It gives me much pleasure to be able to write a very short introduction to the book of drawings of Signaller Ellis Silas, though these will themselves, I hope, appeal fully to all who see them, as portraying incidents in the lives of some of our Australian and New Zealand soldiers on service. The sketches were made by Signaller Silas during the time he spent with the Australian troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and they contain an excellent record of the life spent by those troops during the months they and their comrades at Cape Helles and Suvla were upholding the honour of the British flag in that part of the world. I heartily wish Signaller Silas all success with his book, and trust that, before the war is finished, his health will enable him to rejoin the troops, and that he will find opportunity of giving us yet further proofs of his ability as an artist, in showing us something of the life of the troops in other theatres of war.
1 May 1916