PRISONERS OF WAR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 15 October 1941, Page 8

PRISONERS OF WAR

DISPATCH OF PARCELS MAC 'll! NICKY IN OPERATION With the establishment of ofliees in the main centres, machinery designed to ensure that New Zealanders who are prisoners of war in Germany w ill receive their share of parcels is now in full operation. In each centre there is a Prisoners of War Inquiry Office attached to the New Zealand Red Cross and Order of St. John organisation, and this attends to the interests of prisoners in the matter of parcels. The latest figures show that 230 K New Zealanders have been notified as prisoners of war. Arranueim.Mil> have been made b\ this office for food parcels to be sen by the Canadian Red Cross for a pc riot of three or four months to Nc'v Zea landers until the food parcels packet in New Zealand can be expected U arrive at the prison camps. Fund: have already been cabled to the Canadian Red Cross, the cost of the parcels, excluding freight and insurance being about 15s to 16s in New Zealanc currency. These food parcels cannot be sent direct to any individual prisoner of war. They go into a pool of the Red Cross at Geneva, and the Internationa Red Cross sends them forward weekly. It is assumed that a proportion of the New Zealand parcels will eventually j reach New Zealanders. In any case, in j structions have been given to the Can- - adian Red Cross to place a card inside each food parcel stating that it has been ! contributed from New Zealand. Advice was received from Canada tocinv that the shipping of parcels had started this week So far as parcels in New Zealand are concerned, the Red Cross and St. John organisation here, in conjunction with the National Patriotic Fund Board, has I already purchased food that will be delivered in Wellington in the next few days. This consists of tinned goods—butter, cheese, coffee and milk, honey, i jam. meat, and vegetables. These will be packed by voluntary workers in Wellington, and arrangements will bo made . to send 3000 parcels each week. GOODS SENT TO CANADA Already on their way to Canada for repacking are the following: 21.000 tins of meat, 21.000 tins of butter. 21.000 tins of jam, 11.000 tins of coffee and milk, and one ton uf chocolate in half-pound bars. The food parcels packed in Canada weigh 111 b when ready for dispatch, and each contains lib of butter, jam, i biscuits, whole-milk powder, Ho/, of sal mon, dried apples, prunes, sugar, and eating chocolate. 12oz of corned beet. lOoz of pork and luncheon meat, 4oz each of cheese, sardines, or kippers, tea. salt, pepper, and soap, and seven vitamin tablets. Evidence to hand indicates that from the end of July parcels have been arriving regularly. Arrangements have i been made to forward such things as | games and books from England. i Next-of-kin of prisoners of war are Hot allowed tn send food, and no parted will be accepted by the Post .Office unless it has an official Red Cross label, one of which is sent to each family, along with instructions as to what to send and what not to send, iThis work is all done by the Inquiry Office, which lias a list of all the notified prisoners of war and their location. These next-of-kin parcels can be sent only once a quarter, and when a soldier receives one he signs an enclosed acknowledgment card, which is returned to New Zealand. ARRIVAL OF PARCELS Complaints have been made that parcels are not reaching the prisoners of war. In this connection the British Red Cross Prisoners of War Department announces that during the period Ist to 15th July acknowledgments from prison camps were received for 715,868 food parcels, 3120 tobacco parcels, and 25 medical parcels. Dispatched from Geneva in this period were 102.304 food parcels, plus 18.436 food parcels from Canada. 5974 tobacco parcels, and 93d medical parcels. Remaining on hand in Geneva were 371,417 food parcels. 33,663 tobacco parcels, and 20,130 medical parcels. The following extract from a letter written by a British prisoner from a German prison camp, dated 22nd April, is of interest:—"l am sending you a few figures of parcels received for our slalag. I can vouch for these figures, as all parcels pass tiirough my hands. Approximately 80,000 general food parcels and 15,000 personal, clothing, and games have arrived to date Taking us as 8000 men, I consider this a fair CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO A cable just received from the authorities in Britain advises that large supplies of cigarettes and tobacco arc stored at Geneva, from which British prisoners, including New Zealanders, received a weekly issue. Arrangements are well in hand here to forward all cigarettes and tobacec from New Zealand to New Zealand prisoners, and endeavours will be made to ensure that New Zealanders will receive New Zealand brands.