THEIR BUTTERLESS BREAD.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 64, 15 March 1916, Page 2

THEIR BUTTERLESS BREAD.

LOT OF OUR SOLDIERS.

SUPPLY CAPTAIN SUGGESTS GIFT BUTTER.

To rob a New Zealander of his butter is equivalent to depriving thp Irishman of his "murphies," but it appears to be a fact that military rations in Egypt, wholesale and substantial as they are, do not run to the provision of this luxury, and accordingly the suggestion is made that we should make a break with the gift chocolate and gum and organise a gift butter movement.

The proposal is made by Captain G. R. Hutchinson, of the Moascar Supply Depot, late member of the Auckland Harbour Board, who, writing to the Mayor of Auckland, points out that the food supplied to the New Zealand troops is excellent in quality and quantity, but there is one thing not issued, nor likely to be, which New Zealanders miss so much, namely, butter. Captain Hutchinson suggests that the Mayor should use his influence in organising a gift supply of butter, -'to which all the factories should contribute.

"A large quantity, I am sure, would be given if you made the appeal," observes the writer, '-'and the cry of rejoicing from the New Zealand troops would nearly be heard in New Zealand. The Government might consent to free freight by a troopship if the factories would give the butter. If the suggestion were taken up the butter should be consigned as a gift to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and not to any particular provincial troops, as the men were all mixed in the brigades, and it would be impossible to issue the ration to some and not others." Captain Hutchinson adds that he would be prepared to be responsible for the butter reaching the soldiers. "The gift would be appreciated more than anything else New Zealand could consign. I hear the same cry every day. 'Is there any chance of getting some butter?' Officers and men are alike," concludes the letter.