PATRIOTIC EXPENDITURE

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22513, 23 November 1944, Page 8

PATRIOTIC EXPENDITURE

COMFORTS IN PACIFIC APPRECIATIVE REPORT (By Teiegrapu.—press Association) AUCKLAND, Wednesday Comment on the work of the National Patriotic organisation in the Pacific war zone is contained in a letter received by the Mayor, Mr J. A. C. Allum, from Pilot Officer K. L. Usmar, formerly secretary of the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council and at present a catering officer attached to the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Pacific. “The service given by the national patriotic organisation here is just what I had always hoped the patriotic organisation would give,” he says. “In my association with the movement in New Zealand I was forever encountering the criticism that the patriotic authority overseas was operating as a trading concern, and that our servicemen had to pay for amenities provided out of funds subscribed by the people of New Zealand. I am bound to say that he felt the criticism was justified. “Here, however, the policy is refreshingly different. ‘Nat Pat, as tne organisation is familiarly known, does attend to the needs without charge. An outstanding example is the morning and afternoon cup of tea and biscuits. One has to be m the tropics to know what that means. Tea has proved itself the best thirst-quencher in this climate. With the number of personnel concerned the cost over a year may amount to several thousand dollars, but whatever the monetary cost it is trifling comoared with what the expenditure produces.”