GIFTS FOR SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2593, 15 October 1915, Page 3

GIFTS FOR SOLDIERS

ESPECIAL CARE TAKEN. Instructions have been cabled by the Defence Minister to Colonel Rhodes to make spccial inquiries in Egypt into the allegations of non-delivery of letters and parcels to our men at the front in Ballipoli, and especially into the charges that large quantities of goods are being stolen,or otherwise lost in"transit.

Mr. Allen stated that very special care was to be taken to see that the Christmas gifts .sent forward'i in transports recently should reach the men i'or whom they were intended. There were some'6oo tons of these packages, aaid tho quartermaster who had sailed with the ship had been furnished with a completo inventory of the cases, and required to give a receipt for them. He had been instructed to. get a receipt for them when he handed tliem over in Egypt, and Mr. Allen' said that lie would instruct "Colonel Charters, commanding the New Zealand Base, to take every care to see that the goods were dispatched, and also to report as to iho receipt of the goods and his method of distribution. At the same time, Mr. Allen pointed out, it was impossible apparently to prevent thieving in Egypt. When the main body wore, on their way from Alexandria to Cairo they lost £2000 worth, of stuff, in spito of the fact that a. guard was put on the baggage.