ANZAC BUFFET

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 6, 2 October 1917, Page 8

ANZAC BUFFET

MISS ADA REEVE'S APPEAL. After singing about a dozen songs in inimitable style at the Grand Opera Houso last night, Miss Ada Keeve excused herself for stepping out of the picture to make an appeal on behalf of our brave fighting kinsme;i in London, and the ptace which" had dono so much for them, the Anzac Club and Buffet. (Applause.) The audience would be pleased 1 to know, and she made no apology for telling them, of this home from home in T,ondon. where some one hundred and nfty coTonial women were working ever so, lovingly for the soldiers who were fighting for them all. There they were 'able to get a free'meal when they wanted It; a game of billiards, and there was a reading-Toom stocked with all the latest Australian and New Zealand papers. Above and before all, it was a place where they could meet their chums, which was something in a big/placo like London. Even in the trenches the boys who were going on furlough for a timo made arrangements to meet at the "Anzac"—that 'was all they called it just "tho Anzac." And fchey came in at all houft. On one occasion 'she called th are very early on a cold winter's morning-, and found the woman, all ready with steaming hot coffee antisoup for the boys arriving on farlouij?, They arriveH at about 3 o'clock, tired, with their bTg packs on their backs, and caked with mud- They iiiW; threw their packs Into a corner, and simply dived into that soup: (Laughter and apAnd so it went on—morning, afternoon, and night—and never were there.fewer than between three hundred and four hundred Australian and New Zealand soldier's at the club. Not that the colonial soldier 5 wanted something for nothing, for they were the soul of generosity—hilt what did the soldier usually do on comintr to London after spending months in the hell across the water? Why,, he usually had a good wash and a brush up, and then rode round London in a , taxi-cab and his money did not last long at that sort of thing. ' Still, who could blame him? When he came out of the hospital convalescent he was allowed Bs. 6d. a week, which did not last long in London. So it was up to 'them, tho ' fair speaker thought, to keep tho place open for ,aa long as tho soldiers needed it. A 6 proof that the soldiers paid whon thoy had-it, there was a box at the door of the club, and it was found that last .year the sum of .£I6OO was contributed by the soldiers alone. (Applause.) But it really needed more than that; it needed J!5000 a year to keep the' club up. When in Melbourne she received a cablegram— from whom sho knew not—just the words: "Up shutters Anzac Buffet." There were paragraphs, too, in the papers, but nothing was done, so sho had herself written to the "Age" asking that paper to open a list in support or the place, and within four weeks she had succeeded in raising .£6OOO. Thon in New South Wales she had asked them to do- their share, and also in Queensland, so that she became the happy collector of .£II,OOO. Now, she asked the New Zealand people to do their share, not so much as elsewhere, because New Zealand was a smaller community, but something to show interest in the Anzac Club, and to show the New Zealand boys that their interest was a genuine one. Her object was to raise , the sum of -sufficient to support the club for three years, for it would have to go on after the war, and then even if the war did end this year or next, who would begrudge having fiven a 'little in advance? (Applause.) he asked anyone who was disposed to givo to send their contributions to herein paper for preference (she added), as it mounted up quicker—(applause, nnd laughter)—so that she could,- before she left the country, send Home something in the name of New Zealand. In particular she made an apfidal to business men to institute collections . in , their houses, so that the names of the firms flould go forward as dear reminders that tho soldiers were not quite forgotten by those at home. It would be sueh a good thing to help to enhance tho welfaro of the brave boys during the few hours of leisure they spent; in London. (Applause.) - Miss Reeve announced that there would be boxes at the door and the smallest contributions' would be most thankfully received. (Loud and long applause.)