GIFTS FOR THE TROOPS.

Marlborough Express, Volume L, Issue 62, 14 March 1916, Page 2

GIFTS FOR THE TROOPS.

- . . O : CLOTHING AND SOCKS NOT WANTED.

CIGARETTE TOBACCO AND SWEETS APPRECIATED.

A Christchurch soldier, writing to his parents from the ■ camp at Zeitun, under date January 6th, makes it clear what gifts arc appreciated/ and what are not. He says:— It is very good of you to send so many parcels, but please do not send any more clothing or socks. We get an ample issue, and practically everybody who sends parcels sends socks. I have had to start giving them away lately, and even that is not an easy job, as the majority seem to be in ] the same fix. We have been getting regular New Zealand winter weather lately, and you can tell I much appreciate her mittens. They have been most useful, but 1 do not require j any more at present, as I have two pairs and a pair of gloves in liana | now. Regarding parcels, the two things most appreciated are tobacco and sweets of any sort. Tobacco, because Virginian cigarette tobacco is very I hard to obtain here (a fellow usually uses light pipe tobacco, but it is not a success), and sweets to make up the deficiency in sugar of the Army rations. I don't mean that we are not well fed, because we really have not much cause to growl, but the average colouial is used to about double the quantity of sugar. The dried' milk came in very handy, as wi: make supper or a drink of tea or cocoa on cold or wet nights. (We have had "some"' rain for Egypt lately). It is better for carrying than ordinary condensed milk, as you can 6 close the tin again. Still, it is hardly worth sending, as that is one of the things we can obtain here. Tak- [ ing it on the whole, ths best parcels i are small ones that come by letter post, like your last socks, etc. Bnfc please do not register them. Here it is all right, but once away from here it may cause delay. Ordinary letters come straight through. Registered letters are detained at Base P. 0., and have to be personally called for, and you might not see the base for a week or two after receiving notice to call for a letter. Bigger parcels take considerably longer to com© through, but on the whole thy mail advice, if slow, is reliable. ,When I last wrote we were all packed up and ready to move in half an hour, for an unknown destination, but , didn't shift, and now expect to move within a week for an unknown destination ; Canal zone, 1 expect. Anyway, we have plenty of grounds for rumor; Canal, Tripoli, Salonica, Persian Gulf, etc. Tint at this game you

get an hour to pack up and shift with ?io earthly idea of where you arc going to pull up. In any future parcejs, please do not send cigarettes (made up), hut send cigarette tobacco. You see, a fellow smokes on an average twenty a day, ro if you send made-up cigarettes like your last parcel—forty yellow, or two days' supply—it costs 2s. The same money for tobacco would last a full week, which is a big difference, especially as by the time you receive this I expect to be actually somewhere near the firing line. Of course, as soon as wo actually get in action they issue cigarettes (very few pipes smoked) with your rations, average about 45 a week, so there's always a shortage.. But that's enough about parcels, which seen? all this letter is composed of, but there is very little thai we can write about. Nothing ever happens that would be of any [ interest .to you (you would need to I know the fellows to see the point of the jokes). You may * c interested to knowthat so far I know nobody who got any Christmas gifts subscribed in New Zealand, except some of the Aucklanders. We got thirty billies to be divided among the forty odd Auckland' men in our column. T missed. No other gifts have arrived to my knowledge. The billies, however, were a happy thought, and much appreciated. T see- that s there is a movement on foot not to send billies in future, as they waste space, and are hard to pack. All regulations regarding parcels at this end bar square packages, and recommend round ones, and the billy fits the bill. A billy (not bigger than one gallon) is about as useful an article as a fellow could wish for here, especially in the artillery, where you can always stow nnp on a. limitm* ny

ammunition waggon, and so transport it. Youj'can always boil it, even if there is no firewood. -Where there's horses there's always a forge and coal, and five minutes on a forge .will boil any billy. I don't say it's positively good for the billy, but a hot drink on picket is something to look forward! to.