BUTTER-FOR TROOPS IN EGYPT

Camp News, Volume 2, Issue 57, 24 January 1941, Page 6

BUTTER-FOR TROOPS IN EGYPT

New Zealand Product A Pleasant Surprise

PRECEDED BY IRISH AND INDIAN

In a letter to a Palmerston North man written by a former Palmerston man who, is now a member of the Second N.Z E.F. in Egypt, some interesting comments are made concerning supplies of butter for the troops. The letter says:—

“For our first meal after leaving New Zealand's shores we were served, not with our own Dominion butter, but with “the product of Eire.” Then, after Bombay. it was Indian butter packed in pound tins. In our base camp here we have been served with the Australian product and? latterly, while we have" been away from base camp, it has been margarine and very little of it. But yesterday we had a pleasant surprise; in fact we had two. one being the arrival of our first Nqyv Zealand mail. The ration, lorry arrived and I was deputed, among others, to assist in unloading it. The quartermaster was looking for the margarine,-but there was none to be found. In its place, however, was a box of butter. I looked for the brand and there it was, ‘Longburn.' It was like a gift from the gods. Even tlje Taranaki chaps -had to admit that they had never tasted better, and the flies, showing good judgment, made a redletter day of it as well. Out in the desert here, with sand everywhere, it was really great to sample a product of the evergreen fields of the Manawatu. The butter opened wonderfully well and was easily the best we -have tasted since leaving

“We have settled down to our' desert life quite well and have already become acclimatized. We were fortunate in arriving with the approach of winter and already the weather is much cooler. We have found it necessary to wear .cardigans in the late afternoons; yet the temperature is over 80 in the shade.

“Our company, in which there is a big percentage of Palmerston North men, is a very happy family,. I can recall th£ wealth of tradition established by the original regiment, and' I have happy recollections of attending many reunions, in Palmerston North. We feel tha_t we have a responsibility in maintaining those traditions unsullied ami untarnished, and already we look forward to the day when we. too. shall (God willing) reunite round the festive board in Palmerston North.”