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Defence Services Provision Office Daring the year a total of 383,475 packages of a value of £4,892,537 was shipped overseas, comprising articles manufactured locally against orders placed by Eastern Group Supply Council and articles accepted by War Office from surplus holdings of the Services in New Zealand. Storage space for Provision Office has been reduced from 124,800 square feet to 84,000 square feet. Rations and Supplies The rations issued to troops in New Zealand for the year totalled 2,871,796, the average cost being Is. 9-545 d. per daily ration, an increase of per ration on the last report. The rations issued to Japanese prisoners of war totalled 219,451, at a cost of £14,676 3s. Bd. averaging Is. 4d-05d. per daily ration, an increase of Id. per ration. The rations issued to Polish refugees at Pahiatua totalled 28,311 at a cost of £24,827 4s. 4d., an average of Is. 8-66 d. per daily ration. Supplies shipped overseas totalled £61,504 16s. 5d., of which £58,009 has been paid for by Fiji Government. In addition, shipments of goods for sale in New Zealand Forces clubs have been made on behalf of the National Patriotic Fund Board, totalling for the year £157,123 lis. 3d. Foodstuffs imported consisted entirely of dried and tinned fruit and rice to a value of £7,209 12s. 2d. Surplus supplies of canned meat, vegetables, and candles were disposed of to United States Joint Purchasing Board, Government Departments, merchants, and for provisioning troopships, to a value of £16,247 12s. 9d. The consumption of petrol in New Zealand for the year was 1,005,061 gallons, a reduction of nearly 500,000 gallons on the previous year. Other fuel consumed in camps was — Coal .. .. .. .. .. 10,426 tons. Coke .. .. .. .. .. 2,266 tons. Wood .. .. .. .. .. 3,036 tons. Movements Movements conducted 39 embarkations, totalling 4,262 personnel, and 88 disembarkations, totalling 41,706 personnel, for the year. Sick and wounded disembarked from hospital ships totalled 2,149 for the year. Army personnel moved by air to and from destinations outside New Zealand were 435 outward and 1,128 inward passengers. Japanese prisoners of war, totalling 803, were embarked for Japan on 30th December, 1945. New Zealand Railways provided 907 special troop trains and transported 452,650 military personnel booked through Railway Transport Officers on ordinary trains. One hundred and ninety-five ambulance cars were provided for sick and wounded personnel. The inter-Island steamer express carried — To Lyttelton .. .. .. .. .. 41,009 To Wellington .. .. .. .. 22,386 Passages allotted to civilian personnel totalled 7,064 for various overseas destinations, and included 600 wives and 130 children of United States servicemen. The figure is an increase of 3,706 over the previous year's figures. Cargo shipped on behalf of Defence Services Provision Office, Marketing Department, National Patriotic Fund Board, Canteen Board, UNRRA, &c., totalled 119,280-5 tons measurement. Air freight totalling 3,237 lb. was despatched to various destinations.

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