CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2316, 25 November 1914, Page 6

CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR SAMOA

TONS OF PRESENTS. . ■ If the New Zealand troops now on service at Samoa do not, have a happy Christmas it will not be the, fault of their Wellington, friends or the Executive Committee of the Lady Liverpool Fund. When the committee offered to send along presents 'for the 1 troops free of cost,, they little thought what was ahead . ofi: them. -Not only was the Mayor's room half-filled .with boxes and packages of every description, hut the anti-room of the • Council, No. 2'Committee roOm, and the Council' Chamber iteelf was occupied yesterday by the packages that a!re to provide good cheer for the boys who garrison the isles of .the blest. -The horse-shoe table, round which the City Fathers are wont to deliberate, was laden with what our enemies sum up :as "delicatessen," made ,iip into little gaily-coloured mounds. ■ These are. the goods that are to be parcelled up neatly and sent to every man in the Samoan garrison, to whom some present is not being forwarded •by his relations and friends. Here is a.'sample parcel:—.: One plum pudding; packet of dates; packet of green'peas; tin 'of tomato I puree; tin of preserved fruit; bottle of 'shrimp or ham'and. veal paste; : one | "stick of liquorice; one bottle (or tin) of ! sweets. Reading thi6 list, one wonders to what depths of despondency, the troops will sink into after all the good things are gone, and only the thought of a past jolly Christmas remains ,to cheer them iu the trenches by reef and palm.