PRISONERS OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 102, 25 January 1943, Page 3

PRISONERS OF WAR

Work Of Red Cross And Order Of St. John

It bus been announced that the War Cabinet has approved of a grant of £340.500 to the .National latriotic lund Board Io pav the estimated cost of food for New Zealand prisoners ot war, and \nrious costs relating to ucxt-of-kiu parcels. ~ . . ,■ , "In 1941 the organization of tlie Joint Council of the Order of St. John, and the New Zealand Red Cross Society made a remarkably successful public collection under the auspices of tlie National Patriotic Fund Board for the needs of sick, wounded and prisoners of war, ’ says tlie AYar Purposes Committee of tlie Council in a Press statement. "The amount collected bv tlie joint council was more than £500.000. A considerable amount of this sum lias been used already for payment for food for prisoners of war, for which tlie Government now takes responsibility for payment. "Thousands of workers of tlie joint council have been engaged from tlie beginning in packing and arranging of prisoner of war parcels, and censoring and supplementing next-of-kin parcels. The organization of tlie joint council in New Zealand has been employed on what lias been, and still is', a gigantic task.

"Under the Geneva convention, the joint council, as the governing body of the Red Cross in New Zealand, is the recognized jyieut’ of the International Red Cross in Geneva for the relief of sick, wounded, and prisoners of war.” Prohibited Clothing In Parcels. The prisoners of war parcels packing centre has tin’s mouth received a large number of packages for men in Italian camps in which prohibited types of clothing and footwear have been included iu direct contravention of tlie notified restrictions of the Italian authorities. The Prisoners of War Inquiry Office states again that no shirts other than khaki may be sent to prisoners, irrespective of whether they belong to the Army, Navy or Air Force, and civilian types of footwear are likewise banned. Only Army type boots, or sandshoes or sott indoor slippers may be sent. Prohibited articles are being removed from parcels received at the packing centre and are being returned to the next-of-kin.

Food parcels actually packed and dispatched from New Zealand are now freely arriving iu the prison camps, and cabled advice lias been received this week that the British Red Cross has received a message of appreciation of the New Zealand food parcels froin eamp representatives of Bristish prisoners of war.