About the middle of the month the Battalion received its first supply of canteen stores. A small party had been sent to Imbros to buy "luxuries" and had returned with neither the quantity nor quality they sought. Nevertheless, their arrival in the Battalion area was signalised by the formation of a queue as for an early door at a theatre. Sweets, cake, and notepaper were in greatest demand, and after these, in popularity, came soap and handkerchiefs. Sir 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.