Clothing And Footwear Wanted For Displaced Persons At Pahiatua

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 July 1949, Page 4

Clothing And Footwear Wanted For Displaced Persons At Pahiatua

Speaking at a reception given in her honour by the executive of the Wanganui Red Cross- Miss Pamela Paterson, Wellington, director of the Junior Red Cross in New Zealand, said she had just come from the Pahiatua camp and wished to make an appeal for clothing and footwear for the displaced persons in the camp. “People who have seen photos in papers taken of these people say, ‘Oh, they all look well dressed.’ ” said Miss Paterson. But this was far from the case. Displaced persons were anxious to look neat and well dressed. There were very few good clothes among them. In fact, it takes six people to make a trip to town. By that She said she meant that only one of the six would be able to be decently dressed to go out. and the other five would have to stay at home. Those who crowded to the rails on the ship when it arrived were clad in the only good clothes and shoes, while others kept in the background, In camp it was commonplace to hear a boy say in his broken English: “Tomorrow I go to bed while the clothes get a wash.” “These people have no change o* clothing and this is urgently needed, especially in the rainy weather,” said Miss Paterson. If all could have been with her at the camp they would have been impressed with the way these people looked to the Red Cross.

A charming tribute paid to New Zealand by one in the camp was from a young girl who had been separated from her family. She told Miss Paterson that she was going to America to study (with a bursary), but that would have meant that she could not take her parents, so she did not go. New Zealand said she could bring her mother and father with her. She thought this a wonderful gesture. Clothing and shoes were urgently needed in the camp, especially shoes (not sandals).