APPEAL FOR N.Z. SOLDIERS IN ENGLAND.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2938, 25 November 1916, Page 5

APPEAL FOR N.Z. SOLDIERS IN ENGLAND.

FROM A VOLUNTEER NURSING SISTER. A Wellington friend has received tho following letter from (Miss Clara Rogers, of Wellington, a member of tho New Zealand Volunteer Nursing Sisterhood. Although the request has come too lato for any parcels to reach England by Christmas, probably many readers will desiro to send winter comforts at the earliest opportunity :— "I must write you a few lines to toll you I am in London, and finding plenty of work to do. Canteens are tho order of the day, and it is hard to got sufficient helpers. The Y.M.C.A. Commissioners from New Zealand offered us the sole charge and management of a hut down in Codford, and took us down to view the land. _ The result was wo at once decided it was where we were needed, so on Tuesday we leave London to take up our work there. This hut is 150 ft. x 30ft., to. be furnished according to our own taste, and made as comfortable as possible, for the huts on Salisbury Plains are the only places where the boys can find amusement or break the monotony of camp life. Codford No. 11 Hut is fairly isolated. It is in the centre of a convalescent camp and officers' quarters, and a short way from a field hospital, and it is where we are to make "home" for the hoys. We have written to several, asking for Christmas gifts for those boys who have been in the firing line,.and as soon as they are well enough will return again to the front. We want to give them a New Zealand Christmas away from New Zealand, and so are asking for such things as socks, mittens, handkerchiefs, gloves, mufflers, cigarettes, pipes, etc., and all such things. Any soldier would rather have a present from home than- money or something bought here. Wo are asking . the senders to put a message in each gift, with their name and address, so that the receiver .can acknowledge tho things. Small parcels could be sent to me, care Mr. Hislop, Y.M.C.A. Headquarters, Tottenham Court Road, London, and he will forward. anything. That. is to remain our postal address; and send all mails now via 'Frisco. ' . '

"London is dull, cold, and miserable, and winter seems to have set in already. We Lad to put our warm clothing on as soon as we arrived. Now I look back at sunny Egypt with eyes of longing. We are'dying for mails, not having bad any for two months, so when they come wo shall have a feast. Please always tellme about boys wo know who arc sick, wounded, or Trilled, for wo can only place them- when we get the New Zealand papers! Hundreds and thousands of names como out daily in a long list in the papers hero, but we get 110 particulars. I have just seen my relatives for a few days, for we feel it is not timo to be sight-seoing at present. Holidays must wait."

Many Wellington friends aro desirous of holding a patriotic concert in the Town Hall early in December, the proceeds to bo cabled to Miss Rogers before Christmas, to provido "A' New Zealand Christmas'' for our soldiers who wiU bo'at No. 11 .Hut. When opening a hut at Codford on "August 25 last, the High Commissioner said: "In sofno quarters tliero is an idea that the men are being treated too well, but I consider that nothing that adds to their comfort and assists in making them fit again can bo consurcd in the least." A first-class programme is being arranged of local and_ military talent, all the performers giving their .services gratuitously. The first meeting, to make arrangements for the.concert, was held last evening at the Y.M.C.A., Mr. I!, A. Wright, M.P., presiding.