GIFT PARCELS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 142, 3 April 1940, Page 7

GIFT PARCELS

TROOPS OVERSEAS A MAJOR'S SUGGESTIONS There are, jTs everyone knows, gifts that! are most appropriate in certain circumstances but which in others are not at all suitable and may become encumbrances. This was a point strongly emprasitied lay Major H. Lam pen in an interview, when discussing the ques tk>n of gift parcelsl from home for the members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force overseas. He recalled the pleasure certain goods gave to the men in the 1914-18 war. and referred also to other articles which, under certain conditions, could be a decided hindrance. The main point Major Lamp en made was the value tt the soldier of small, essentially practical articles. The discussion referred xoarticularly to individually-addressed parcels sent through the post in the ordinary way. Sweets are included in the suggested list of contents for parcels under this scheme, and Major Lampen declared that one of the nicest gifts he received in the last War was a tin of boiled sweets. It was a pity, continued Major Lampen that at present at any rate, according to the advice received from Majop-General Freyberg, that New Zealanders were required to pay heavy duty on cigarettes and tobaccos received through the post, for a plug of tobacco was a splendid gift to send for the pipe smoker. He advised against sending elaborate comforts, which more often than not would be of no use to man on service. His own personal experience was that it Avas the small artiles that were of such value—such things, for example, as bachelor buttons, folding scissors, nail clippers, pocket knives, propelling pencils, collapsible paper drinlc ing cups, razor blades, and so on. He had also found in the last war that sun glasses were very useful to prevent eye strain, but the lenses should be of one of the modern unbreakable materials rather than glass. A point which Major Lampen suggested people sending individual parcels would be well advised to bear in mind was whether the troops ■would be exueriencing summer or winter weather when they received their gifts. Generally speaking, he thought it would be just as well not to worry about such things as underclothing. In the last war many people sent all sorts of marvellous things. They were expensive, altogether too good, and of little or no use.