SURPRISED HOSTESS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 4, 30 September 1943, Page 3

SURPRISED HOSTESS

Gift Of Washing Machine From Three Marines Three United States marines recently were invited to spend their I()-day furloughs in an average New Zealand home. They were warned in advance that there would be no excitement, no wild parties, no young people,, and they accepted on those terms. For 10 delightful days they revelled in the luxury of a home “just like home.’ They washed the dishes, swept the floors, listened to the radio and sat by the fire reading the papers. Occasionally they took their host and hostess to a "movie.’ At the end of 10 days they went back to camp. Three days later their hostess was amazed when a new washing-machine was delivered at her door —-a present from three grateful Americans who had noticed she was without one. Mrs. Ina Allan, director of the Allied Services Club, 'Wellington, who vouches for the story, said it is the more remarkable because washing-machines are all but unobtainable in New Zealand, and cannot be purchased for less than £i>2, 175 dollars in American money. Not all murines, of course, buy washing-machines for their- friends, but the story typifies the cordial relations which exist between the “Leathernecks” and citizens of the small British Dominion down under.”