A Dunedin soldier, in a letter to his parents, gives some idea of the hardships experienced in a march through an Egyptian desert.
He writes, under date May 17:-
"It seems to be my luck that something or other crook happens on or near my birthday. The last one I had I was under shell fire on the Peninsula, and on this one we were nearly all dead with sunstroke. Yesterday we went out to try to round up some Turks about 20 miles away from our camp. We left camp about 2 p.m. and bivouacked for the night and went on the rest of the way next morning. We got our water bottles filled in the morning before we left, but they were soon emptied, as the heat was something awful. The horses had not been watered in the morning, and they must have suffered agonies. They did not get anything till after 11, at some wells that the Turks had built. There was a dead cow near one, but that made no difference. Most of the horses drank about six buckets full, and after they had been watered we all filled our own water bottles and had a good drink. The water stank, and it was as thick as pea soup, but it was very acceptable. The heat must have been nearly 150deg. in the sun, and the wind blowing off the land was like off a huge fire. Everything that could get hot was nearly red hot - even the reins you could hardly hold, and the thirst and the heat I never want to experience again. There were about 100 or over among the Australians and New Zealanders that went down with sunstroke. In the squadron I was out with no one was affected while I was with them, but three went out while they were guarding the ambulance. The worst of all was the thirst. My lips have all cracked and my tongue was swollen till I got back to camp and had a good drink of tea.''
•Speaking at the meeting of the Educational Institute at Wellington on Friday night in respect to boy labour, the president (Mr J. C. Webb) quoted a number of cases in which boys attending school worked long hours for a mere pittance (states the New Zealand Times).
In the case that had come under Mr Webb's notice, a boy 10 years of age, who had never known a mother's care, started work at a very early hour in the morning, and finished at 7 o'clock at night.
The boy's father worked on night shift. On going home at an early hour in the morning, his son had a meal ready for him, and the boy afterwards assisted a baker on his rounds until 9 o'clock, when he went to school.
After school the boy again met the baker, and went with him, arriving home about 7 o'clock in the evening, in time to prepare his father's evening meal. On Saturday he worked longer hours, and was paid the sum of 2s for his week's work.
- ODT, 6.7.1916.
