PRISONERS OF WAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 August 1942, Page 4

PRISONERS OF WAR

CLOTHING COUPONS ISSUED WELLINGTON, August 15. Clothing coupons being issued to next-of-kin for personal parcels to prisoners of war should be in their hands by the last week of this month. They are being issued irrespective of when the individual parcel labels are due, which will allow the recipient many weeks to procure wool and other clothing before the parcels are due to be sent from New Zealand. Making this announcement, the Prisoners of War Inquiry Office in Wellington states that the censoring department found this week in one parcel a cardboard box with a personal message written on the inside, also a message enclosed in a pair of boots. Next-of-kin are warned that if they attempt to hide messages in this way and the messages are not discovered by the local censor, the parcels are liable to be confiscated in Germany and Italy. Next-of-kin wishing to send an extra amount of chocolate will be given this opportunity in the next parcels. A cablegram this week regarding invalid comforts stated that the British Red Cross supplies the senior British medical officer in every camp with the necessary stocks of drugs, disinfectants, and invalid foods. This has been found preferable to sending similar articles to individual prisoners. The cablegram stated also that it was unnecessary and undesirable that prisoners should write either to New Zealand or London for individual parcels. New Zealand prisoners now total 6144 official and 12 unofficial.