AMERICAN GIFT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 June 1941, Page 4

AMERICAN GIFT

FIVE AMBULANCES HANDED OVER GOVERNMENT’S THANKS Wellington, This Day. Five army ambulances from the United States of America were formally handed over to the Government yesterday by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, as chairman of the National Patriotic Fund Board. They were labelled, “British American Ambulance Corps in co-operation with the Anzac War Relief Fund, New York,” and Sir Cyril handed the bills of lading to the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr Nash. The ambulances represented yet another act of generosity from the great American nation which had helped the British Commonwealth so much in so many directions, his Excellency said. The ambulances were contributed through the Anzac War Relief Fund in New York and the British American Ambulance Corps, and as 15 had already been received those he was handing over made a total of 20. The five ambulances were the “Women 'Hockey Players’ Ambulance No. 2,” “In Memory of Margaret, R., and J. W. Thompson Hadlyme,” “Mr and Mrs ; Hugh M. Johnson,” “Carlisle—given by Reginald Steele,” and one given by the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel, Inr„ ■ U.S.A. The National Patriotic Fund Board wished to convey thanks to these donors, his Excellency said, as they had made a magnificent contribution «o the Commonwealth. Expressing the thanks of the Government and the people of New Zealand. Mr Nash referred to the magnificent work the organisations in Am- | erica responsible for the gift were doI ing. They had supplied cigarettes and : other gifts to the troops in the Near j East, he said, had furnished the New | Zealand Forces Club in Cairo, and had | given 45 ambulances to Australia. They | had also said that if there was anyj thing that could not be supplied to the troops from New Zealand and they could get it they would be glad to supply it. Their attitude typified what America was doing in the larger sense. | ! -U P A