PATERIOTIC COMFORTS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 225, 22 August 1945, Page 6

PATERIOTIC COMFORTS

BOARD'S WORK APPRECIATED. "The funds of the National Patriotic Fund Board were used for providing amenities for the welfare of the troops of the New Zealand Division in the Middle East and Italy and the activities of the beard were not confined to just sending parcels to the men," stated Mr C. C. Marsack, the newly appointed Stipendiary Magistrate in Palmerston North, who recently returned to the Dominion after service in the Middle East and Italy, when proposing the toast of the National Patriotic Fund Board at the civic dinner to the returned men last evening. The board, Mr Marsack added, had acted as banker in providing the Cairo Forces Club and had also furnished the backing for some of the clubs in Italy. The 'latter clubs were nearly all selfsupporting. The board had provided the sports equipment used by the Division and the base units, and had also provided cigarettes, games and other amenities on transports. Mr Marsack said that the Overseas Commissioner of the board (Colonel F. Waite) was very energetic and moved quickly between Egypt and Italy and even Britain to see that the policy of the board was carried out to the best advantage of the men.

Touching on the transport difficulties experienced in Italy, Mr Marsack said that there were long lines of communications'. The main roads were blocked by snow and ice for some months of the year. Motor transport was used to carry the Patriotic Fund Board's amenities to the men, and this often meant a week's travel. "From time to time the members of the Forces exercised the right of criticism just as every citizen considered it his right to criticise. Unquestionably, the work of the board earned the appreciation of the Forces for the comforts provided in the field," concluded Mr Marsack.