RETURNING MEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25021, 11 October 1944, Page 6

RETURNING MEN

RECEPTIONS EN KOUTE FACILITIES IN AUSTRALIA (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Tuesday One of the objects of the visit to Australia recently of Mr G. A. Hayden, secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board, was to make arrangements for the reception of New Zealand troops returning to the Dominion via Australian ports under the scheme for the replacement of long-service personnel of the Second New Zealand Division. He also discussed the question of improved methods of supplying comforts to Air Force personnel in the Pacific. Interviewed today, Mr Hayden paid a tribute to the work being done by the New Zealand Association, the New Zealand War Auxiliary unit and the New Zealand sub-branch of the Returned Soldiers and Sailors' Imperial League of Australia in Sydney. These bodies arranged functions for all returning troops and drew as required on the New Zealand Patriotic Funds for certain expenses, such as were incurred, for instance, in scenic drives through Sydney and its environs. In addition the New Zealand Government provided a basement in Martin Place, Sydney, which had been equipped as a clubroom and staffed by New Zealand women volunteers. * Arrangements had now been made for an association to be established in Melbourne and the opening of a clubroom. This would not compete in any way with the clubs conducted by the Australian Comforts Fund, but would be complementary to them. It would be a club which New Zealand personnel would be able to call their own. Similar arrangements would also probably be necessary at Perth. That question was being inquired into by the High Commissioner for New Zealand at Canberra Mr Bnrclay, and the New Zealand Supply oflicer at Melbourne, Mr J. A. Malcolm. The Australian Comforts Fund, a similar organisation to the New Zealand Patriotic Board, was ablv^ assisting in the entertainment of New Zealand troops. Facilities provided for Australians at both Melbourne and Sydney were also available to New Zealanders. A booklet or a folder is to be provided for distribution to returning men while in Australia. , OLT7B IN CALCUTTA FACILITIES FOR ANZACS KANDY, Oct. 9 An Anzao welfare centre in Calcutta, which is a residential club for New Zealand and Australian servicemen, was opened bv the Governor of Bengal, Mr R. G. Ca sev. The club, which has been organised f>y New Zealand and Australian residents in Calcutta, will provide a leave and transit centre for Anzacs in the Bengal-Burma area, most of whom are airmen. Financial assistance is shared by the New Zealand Patriotic, Fund and the Australian Comforts Fund. Guests at the opening included MajorGeneral Sir Iven Mackay, Australian High Commissioner, who said the club would help to bring Australians and New Zealanders even closer together. PSYCHIATRIC WARD NEED IN AUCKLAND PROVISION FOR SERVICEMEN An assurance that the Auckland Hospital Board would provide facilities for an adequate psychiatric ward in the event of the hoard taking over control of the American hospital in Green Lane or the Middlemore Hospital, or both, was sought by the Director-General of Health, Dr M. H. Watt, in a letter received by the board. "As the board is aware, the present psychiatric ward at Auckland is most unsatisfactory," stated the letter. "The Auckland City Council recently made representations to the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, as»to the necessity for providing observation wards in the city for men of the armed forces. In order that a reply may be sent to the council, I would be "pleased to have your assurance that the board will provide the facilities as soon as one or other of the above-mentioned hospitals is taken over." Mr Selwyn Morris said the present psychriatic wards at the Auckland Hospital should be condemned. Something should be done for soldiers needing psychiatric treatment, and, if the Government or the Army would not do it, the board would have to undertake the responsibility. It was decided to advise the DirectorGeneral that the board appreciated the need for such accommodation, and would keep the matter in mind in its planning arrangements. STUDENTS' PRANK UNORTHODOX CROSSING An unorthodox pedestrian crossing was painted across Princes Street from Auckland University College to Albert Park early yesterday morning in what is believed to have been a typical students' comment on the City Council's proposed diversion of Grey's Avenue. The painting is fairly accurate work and must have taken a considerable time. The crossing begins outside the main doors of the University and winds in an elongated S-slmpe to the park entrance. Cross-bars have been painted in. Final touches included the borrowing of a noparking sign and the painting of warning lines on the roadway on either side. These are surmounted by the caption "Beware, Varsity," and elsewhere the authors have inscribed "Wait for the officers's signal," and a speed limit. "5 M.P.H." OIL ON HARBOUR Black patches of thick oil polluted the harbour yesterday. Ships' sides, wharves, embankments ana beaches were smeared with the grease and Harbour Board men were employed under and around the wharves mopping up the oil with sacks and bagging. The strong south-westerly wind quickly extended the oil patches all over the harbour. The harbourmaster, Captain H. H. Sergeant, said last night that he had not been able to establish which was the guilty ship. A prosecution was pending for a previous offence by another ship which would shortly be returning to Auckland.