BEER FOR TROOPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23994, 18 June 1941, Page 6

BEER FOR TROOPS

SPACE ON VESSELS NO FOOD SHUT OUT ; OFFICIAL ASSURANCE [BY TELEGRAPH —FHESS ASSOCIATION"! WELLINGTON, Tuesday A definite assurance has been received officially by the National Patriotic Fund Board that no foodstuffs of any kind have been shut out of transport ships to make space for beer for troops. * The board has been advised that all food requirements of New Zealand forces overseas are given priority of loading. The sending of beer to troops has nothing to do with the National Patriotic Fund or provincial patriotic councils, being purely a private matter between brewery companies and the canteen authorities in Egypt, but at a recent conference of patriotic bodies in Wellington the matter was discussed from the angle of whether beer was shipped to the exclusion of foodstuffs. Mrs. J. Hargest, wife of Brigadier largest, was one who was prominent in the discussion and she asked for an investigation to be made into the position. Mr. G. Hayden, secretary to the board, stated this afternoon that inquiry had been made. Official advieo had been received that foodstuffs canio first and that no foodstuffs had been shut out on transport ships to mako way for beer. He reiterated that boor was not sent by the board or provincial patriotic councils, but was ordered by overseas canteens from breweries in New Zealand.