GIFTS DEPOT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 202, 21 August 1940, Page 7

GIFTS DEPOT

COMFORTS FOR TROOPS RECEIVING AND SENDING 1!' a patriotic organisation is. to really effective and successful not only must it continue to have ;hc goodwill and support of the community but the organisation itself must see to it that continuity )!' supplies of comforts for the light ing services is preserved. This does lot allow for any slackening of ef'ort; on' the contrary * the amount of work and responsibility involved md: the volume of comforts required .is growing, all the time. Throjghout the country, ever since the ieparture of the Second Echelon, , preparations have been in hand for he building up of further large ;tocks of goods, which pass from :ime to time through the National Patriotic Fund Board's gifts depot n Wellington, the clearing centre or the Dominion. The provision of gift parcels (uniddressed gift parcels) and the pack ng and despatch of them has been l big job on its own, for New Zeaand now Has two Echelons overseas md the idea is to collect sufficient parcels of comforts to enable one ;o be given to each man. This Es vhat is official ly known as the Naional Patriotic Fund Board's "uniddressedi gift parcels scheme.'* It vas designed to ensure that every nember of the N.Z.E.F. overseas revives something from this country rom time to time. Unfortunately, ho First Echelon in Egypt, owing o the destination of the ships in vhicii they were carried being changed after departure from New Zealand. The Second Echelon got hose parcels, but since then it has jeerr possible for the National Pat.iotie Fundi Board to send a fresh iupply of parcels for the First Schelon, Altogether since the Second Eche on left the Dominion 1474 cases of comforts have been cleared from :he board's gifts store in Wellingon. This total comprised 1359 cases if gift parcels,, each case containng about 10 parcels, 1G cases of nalt, 13 cases of woollen goods and 0(5 cases of fruit cake. Besides this arge quantity of goods the S£o*re las also dealt with further supdies. Some of the gift parcels received from outside centres have •seen packed in cases that have been too large. They must be in boxes Hie size of kerosene cases, and because some districts have sent tlicir parcels to Wellington in large cases involving the unpacking and repack ing of the contents this has added to the amount of work that has iad to be done. Expert packers from various firms help to lighten !he work in this connection from time to time. They give their services voluntarily and] when thdy are on the job they certainly do make high piles of unpacked parcels disappear. Recently at night six packers from one Wellington firm boxed and wired over 900 parcels in an hour and a quarter. They got them into 92. cases. In addition to its big store, the board has storage space in the old Wellington Central Library Building, and there the final touches are pnt to the packing of all the woollen goods, sucli as balaclavas, scarves and mittens. To protect these articles from attack by insect pests they arc put into tinlined cases, and when the goods are packed the lining is sealed d'own right around the top before the wooden box is nailed up. These cases hold a considerable quantity of goods, anything from 24 to 27 dozen mittens, for instance. Providing for large numbers of men in the way the National Patriotic Fund Board andi the provincial patriotic councils are doing is certainly a big scale job, involving not only a considerable amount of work but also much thought and organisation. Without the assistance that has been given so readily thro ughout the country, notably by the women, it would be impossible of achievement. The National Patriotic Fund Board is grateful for that help and knows that in its to do the very best for the men of the services it can count on a con-< tinuance of that support.