e suggestion to correspondents in
Australia to send as many snap-shot photos. as possible. They tell
more than a letter, for one can see how the loved ones are looking.
Papers were what we needed most, and we got very few indeed of these.
I wrote home once that I was fortunate in having a paper to read that
had been wrapped round greasy bacon. This was a positive fact. We were
up the gully at the advance dressing station, and a machine gun was
playing right down the position. Four men were killed and six wounded
right in front of us, so that it was not prudent to leave until night
fell. It was then that reading matter became so necessary. The paper
was the _Sydney Morning Herald_ and contained an advertisement stating
that there was a vacancy for two boarders at Katoomba; I was an
applicant for the vacancy. The _Bulletin_ was a God-send when it
arrived, as was _Punch_. Norman Morris occasionally got files of the
_Newcastle Morning Herald_, which he would hand on to us, as there
were a lot of men from the Newcastle district in the Ambulance. Later
on it was possible to register a small parcel in the Field Post
Office--for home.

SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS

In order to keep the health of the troops good it was necessary to be
exceedingly careful in the matter of sanitation. Lieutenant-Colonel
Millard was the Sanitary Officer for our Division, and Lieutenant-
Colonel Stokes for the 1st Australian Division.

The garbage at first was collected in casks, placed in a barge and
conveyed out into the bay; it was found, however, that a lot of it
drifted back. It reminded one so much of Newcastle and Stockton. The
same complaints were made by the men on the right as are put forth by
Stockton residents regarding the Newcastle garbage. We, of course,
occupied the position of the Newcastle Council, and were just as
vehement in our denial of what was a most obvious fact. The situation
was exactly the same--only that, instead of dead horses, there were
dead mules. Three incinerators were started, enclosures built up with
stone, and a fire lighted. This was effective, but gave rise to a very
unpleasant smell along the beach. The only time I was shot was from an
incinerator; a cartridge had been included in the rubbish and exploded
just as I was passing. The bullet gave me a nasty knock on the shin.

It was a fairly common practice among men just arrived to put a
cartridge in their fire just to hear the noise. Of course down on th