THE N.Z. W.C.A.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 29, 3 February 1916, Page 8

THE N.Z. W.C.A.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, December 17. The New Zealand War Contingent Association held a general meeting at the Westminster Palace Hotel on Tuesday afternoon, when the High Commissioner (the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie), who is also the chairman of the Association, submitted a statement of the work accomplished in the relief of the sick and wounded New Zealand soldiers during the 16 months of the Association's existence. Upon discharge from hospital the men were either sent on furlougn or to a convalescent camp, which was usually free from many of the restrictions existing in the hospitals. A good deal of trouble had arisen through the hospital authorities refusing, by direction of the War Office, to give the men money for any purpose whatever during the period of their stay in hospital. This difficulty had been met by this Association and the High Commissioner's department so far as possible by arranging with the secretaries of the hospitals to pay for necessaries while the men were patients. Seeing all sorts and conditions of men were treated in the hospitals, the War Office regarded these regulations as being absolutely essential as upon occasions when men had received money it had been spent rapidly. It was gratifying, however, to report in reference to New Zealanders, that their conduct was of the highest order, and if it were not that the regulations had to be made applicable to the whole British army they would probably be quite unnecessary so far as New Zealanders were concerned. Mr. A. D. Steel-Maftland, M.P., Under-Secretary for the Colonies, spoke warmly of the part played by the Dominions in the present war, and said that more and more it was borne in upon him that at the end of this war the result, if we treated the situation wisely, would be a state of affairs that he hoped would be accepted as one of the moat beneficient outcomes of the war, and which could not have been achieved in years of normal peace.