BRITAIN GRATEFUL

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 March 1946, Page 9

BRITAIN GRATEFUL

DOMINION’S SUBSTANTIAL GIFT

OF FOOD

USIfS DECIDED BY MINISTER

(P.A.) .. WELLINGTON, March 20. The . Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) released to-day the text of a message received by him from Sir Ben Smith, Minister of Food in the United Kingdom, expressing thanks to the Government and people of New Zealand for the gift of £1,000,000 worth of foodstuffs made recently to the United Kingdom Government. The. message. is as follows:^.'‘l have been considering how to riiake the .best use of .the. gift of food .which, on behalf of. the New. Zealand ..GovA eminent, you made, to the United Kingdom Government during your recent visit, and I should like again to express our deep gratitude for this generous gesture. You were so good as to indicate that the foodstuffs would bo at our disposal for use where we think they will be needed. “The gift consists of a number of items. Certain of them we feel will be most useful in India, namely, whole milk powder, malted milk, and service-type biscuits. These we offered to "the Indian authorities, who accepted them with gratitude, and the necessary shipping arrangements are being put in hand. Part of the dehydrated vegetables will be needed in Malaya. “We feel it would be best for all the remaining items to be shipped to this country. Satisages, canned peas, canned tomatoes, and tomato puree, and possibly other items, will be a welcome addition to our food supplies in the United Kingdom, and will be valued, too, as one more token of New Zealand’s sympathy and helpfulness in a time of difficulty. “As regards the substantial quantity of processed vegetables, the wartime increase in production of potatoes and other fresh vegetables in the United Kingdom has been so great as to make additional supplies of most types of dehydrated or canned vegetables unnecessary for civilian con- 4 sumption. Arrangements are being made for most of the processed vegetables to be used for relieving distress in European countries. May I again, thank you most cordially for this gift and for the continued efforts of New Zealand to assist in overcoming a grave and world-wide shortage of food supplies, which I fear will continue to face us during these coming months.”

10,850 BAGS OF PARCELS

BULK FROM AUSTRALIA

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 21. The arrival at Avonmouth of the Port Line vessel Port Chalmers, which is due to leave Wellington tomorrow, will e an event of special importance to the people of Britain. In her holds she carries no fewer than 10,850 bags of personal food parcels, 10,00 of which are from Australia, and the remainder from New Zealand. It is not possible to estimate accurately how many parcels this cargo represents, but it will make a substantial contribution to the meagre rations of many thousans of British households.