VAGARIES OF MAIN FOR A.I.F.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 20 March 1940, Page 3

VAGARIES OF MAIN FOR A.I.F.

Svdnev Suni.

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JERUSALEM, March 12. In chavge of thc A.I.F. post ofliee at the eamp in Palestine, Captain Claude Hadley has not received a single letter, although he has been advised by cable that his wife has written to him every week since he left Australia. He is therefore qualified to use the ironical "You're tellin' me" reply to anyone who lodges complaints about delays in mail deliveries. iSuch eomplaints are miid compared with the experience of one of the highest Australian ofncers. His 15-year-old son lodged a eablegram in Sydney on January 25th, telling his father that hc had passed the intermediate examination. It was delivered on February 28, having apparently been sent by air | mail from Sydney. Cantedn Profits. Profits from canteens, at present totalling about £200 sterling a week, will, in future, be applied to obtaining comforts for the Australian troops. This is the result of tfte taking over cf the canteens in thc Australian camps on Friday by the Australian Army Canteen Institute. There are eight canteens at present and another will be open next week. The tuvnover in the two and a half weeks since the Australians arrived has been £12,500 sterling, of which £500 was profit. Direction of canteens will be exercised by a board. consisting of a number of ofiicers. The canteens are retaining their present eivilian staffs. with a sergeant managing each. Australian beer, tobacco, jam and tinned fruit will be available in addition to existing stoeks, valued at'£20,000 sterling. Australian beer will cost about lld sterling a bottle, eigarettes 3d for 10 and 6d for 20. Polish Airmen. The leader of 10 Polish airmen who arrived in Jerusalem after a hazardous journey of thousands of miles, told me that Germany' s Air Force on its showing in Poland was far less formidable than the Nazi's boasts suggest. He said that the personnel seemed very .effieient and very eourageous btit, the machines were not nearly equal to the best types of modern service planes in nse in some other countries. "The Messersehmitts are faster than the Polish fighters while flying on a straight course," he added, "but they are' not handy in a combat when quick manoeuvring is necessary." The Poles were the guests of honour at a .cocktail party given by the British officers to which a number of Australian officers were invited. Their spokesman was a colonel, who desired to remain anonymous. He told me, through an interpreter a -thrilling story of his eseape from an internment eamp in Rumania, and of his journey . to the Middle East, but asked that the details be not published.