilave been a caution. I can tell" you' it knows how to rain over here. I am clad to tell you that m Egypt and- 'Palestine our boys are spoken of most highly; it is just , m faeeping • witaa what* >vas told me m Ehgland, ; ScbUand, and- ,. Frarite. New .• Zealand pare'ntß <an well be proud of the boys they have sent over. ' Many of the chaps have a great longing for home; on the other hand they $ay. they want to see the job through 'first. Mr: Jessop says that m the early days of the war a lot was done for the New Zea-landers,-and at that time they w.ere numerous. \ When Messrs. George kna Jamieson deft ' Egypt they hande<| £6000 over to the Egvption committed for general purposes ; that money'is \iiow spent and the committee are shc-r& of funds. With the exception of the ifew Zcaland'ers m the ' brigade, it is almost impossible to confine work solely amongst our men. .Further, I think we should ; take a- larger outlook and help on this work generally,, but with the proviso that some of our men must be the neucleus of any effort. /To give you a concrete instance 'how the work is interwoven at the Australian rest camp where I am sUaying, f there ' ate about 50 New Zealandera-- down <jn .leave. Y.M. centres' are right oip the line; at Jaffa the V.M.C.A. are occupying a fine building, which was formerly occupied by the German Consulate . At Jerusalem we are occupying •& large building. I enclose a photo which belongs to a Russian Jew. -- > The building* Vas commandeered by ther-militai'y and handed over to the Y.M. for twelve . months iree of rent. An - Australian: ■ secretary .ih charge-ya real good fellow. The building is situated A short distance from ihe old city. -I was afc Jerusalem .for a short tune; part of my* business was toj locate a seo^pn -which* the; British Y.M.C.A.' ha^^bougbt before thftwarj . bub which hsdolbeen lost Irighf of . With tbeasaistan'ce.of *he Town C3erk of Jeru- ; salem, who is a fine Christian 'man, we were able tofijid the" section, which is situatedl on the Jericho toad, between the Damascus ajid Jaffa gate. All traffic to the Mount of Olives passes the site. A Red' Triangle now'rettiiiids'the' passers by that\bur worktrettOWned association owns a plot of land m the precincts of the Holy City. As to my visit to the city which haa been the centre of attraction for. ages, which has been captured 18 times, I -must wait till I return. I was nearly forgetting about the International - Y.M. building, which 'it is . proposed r to. build at - Jerusalem after toe war, at . a cost of '■about £20,000;' I: feel that the New Zealand boya have had a fair share «f the work m capturing the ancient 'city, and as New Zealand, has led m many other great movement?,' we- should be the first to start this work with a. gift of £1009. If the National /Committee do not feel justified m, contributing out of present funds, let an appeal bo made at once. I feel aure that there ai'e many of. the public who would like to help- m" this '. movement.., I might say • the movement is m the- initial' stages only, and once it is made.kftpwn, th^re will be no diflFrculty iii raiiiiig aniouni "