COMFORTS FOR TROOPS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13769, 12 October 1942, Page 4

COMFORTS FOR TROOPS

PARCELS DISTRIBUTION

DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED

Difficulties in distributing gift parcels equitably to the men of the Second N.Z.E.F. in the Middle Last, especially when quick moves by the

troops are necessary, are referred to by Lieutenant-Colonel F. Waite, overseas commissioner for the National Patriotic Fund Board, reporting to the board. "We find it easier to get parcels to our airmen in Malta —which we have done —than to find fighting units in the desert," he says.

The men really appreciated the parcels, but the total bulk of the parcels was heavy and a considerable amount of transport was required to shift them. "When the Division hounds from one continent to another (the transfer to Syria and then back to Egypt) we get into real trouble," the report continues. "We cannot issue them all in one day, or all in one week. A man may, if lucky,, get one parcel on service with his unit; go to hospital and get another; and go to the convalescent depot and get a third. Another man may miss his parcel in three places. In the rapid moves there was not one truck to shift amenities. We did not issue one parcel at the base until all other units' parcels were dispatched. Now we are having a real circus trying to straighten things out."

Although the difficulties in handling the parcels are many, nevertheless a wide distribution of them has been achieved. Besides the parcels sent to the Middle East, others are forwarded to New Zealand soldiers, sailors, and airmen serving in all parts of the world. Only recently a letter was received by the Patriotic Fund Board from a New Zealand surgeon lieutenant-commander at Sierra Leone, West Africa. His letter was dated March 23 and he wrote to express his thanks for one of the special Christmas boxes of cigarettes and tobacco, together with an R.S.A. publication "Reo Mihi," which went with it, forwarded by the board last year for distribution from London to New Zealanders of detached units. His letter was as follows:

"May I take this opportunity, helated though it is, of expressing my grateful thanks to you and "your board for the very welcome parcel of tobacco and cigarettes which has just reachced me to-day? Ido appreciate also your kind thoughts and good wishes from the people of New Zealand. Needless to say th.ey are particularly in our thoughts in these days when the war has come so much nearer to the shores of our country, and those of us serving ahroad sincerely trust that you will be spared the horrors of war in New Zealand itself. The copy of 'Rio Mehi' was

welcome. I trust you. will convey my

thanks to all those responsible for this thoughtful and generous gesThe address of the sender of this letter when he wrote is evidence of the effort that is made to see, as far as the exigencies of war will permit, that all members of the New Zealand Forces benefit from the funds subscribed for them.