r Ian Hamilton had been striving for months to institute this system
of canteens. He desired that the troops in the Eastern Mediterranean
should be placed on the same footing as those in France. General
Birdwood had written to him conveying the medical opinion that the
sameness of the food was making the men sick. The rations were A1, but
the men loathed the look of them after having had nothing else for
months. "If we could only get this wretched canteen ship along, and if,
when she comes she contains anything like condiments to let them buy
freely from her, I believe it would make all the difference in the
world. But the fact remains that at present we cannot count on anything
like a big effort from the men who have been here all these months."[P]
The first canteen ship did eventually arrive about the end of August,
and then brought only L10,000 worth--amongst over 100,000 troops! The
Commander-in-Chief sent it to Anzac. Later arrivals brought very little
more and, finally, early in December, the supplies petered out
altogether. Parties sent to Imbros foraged over the island, but soon
exhausted even that source, which produced only fruit, eggs, Turkish
delight, candles, and canned goods.

To pay for these extras the Australians had ample resources.
Periodically the field cashier appeared on the Peninsula with English
silver and notes. The adjutant drew from him, and company commanders
paid their men in accordance with their requirements--within the credit
which the Pay Book (always carried on the person) disclosed they
possessed. The British Treasury note for 10s. became known as a
"Bradbury"--a name derived from a signature thereon. Those issued to
the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at the time were endorsed in
Turkish so that they might have currency in Constantinople when the
Straits were forced.

The 16th October witnessed the return to the Battalion of the Machine
Gun Section from the Apex. It was arranged that at 4 a.m. this day an
attempt should be made to compel the enemy to disclose his gun and
machine gun positions. At that hour a rocket went up from Russell's Top.
Immediately our guns, and the machine guns to either flank of the 28th,
opened fire. The Battalion had been ordered to man the trenches, show
their fixed bayonets over the parapets, and cheer lustily. All these
things were done and the effect added to by throwing clods of earth down
amongst the bushes in the Dere to give the impression of the