WITH N.Z. WAR UNIT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 205, 27 May 1944, Page 8

WITH N.Z. WAR UNIT

Sydhey Visitor At Service Clubs In Wellington A small New Zealand “colony” living in Sydney is doing a grand job for -fellow countrymen or women who visit Australia on war duties. Calling themselves the N.Z. War Unit, its 550 members, organized at the outbreak of war, have en-. tertained and arranged hospitality for thousands of N.Z. service people and nurses. Members are also responsible for keeping in good order the linen of a large hospital ship staffed by N.Z. doctors, nurses and voluntary aids. The honorary organizing secretary, Mrs. Linda Ferguson, who is in the Dominion at present, visited some of the service clubs while in Wellington and was interested to see what volunteer helpers were doing and how light meals and Seas were served. At one club she learned that the girl members supplied all the delicious cakes that appeared for Sunday tea and watched the kitchen team on duty preparing the sandwiches, scones and savouries for serving. She was told that the men were always the guests of the club. Mrs. Ferguson said, to her knowledge. there were no clubs like this in Sydney, run entirely by girls, without the supervision and help of older people. At the Anzac Buffet in Sydney, of which she is commandant, several thousand meals are served daily and thousands of service personnel use the club every day. The War Unit’s latest self-imposed task has been to become the official next-of-kin of Sapper Jack Dell, a New Zealander who has spent three years at Stalag 8 G as a prisoner of vrar. When no other members of Sapper DelTs family could be traced, the Red Cross decided to let the unit, as a whole, adopt this soldier, to whom they send regular parcels and “next-of-kin” letters.