COMFORTS FOR TROOPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 24000, 25 June 1941, Page 6

COMFORTS FOR TROOPS

CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO

GIFTS SOLD BY MISTAKE

[BY TEIjEGB ath —rHESS association] WELLINGTON, Tuesday

The National Patriotic Fund Board has sent to the Middle East a large quantity of cigarettes and tobacco, some for free distribution and some for sale in the New Zealand Forces Club at Cairo. It appears, unfortunately, that some of the cigarettes and tobacco in one shipment intended for free distribution were delivered to and sold in the club and in the Y.M.C.A. forward institutions. Mr. G. A. Harden, secretary of the board, said to-day that advice to this effect had been received by the board. Although, said Mr. Harden, it was most unfortunate that this mistake should have occurred, the balance had been restored to some extent by the fact that some of the tobacco and cigarettes intended for sale had been actually distributed free. The only difference between the two categories was that with free cigarettes and tobacco there was a card advising the soldier that they were given with the compliments of the people of New Zealand. A further fact was that, although some free distribution cigarettes and tobacco had been sold in error, receipts from sales remained in the patriotic fund and would bo used for the benefit of the New Zealand forces in the Middle East.

While it was to be regretted that this mistake in some way had been made in Egypt, Mr. Harden added, it had to be realised that, lately the work there had to be carried out under exceptional difficulties. This had been indicated by Lieutenant-Colonel E. Waite, the board's commissioner, in a recent despatch.