LOOKING AFTER THE NEW ZEALANDERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 67, 13 December 1918, Page 5

LOOKING AFTER THE NEW ZEALANDERS

WORK OF THE WAR CONTINGENT

ASSOCIATION

AN INTERESTING REVIEW

(By a Member of the New Zealand Press ' Delegation which recently toured tho War Zone.) The New Zealand AVar Contingent Association was inaugurated on August 14, 1914, the meeting being convened by tho High Commissioner. The original object of tho movement was to collect monoy to provide a convalescent homo i for the reception of New Zealand soldiers and to secure the co-operation of the ladies to make and provide clothing for tho men. The Director-General of tho Army and Medical Servico did not, however, favour tho scheme, to provide a. convalescent home, so the proposnl was abandoned and efforts directed towards the establishment of a hospital at Walton-on-Thames. This was successfully launched, and it was managed by the association till early in 1910, whon tho New Zealand Medical Authorities of the Now.Zealand Defence Department took control. An cxecutivo and various sub-committees were appointed. Ever since tho men first arrived in the United Kingdom the official visitors of tho Visiting Committee have attended regularly at the bedsido of patients, wherever they were located, ami ministered to their comforts and necessities. Tho function of the New Zealand Club's Committee was to erect and maintain clubs (canteens) and places of social entertainment for tho men. The committee opened canteens at Codford, Hornchurch, Walton, Oatlands, Brockenhurst, Torquay, and Ewshott. New Zealand ladies and their staff aTe in charge of each club. This factor is tho biggest asset that tho N.Z.W.C.A. possess, as the influence of these sympathetic workers on the life of the boys has been priceless. ,The staff do their utmost to interest and entertain the boys, in which direction they have been very successful. The New Zealand Branch of the British Red Cross, recognising the efficient organisation of tho New Zealand War Contingent Association, appointed it as', its agent and entrusted the association with tho disposal of the clothing and comforts sent to them, and also money contributions. On tho retirement of Lord Plunket from tho chairmanship of tho executive in July, 1917," Mr. Raymond succeeded. He was' also unanimously elected chairman of the Red Cross Committee. The affairs of. tho Red Cross were at once put on a new basis. Tho Southampton Depot was taken over from the military, Red Cross depots were opened at the various hospitals, and quartermasters placed in charge. Ample stocks were kept on hand available for requisition by the O.C.'s of New Zealand hospitals, and schedules of comforts were agreed upon between the chairman of the Red Cross Committee and the Director of Medical Services. These arrangements ensured the smooth, economical, and effective running of this department. Last July the Red Cross representative from New Zealand took ovor the work of the Comforts Committee, and the disposal of Red Cross goods, and Colonel Rhodes became the chairman of the committee. A cable code was also drawn up and kindy circulated by the Press of the Dominion, which enabled pareirts and others to obtain information regarding soldiers tit a fully 50 per cent, (reduction of ordinary cost, and with a promptness obtainable through no other channels. The New Zealand Soldiers' Club, Russell Square, is a most useful adjunct of the association. Three houses were taken over and fitted up to accommodate about 250 men. A large staff of lady workers (honorary) attends to tho kitchen and to the waiting, a, wholesome influence being thus exercised over the men. During the war men arriving from the front on furlough were met by 'members cf tho committee and taken direct from the station to tho club. They walked out of their trench clothes into a capacious bath, and they were provided with a clean rig-out, theiir regular outfit being returned when it had 'been cleaned and otherwise attended to. The club has reading, writing, and billiard rooms, and h always full to overflowing, thus evidencing its popularity.

Visits (hat members of (ho New Zealand Press delegation paid to the AVar Contingent Association's premises at High Holborn showed what a large amount of valuablo work this body has done, and how thoroughly in rainiest and assiduous, in the performance of their self-imposed duties the members of tho executive are. The large room in which meats are served to New Zealand soldiers was well filled, and it .wa,s clearly manifest that the. boys were enjoying themselves. The members of our party were invited to partake of tea before making a tour of inspection of the premises, and among th? wholesome viands on the table, it will not be cut of place to mention, was one of the fruit cakes which a.re regularly sent iu large numbers from the Dominion. _Tn this particular instance, it will be of interest to the donor to know that the.wrapper | on the cake showed that it came from Invercargill. We were received by several members of the executive of the AVar Contingent Association, the full constitution of which is:—Sir Thomas Mackenzie (chairman of the association), Mr. I. AAV Raymond (chairman of the executive), Countess of Hardwicke, Lady Islington, Lady Mills, Mesdames Empson, J. M. Ritchie, Warren, AVilfion, Misses Helen Mackenzie, Ida Russell, Lord Plunkef, Sir James Mills, General Richardson, Colonel R. Heaton Rhodes, Captain Donne, Messrs. Acton Adams, • Gilbert Anderson, J. B'. Coates, Moss Davis, Charles Elgar, G. F. Gee, E. M. Kennawav, R. M. Macdonnld, R D. D. M'Lean, C.'C. M'Millan, 11. H. Nolan, Ormerod, A. E. G. Rhodes, F. E. Roshor, G. H. Scholefield, S. Thomson, G. E. Tolhurst, V. AValdegrave, A .E. Williams, C. J. AVray. " Our old New Zealand friends showed us over the extensive premises the association occupies, and on our inspection of a great storeroom on the ground floor of the building, we realised what an amount of organisation and skill and solid work must be required to keep track of tho enormous quantity of goods that ore received and, dispatched from the store for distribution to the boys of, tho New Zealand Division. These old colonists of tho Dominion are, in conjunction with the Red Cross, doing their full share of the war work that has fallen to the lot of every man and woman of our race who feels his or her obligation to help with the common burden. As mention has been made of the Red Cross in connection with the AVar Contingent Association's work, it may here be said that Sir Thomas Mackenzie is also chairman of tho former, and that he and Miss Helen Jlackenzie, who is secretary, aro among tli6 steady workers of the body, of which they are" the principal executive officers. It is a body which has had an important duty in seeing lo the careful expenditure of'tho largo amount of money sent to England by the Red Cross in New Zealand for. the benefit of the Dol minion's soldiers. Of the New Zealand AVar Contingent Association, the Press delegates need only further say that it was a great pleasure to them to meet tho executive officers of a body which has from the very inception of the war until now contributed so much to tho comfort of tho Dominion's troops. They have all the time l>eon animated by a fine spirit of duty—duty which became an infinite pleasure as it. was more and more recognised how much was due to tho mon who had come from the counting-house and tho factory and their work on tho land of their distant home to fight Ihe nation's battles, and to help in crushing for ever the pretensions and arrogance of an enemy which in its lust for power sought to dominate the earth.