WHERE IT GOES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 87, 6 July 1943, Page 5

WHERE IT GOES

PATRIOTIC FUND MONEY 'VARIETY OF PURPOSES At the- meeting of the Otakiri Patriotic Committee the following information was read to members, showing the variety of uses to which monies from the Patriotic Fund were put. Some avenues of expenditure of Patriotic monies by the National t und Board included the following: I'or- the. month of November the Order of St. John in conjunction with the Red Cross, spent £2000 and the Y.M.C.A. £1580 on comforts for the troops in Egypt. Smaller sums"'were spent by the several other expending agents of the Board. The National Fund Board also meets the costs at! home and abroad,, of an entertainment service, a War Library Service and the provision of supplies of stationary (in New Zealand alone the. troops use a monthly average of 2,000,000 sheets of writing paper and 858,000 envelopes). These, together with the supply and distribution of Patriotic parcels, are only some of the many avenues of expenditure of Patriotic monies. Tlie troops perhaps do not always realise, nor does it appear to be generally known in the Dominion, that the patriotic organisation makes possible these very desirable services. The difficulty of contacting ,ail Jiiea. foivtlvQ' purpose of distributing parcels—as well as for other benefits—is still a big jiroblem, although reports from those oil the job and letters l'rom the men themselves, indicate that the efforts to reach them are being successful.

It will be readily understood, that because of; continual changes, this is a very difficult matter.. For example, the number of our men at Malta is constantly changing, so in

order to ensure each man getting

a patriotic parcel, the number sent was in excess of the number of men believed, lo be there, and our boys gave some that were over to the Australian 11. A. F. men who formed part of the same crews.