NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 78, 26 December 1917, Page 5

NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE

CHRISTMAS IN A DEVASTATED ZONE

ENTERTAINMENT OF MEN IN CAMPS AND HOSPITALS

(Special Dispatch from Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) :• London, December 20. Christmas draws near, nnd the thoughts of all our soldiers on this side of the .world go cut to relatives and friends in New Zealand and their- comrades in arms fighting in the Holy Land. ' Official Christmas greetings have already, been, re- ; ceived from New Zealand,, aid similar good wishes have been sent from here. . These you will get through ihe ordinary channels. Last Christmas wo spent in a comparatively quiet part of the front Hue and in villages, where we could entertain the children. - The dyinc yrnr sees us in a devastated zone where there a'.n a few peasants and fewer children, bat every effort has been mado to pro-, vido our troops with good' cheer on Cnristmas Day. Many gifts from New Zealand.have already safely.' arrived, and are greatly appreciated. Iγ. all the camps.' and hospitals in England the Christmas preparations ■are well in hand, and there will be no lack of entertainment. corps and division generals have sent kindly messages to those under vheir command and those in England and Palestine. . . ■ A divisional general. recently visited t'i3 various hospitals along Northern France, in which considerable numbers of our wounded and sick are now being treated, and all spoke in terms of high appreciation of the: Work of tho dootors, the nurses, and the orderlies, also of the interest displayed in. their welfare by the Australian # Red Cross. 1 " O'ir own stationary hospital , which has had a unique war history, continues to do excellent work.