RED TRIANGLE DAY APPEAL
NEEDS OF THE FIGHTING MEN A meeting called by the Mayoress (Sirs. J. P. Luke) for the purpose of forming a committee to assist the Red Triangle Dav Appeal tor Y.M.C.A. AYar Service Funds, was held in tho Concert Chamber of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon. Among those who were present were: Mrs. AV. F. Massev, Lady AVard, Major E. J. Ilulbert, StnftCaptain of the New Zealand Mounted Division ill Palestine (who later on addressed tho meeting). Mr. George, Mr. A. Varney, and Mr. C. M- Luke. In opening the meeting Mrs. Luke spoke of the great work which was being doiio for our soldiers by the Y.M.C.A., and added that tlus appeal which was being made was an extra call for funds. It was hoped to raiso £1 for every New Zealand soldier engaged in this campaign. Tho Y.M.C.A. had power to do much for our men, and every woman felt that it was indeed a real friend to their boys. It was for everyone at home to see that tliis organisation did not lack tlio ammunition that was necessary to provide comforts for our soldiers. To help was indeed a privilege. Mr. George said that' this appeal was a very necessary one in view of tho fact that the Allies could not accept Germany's peace terms. To accept them would be to give up some of our most important outposts of Empire, and so it was that the war must still go on, and our soldiers must face .a further time of privation, hardship, shortage of food, discomfort, sickness, and wounds. It was part of tho work of tho Y.M.C.A. to lighten tbeso hardships as much as possible by supplying comforts which the men could not get from England in this time of shortage. As it was, the Y.M.C.A. spent £9000 a month for tho benefit of the men, and they had now about £35,000 in hand. In view of the continuation of the war. a sum of at least £100,000 was , wanted to sec them through tho next twelve months. This was to cover the whole of the work of the Y.M.C.A., in which was included provision for the men on troopships, provision for the hostels at home, tho needs in tho camps and the front-line trenches, etc. Tho whole of the work was carried on most economically so that it worked out at a penny per day per man expenditure. This low rate of expenditure was very largely oiling to the splendid work of the women at Home,, who gave thrfir services voluntarily.
Major Hulbort. who was asked to address the meeting, told his audience that.as.'staff-captain.to the Now. Zealand'Mouuted Division in Palestine, tho gift goods came under h's jurisdiction, and he could- speak with knowledge of what was done with them. Refer-' ring to tho Y.M.C.A. work for tho soldiers in Palestine, Major Hulbert told his audience that Mr.Telvin,' who was the Y.M.C.A. field secretary, became .attached to the Mounted Field Ambluance, and went with the brigade wherever it went, from El Arish onwards. His co-operation with the brigade canteen (dry) was of the greatest service, and he also devoted himself to the distribution of comforts, and arranged for the entertainment of the men in various ways. The fact that the Y.M.O.A. coupons had been made redeemable at tin's canteen was another thins; that was of great porvice to the soldiers On Vis own initiative he had obtained.a piano for the nmrquee and a library, and in the bell tent adjoining the men could get at any.time hot ".offee, cocoa, tea, •unci lime inico. He bad assisting him a few men (Class B). who were temporarily unfit for active service.
The great difficulty to he faced in connection with «ift goods was the lack of transport. For a long time thev depended upon camels and they might he ten. tivntv, or thirtv rnilps frnm nilhend. AVhen the gift goods did arrive they were all put out in the desert and split up in proportion to the number of men in each unit, and finally distributed by the quartermasters. The.utmost was done to see that the men all got gifts. The officers were always glad when parcels came addressed to no one in particular, and then they were evenly divided up among the nipn'. The best tilings to send \yere, .stated Major Hulbert, cafe au lait, cocoa and milk, pliiin cocoa, tinned milk, Rex cheese, almonds and raisins, ■•tiijned fish (sardines, etc.), home-made jam, soup tablets, tea tabloids, tooth-paste, tobacco, cigarettes, and thirst-quwichers. Soap should not be put in parcels of foodstuffs, neither should camphor or matches. There was no question of the fact that, tho men liked the gift parcels, and if some got gifts, and others nono they divided their goods with the latter lucklees individuals. Major Hulbert mentioned, in passing, how glad they were after tho evacuation of Gallipoli to find at Mudros gifts of necessary clothing aaid other things handed ■ out to them by Padre Green, of the Salvation Army. Money was always acceptable, and when cheques (sometimes for £300, £400, or £500) wore received by Mr. Velvin a consultation was always held with Brigadier-General Meldrum or Briga-dier-General Chaytor to find out ivhat the men liked and needed. With this money, fruit was always purchaser, also eggs, tomatoes, water-melons, . limojuiceyote. After six or , seven weeks in the trenches such things were god-sends to them, and did much to tone them up again. Soptio sores were very frequent, and fruit was a great help in such cases. To send money now and again so that tho men could have theso things was of the greatest help. The officers looked after tho men, because they considered it a privilege to command such fine fighting men as our Now Kcalan'ders, and they saw to it that when the gift goods arrived that the men got their full share. Tho General put in Orders how many parcels were received, mid the men knew from that exactly whnt was eomimr to their units. In conclusion, Major Hulbert stated that tho men who were too-old to-fight could help by sending money and gifts to those who were fighting, and, by so doing, help to keep them fit and in good heart.
Mi , . Varnej , , after reading a number of , apologies, stated that Mrs. Porter, general organising secretary of the- W.N.R., had written to say that the Women's National Reserve- would arrange- to help in the Eed Triangle Day appeal. Mr. Varney emphasised the fact that this appeal was not being made for Mib Y.M.C.A., but'for the soTcJTers alone. In consulting Major Hnlbert as to what money would be sufficient to send for the benefit of the men in Palestine, Major Hulbert had said that £500 a
month would not be too much. Later, however, the Y.M.C.A. Council had stated that they would guarantee anything up to £1000 a month if nec&ssary, to be expended upon the men in Palestine. Wo were now only beginning to touch the fringe of all that our boys were doing, and we had yet to reach a greater realisation. Before the meeting closed, Majot Hulbert aHded a plea for the Rarotongans, who were doing such very fine work. The gift goods were always divided up among them, too; but to thorn fruit was essential. In normal times it was their chief food, and they missed it greatly. The generosity of the "Australians to the New Zealand troops in tho matter of gift goods, when the New Zealand consignments did not come to hand was also spoken of. Mr. C, M. Luke proposed a ■hearty vote of thanks to Major Hulbert for his very interesting address. The meeting formed itself into a committee, and Mrg. Luke was made hen. president, together with Mrs. Vt. S F. Maesey and Lady Ward as hon. presidents also. Another meeting is to be held in the Concert Chamber on Thursday aitcrnoon at. Tour o'clock, when it is hoped that the general committee and other who sre interested in the effort will attend.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180212.2.4.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 124, 12 February 1918, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,346RED TRIANGLE DAY APPEAL Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 124, 12 February 1918, Page 3
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.