" THOUGHTS OF HOME."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14840, 18 February 1919, Page 3

" THOUGHTS OF HOME."

THE MOUNTEDS IN PALESTINE. MALARIA AND INFLUENZA. A letter from Matron Early to the Lady Superintendent of the St. John Ambulance Committee at the Star Boating Club premises, Wellington, discloses a somewhat sad state of things m regard to the health of the soldiers m Egypt. After thanking the St. John Ambulance workers, and saying that no fresh supplies had been received for some time, Matron Early continues : "The news of the armtistice was taken very quietly at -the Aotea.Home. There Vere .no excitable demouistrations.of any\kind; only a. spirit of deep thankfulness van d relief that all fighting is av<3K.._ I think everyone felt that v the price;; we ''Kaye ■ paid for victory has been "srfch, a :'hard and bitter one. The men 'have suffered and lost so much. .. . Theftopic of conversation now ia not always of war. The boys are allowing themselVes to wonder what "home" will be' like and "what condition the farms will be in, ' and whether the dogs will know them again. The New Zealand Mounted Brigade has suffered dreadfully during the last six months. The terrible time. they have spent in 4 the intense heat of the Jordan Valley, and the deadly malaria they have contracted wreck them physically, and they are such fine men. Aotea Home is full toi overflowing with such worn-out men, and there are so many coming down from Syria and Palestine all the time that we have to send them to the base long before they are fit. On top of malaria a great many have contracted Spanish influenza, with complications of pneumonia and jaundice-. There are hundreds who should be sent back to New Zealand to be looked after and fed up, and have the advantage! of a better climate. But the question of transports seems to be a hopeless one. There is no word of a boat to take all these sick men back, and m the meantime! they keep getting relapses. "About a hundred have died from sickness since the last attack m Syria, and it seems so hard that they should die after all these years of hardships, and^ after the actual fighting is oiver. Two of the sisters from Aotea Home have gone to the New Zealand Base Depot at Ismalia, and have started a convalescent camp there, so we are able to. send on the best of our patients to this camp to finish convalescing, but they have |an uncomfortable journey of three hours m second-class carriages. These are only used for the natives m ordinary times, so you 1 can imagine they are not very comfortable or very fresh. The Egyptian native is often not an altogether clean person !" The letter concludes with renewed thanks for help.