Todd war diary, 3 August 1914-29 February 1916 / Arthur Todd - Page 167
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[Page 167]
The Canadian Winter had come in with a bump and thin blooded individuals like ourselves fairly froze and we were not sorry to leave for the tropics. Anything was better than Halifax in the winter time especially when one was not allowed ashore.
The last few hours were spent letter writing and sending cables and in the course of conversation with a cable clerk I elicited the information that New Zealand and Tasmania were towns in Australia. From a man in a cable office one expected something a little better than this but it was only an example of what we found universally in our travels namely that a colossal ignorance of Australia and things Australian exists practically everywhere.
The more we wandered about the world the more we believed came to the conclusion that, parochial sentiment aside - the Australian is a far better informed individual than most of the other inhabitants of the Kings dominions.
At the Halifax Club which by the way is a very good one indeed, I met just before I left a Naval Officer who was aboard the Pegasus in Zanzibar when she was sunk and he was one of about five of those on deck who escaped unhurt