NOT FORGOTTEN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 17, 23 October 1942, Page 7

NOT FORGOTTEN

N.Z. FORCES IN BRITAIN

COM FO UTS PROV !,i)H I)

Now Zealand servicemen in or based on Great Britain, as well as New Zealand prisoners of Avar, continue to benefit from funds remitted from tliis country to London by the National Patriotic Fund Board. The Board is represented in Great Britain by the High Commissioner (Mir .lonian) and an advisory committee. Besides distributing parcels received from the Dominion and allocating expenditure for the welfare of New Zealand personnel in the services, the committee makes grants, from time to time for the relief of Avar distress. All the Avork is done most unostentatiously, but. reference lo the quarterly statements of accounts sent to the Patriotic* Fund. Board shows the great scope of the committee's activities. For the first quarter of this year expenditure by the committee totalled £13,4(55. T.n this period two remittances totalling £35,000 were made by the Board. Besides the New Zealanders in the Air Force and the Navy, Nbw Zealand is represented in Great Britain by a Forestry Unit. In the first three months of this year £177 7s lid Avas spent on this unit, the amount being made up as follows: Purchase ol' billiard tables £119 Is l.d, radio sets £27 Kis <Sd. electric irons £19 7s (id. books. £11 2s sd. The unit was also supplied with surgical equipTnent. J'rom the funds, and this cost £131. Because the sections of the unit are stationed 2n different parts of the country, the cost of providing amenities is greater than Avoukl be the case if the unit was stationed in one place. Sick and Wounded items of expenditure from the Sick and Wounded Account for the first quarter of this year included grants to- the Warbrook Convalescent Hospital and Cottage, where New Zcaland.crs: are accommodated, and a payment of £2(M) to the invalid comforts section of the British Red Cross in recognition of assistance given in the provision of invalid comforts, special food, etc., for Now Zealand prisoners of A\*ar who are invalids:.. The. total Red Cross expenditure from National Patriotic Funds in London to March 31 was £17,0(52. Expenditure from the prisoners of Avar account J'or the first three months of the present year totalled £9,25(5, including £5,407 for the purchase of clothing and £3,210 for tobacco and cigarettes. The purchase of radio sets, sports ami games equipment, gramophone records, and books accounted for an expenditure of £1(0 IDs from the New Zealand Navy Account. Among amounts spent on New Zealand airmen Avere £91 for sports and games equipment, and gramophone records, £68 to meet expenses incurred by the R.N.Z.A.F. Rugby team, and a grant of £15 towards the cost of extending a library at an Air Force station. Miscellaneous grants from the funds included £1,000 to the Dominions and Allied Services. Hospitality scheme. The rent of the New Zealand Forces Club in Charing Cros.s Road is also paid out of funds remitted to London. At times the Board's London committee acts as purchasing agent for recreation and other equipment required in the Dominion or in some other part overseas where New Zealand Forces are stationed. The accounts for the first three months of this year contained examples of this —£52 10s for sports goods shipped to Ncav Zealand and £22S*4s Gel for (5.0001 mugs and a tea urn for the Y.M.C.A. Although it is seldom in the limelight, it. Avill be appreciated from these items alone that the London committee is giving excellent service for the Ncav Zealand seiwicemen in its part of the world.