BATHING UNDER FIRE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3995, 30 July 1915, Page 3

BATHING UNDER FIRE.

COAST BOYS EXPERIENCES

AX INTERESTING LETTER

The following letter written under j date May 21 lias been received troin ; Corporal Allan Watkins by his peo- : pie at Tokomant Bay:— t We have been in the firing line; now for nine or ten days, and taking everything into consideration are doing all right. The fighting is all trench work, we are constantly under j fire of cOlirst' but most of the work is I confined to the night. \on will know j more about the casualty lists than T j do, but with our particular squadron i the loss is so far trifling. The game j is full of interest though fairly stremi- | ous, chiefly owing to want of night | sleep, plenty of time to do it during j tho day, but- am getting useo to it. j The scenery from our position looking j seaward is very beautiful, the islands j dotted about remind one of the Haaraki Gulf. Shell lire is not pleasant when it eonms your way. but when it is landing out in the sea it is very pretty to watch. Rifle fire goes on incessantly—-that of the enemy ill-directed : L rattier fancy that ours is more effective.. Aeroplanes and seaplanes- of both parties we see daily—wonderful things, flying at great heights. Wo have repelled one attack on our lines so far and taught me enemy a lesson, but, as 1 said, our squadron had very little to do chough wo were ni the fringe of it and could'hear the cheering. About every other day we have a lovely swim in the sea—sometimes under shell fire, which adds a. peculiar interest. It is astonishing what an enormous expenditure of shell and rifle lire it takes to wound a single man. and f see no reason why a follow shouldn't come through it all sound with ordinary luck, so don't worry at all. All the hoys from the Coast are fit and well, the rough life agreeing with us all. Very few of us trouble about shaving, so are a rough-looking lot. You simply wouldn’t know ns. My word we are looking forward to a New Zealand mrii. This is the time when letters from home are more precious than ever. Well, lam not allowed by the censor to write a great deal so you must put up with very brief notes now and again. I am writing this on the wide of a box well under a bank away from shell fire, most ol which is dro]>ping in the sea. One of the sights to see is our aerophones chasing the enemy’s, or the enemy trying to bring down our planes with shrapnel li re.