N.Z. TROOPS IN EGYPT

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 December 1940, Page 8

N.Z. TROOPS IN EGYPT

CLUB PREMISES AT CAIRO. (Official Correspondent with N.Z.E.F. in Egypt). CAIRO, December 7. Premises wherin Italian nationals spent happy hours in less troubled days, are likely to be thronged with New Zealand soldiers early in the New Year as a result of plans, now well in hand, for the conversion of a former Fascist Club in Cairo into a New Zealand Forces Club. Delay in the establishment of the New Zealanders’ own social centre had been due to uncertainty about the duration of their stay in the Middle East. The generosity of the New Zealand public is helping to make the project possible, since the rental is being paid from the National Patriotic Fund, whence a large grant has also been made for furnishing. The premises take up a complete first floor of a modern air-conditioned, centrallyheated building in the heart of the city. Effigies and portraits of Mussolini or bronze plaques, bearing excerpts of his speeches and Fascist, insignia still haunt almost every room and hallway. ' These surroundings recall that New Zealanders in England had an identical experience when they took over a Fascist Club in London for their own use.

Plans for the Cairo Club envisage a centre far more comprehensive than any existing services club in the city. Separate amenities foi’ officers, nurses, non-commissioned officers, and men are proposed, and provision of sleeping accommodation will make the Club an inexpensive hotel for soldiers on extended leave. Two especially large rooms are reserved for other ranks, one as a restaurant Wherein beer, also will be served, and the other as a lounge where light refreshments will be obtainable, and entertainments presented. The place will also provide writing, reading, and games rooms, a lending library, fefaths, showers, and a barber and tobacconist shop, which it is hoped to stock with New Zealand brands. Nurses and officers will have separate lounges, reading, writing and similar facilities. Officers and N.C.O.’s will have their own dining rooms, but all meals are to be served from a central kitchen, the layout of which is being planned under the expert guidance of local caterers. Native waiters Will probably be appointed. Voluntary helpers for the men’s lounge are likely to be forthcoming from the English community. Though it is intended primarily for New Zealanders, the Club will be open to all troops in uniform in line with a principle observed by other services and institutions in England and Egypt. The opening is eagerly awaited, since the existing social centres are often overcrowded. Applications are being invited from all New Zealand units here for the position of Manager.