Ettie Rout

"We shall never conquer this greatest of national perils simply by spreading pious fluff over the landscape. Cannot we simply take our courage in our own hands now and face the facts of life as they really are?, because we'd know no one wanted to publicise the problem of soldier VD."

"We are getting on splendidly here. We have five large marquees up now, and have surrounded the only group of decent trees in the place. It is an oasis for the boys, in every way. They throng the place now. We have had some New Zealanders helping us, as a fatigue party, but most of them have returned to New Zealand - all but three. We have a grand party of Australians, who have quite got into the swing of the work. They are capable, and cheerful and helpful. The cooking has been the trouble. I have had to do that myself for several weeks, and the weather has been distinctly hot. I have stood over huge field boilers making gallons and gallons of blanc mange; all the boys are very keen on that. They simply devour anything that is made."

"Heaven knows they need our help badly enough, poor lads! I don't think there is anything too good for these men : some of them are the finest men on earth. This, at least, I know : that though I never dreamed six months ago I was coming half-way round the world to be a canteen cook in this place of all others in the summer-time, no work could possibly be more important at the present time, for it does most certainly help to keep well men well, and help to buck up those who are seedy. As for the heat, it's no worse than lots of other places, and I don't feel it nearly so much as many other folk."

"The purpose of this club is to provide members of the NZEF with the necessary articles for the medical prevention of venereal disease. It has been established with the approval of the New Zealand military authorities in England, and the beginning made at Hornchurch, by their special request."

"By means of prophylaxis and the medical control of women, venereal disease has been practically wiped out at Port Said and elsewhere among Anzac troops. Until these remedies were applied, venereal disease prevailed to an alarming extent."

"If it were possible for me to run a properly conducted licensed house for the troops here, I would do it, for the sake of protecting the New Zealand nation against further invasion by venereal disease. It is not to do that at present, and therefore we have to rely merely on prophylactics. We shall all do our very utmost to get the New Zealand soldiers to use these whenever they are exposed to infection."

"You cannot dictate to any man what shall be his morality or his own religion. He must make his own choice. Your attempts to impose total sexual abstinence on him he regards as a meddlesome and impertinent interference with the expression of a natural instinct."