OUR WOUNDED.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14284, 13 December 1916, Page 2

OUR WOUNDED.

NEW ZEAL/^NDERS IN ENGLAND/!

(From a Correspondent.)

London, OcL. 10. ■ There are never any Nc;\v Zeabnders in tho Unitod Kingdom who are quite without friends for long, for the hospitality of tho British people has never allowed our men to feel like strangers for long. Most of them aro "adopted" in a more or less casual manner by visiting ladies who happen to meet them in tho wards; and they rarely want seriously for any comforts. It is tho business of tho New ZeaJand War J I Contingent Association to sco that they 'don't, and that this chance of nospi-i ! tolity is made a certaim.y. The association has moro than 160 visitois, Who are mostly Now Zealand ladies, and thoy" call regularly at military hospitals j throughout the British Isles wherever there are any Now Zealand patients in the wards. Where thero are, they are visited regularly, supplied with newspapersl, and smokes, writing material and any small comforts which they require, such as shaving kit, tooth brushes, soap, stationery, etc. In tlu; case, of patients who are confined to bed they also get a regular supply of fruit, cream, etc. This attention continues untilthe men aro discharged well and fit. Any single month's report of the Visiting Committee of the War Contingent Association will show how widespread' the work is and what the organisation means. 7n August—before tlio capture of Flers —there were 1938 New Zealand wounded in the United Kingdom. Most of them wero concentrated hi;the New Zealand hospitals at Bi ockenhurst, Walton, Codford and Hornchurch; but the problem was the remaining 582, who were scattered over 110 hospitals as far apart as Dundee in tho north and Netley in tho south. Yet every one of those, thanks to tho organisation of the War Contingent Association, was regularly visited, supplied with necessary comforts and reported to the head office. There, each case'is recorded by card index, with every visit and requisition and tho progress of the cure.

ABOUT CIGARETTES. Iho soldier's "fag" has become so I well recognised a weakness tluvt it j takes a bold man to attack it on the giound that smoking is injurious to j health. Yet sucli a man has now t arisen. Most people will be quite ready to believe 'that unlimited cigarette smoking is,, detrimental to the health of men in the trenches—• j .where life is semi-sedentary—but par- | ticularly of hospital' patients. One of | the legular activities of the War Contingent Association >s th& distribution of smokes through its visitors to New Zealanders in British hospitals. The 'allowance is limited to 40 cigarettes per week. Medical opinion hero and there says that this is too mmh, but the hospital regulations often do not restrict smoking at all. Everybody knows the soldier is attached to his fag and that no amount of regulation can keep, him from it. I have known j a hospital patient spend as much as 110s a week on additional smokes. If there was an average of 2000 New Zealand soldiers in hospital and convalescent camp, the bill of the association for the modicum of 40 fags per week would run to more than £5000 per year. As a matter of fact it is possible by getting them in bond to save a eood deal of this sum.

TIRED NURSES. With two or three hundred nurses on I service—most of them . now in England—there was an obvious need of some provision for occasional rest and convalescence for them.if they were to keep fit and strong. This has been met by a very generous offer front'Mr Astor to place at the disposal of the War Contingent Association his fine home at Rest Harrow, near Sandwich Miss Tombe (Dunedin), who was the first matron of the New Zealand Hospital at Walton-on-Thames, has been appointed to have chargo of the new home and already several of our nurses requiring rest havo spent a few weeks there with much benefit. Though nurses of the New: Zealand Expeditionary Force'will iget." preference in case the accommodation is overtaxed, the home will be open to any New Zealand nurse on duty in England.

THE. SOLDIERS' HOSTEL. • "I always stay at the New Zealand hostel in Russell Square,'.' wrote a trooper to me the other day, quite unsolicited; "1 think it is an" ideal placo for our soldiers to stay at." This refers to the residential club which has just been opened in Bloomsbury. Anyone who knows anything of his London —or any yreat city for that matterwill appreciate what this sort of place means to a young man in a strange land. The path of the soldier on leave is beset with dangers, and ho would bo a very smart sort of man -who did not fall into any-of the traps set .with' diligent, care try entrap our soldiers and their money. "War conditions favour the harpy, and 'sponger, and consequent - ly, ever since our men went to France, members'"-of the War Contingent Association have met the leave trains

j' arriving ,in London and taken in I : hand those of our boys wlu> werp new1 |to London and could do with advice. ■_ A they- want a bed they are taken to . the hostel in Russell Square. At any £ rate they, can always go there for cheap; j i good food cooked by JS"ew Zealand' y _ j ladies, for billiards 'and all the conveniences of a rendezvous. At any| t:nu' of the night they can not warn; I meals cooked and served b-y X» w Ze<i- >, landers. Mr Arthur Russell, who is ' about to pay a visit to New Zealand, is ' chairman of the Hostel Committee, and j, Mr R. H. Nolan (Tiawera) has been. * throughout a most capable and thorough! i organiser. | ' Sir James Mills, chairman of the Finance' Committee of tho War Con-. tingent Association—a watchdog for the t> subscribers—left London this week on j a visit to New Zealand, where ho will; 2 be able 'to give fist hand information j p|-"-.to what the association has been! ? J doing. The High Commissioner (who'is! \\ chairman of the association) gave k I '\ farewell luncheon to Sir James and to , |Mi and Mrs Arthur Russell, who are .•leaving in November to spend tho winjtcr in New Zealand. Mrs Russell, as; honorary treasurer of the Visiting! . Committee, was one of the most capablo j _ I organisers in the early days and* also c j did excellent service as buyer at a time 4 ;vhon "irtiyinu: was inoso difficult anj im- ; prrtanfc work. Mr J. H. 33. Coates, | '. tho vice-chairman, will pyosido over tho Finance Comniittoo during Sir .lames | Mills's absence,' Miss Ida, Rur^eil has joined the Visiting Committoo rnrl I\?rj Cac-oia Birch (Rangitilfei) haf: consent-' t ed to become honorary organisei 1o iho ,■ association, a */erv necessary po?t where' !; the work of so many committees has to' ,; be co-ordinated.- ---! ENTERTAINMENT. I In August the,,> War Contingent Asso-' dation arranger]' Theatres for 779 soldiers and drives for 229—the theatre tickets being nearly all/jiivon free by the managers.-"'lt "is hardly nccossaryt ito say that considering how many mcii , j wei-e thep in and' about London th:s did > nqfc.,ontail execssivo expenditure. "Over ; indulgence / irl," , pleasure-giving" is a ! bogey frequently held up as/a \vrj-riim» ,Lo wclfaro associations. Siil-jcrc to the.

appro\al of-.the patiiotic Jeagries in New Zealand &' Cliristmas gift will be given to all members? of the Now Zealand Expeditionary Force at a cost not exceeding one shilling per head. ;it wilt probably ho a -small pocket bookv.s last year, containing special information of service to the men.