VISITING WOUNDED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 117, 20 May 1941, Page 5

VISITING WOUNDED

MR. FRASER IN CAIRO

TALKS WITH THE PATIENTS

WELCOME AT CLUB

(N.Z.E.F. Official News Service.) CAIRO, May 19. Making it his first concern, the Prime1 Minister of New Zealand (Mr. Fraser) ' has been very busily engaged since his arrival in Egypt visiting patients in New Zealand hospitals and speakfng to them. Many of those he saw were wounded in Greece, and for these he had a special word. His programme at the hospitals of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force has been a strenuous one, but this has not altered his intention of seeing and speaking to as many as possible who are ill or wounded. _ During an interval at one hospital the Prime Minister said he wished to ,take the opportunity to thank the ijiedical and nursing staffs of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for the very fine work they were doing for the New Zealand troops in the Middle gast; They were providing a very real and tangible link with' home. MESSAGE-S TO PASS ON ■ Mr. Fraser has been a very welcome sight to the men of the New Zealand Forces, who have been quick to react to the presence of their visitor. Some were able to tell him of men that the Prime Minister knew, and.others were able to give him messages to pass on to the people at home. The Prime Minister also called on the Premier of Egypt (Hussein Sirry Pasha), who in return called on Mr. Fraser at the' British Embassy in the evening. Cordial messages of good will were exchanged with the New Zealand Forces Club in Cairo, which has been open for some time now, and last evening the Prime Minister saw for himself the very fine facilities that have >been made available to the soldiers while they are on leave in the city. •He had dinner at the club, and was struck by the enthusiastic way in which the boys were enjoying themselves during the time he was there. For their part they gave the Prime Minister a really rousing welcome, and wherever he went during an inspection of the premises he was met j •by smiling faces. NEW ACCOMMODATION. The new accommodation which has <jjust been added to the club was seen Tby Mr. Fraser, who expressed delight .at the amenities provided through the . {National Patriotic Fund. A further call is being made on patients in hospitals today by Mr. Fraser, who spent this morning at a •large New Zealand camp seeing the troops who returned to this country 'fecom the campaign in Greece. He Bunched at the camp, and this afteraaoon he is to call at the Kiwi Club, pyhich was established some months (ago largely through the energetic' 'aj|adership of Lady Lampson, wife of |pc British Ambassador to Cairo (Sir '^liles Lampson). •'■ The principal object of the club is to provide recreational facilities for •soldiers who are convalescing in hospital. It has succeeded admirably and •iis a firm favourite with the men who Wre stationed in the vicinity and a •notable example of the fine .work that ■$s being done by •voluntary helpers for "<New Zealand-troops .everywhere.