PARCELS FOR WAR PRISONERS

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 104, 27 January 1943, Page 4

PARCELS FOR WAR PRISONERS

There will be general agreement with the action ol the War Cabinet in making a grant of /340.000 toward the estimated cost o sending food parcels to New Zealand prisoners of war and to meet certain expenses relating to next-of-kin parcels. These parcels die said to be arriving safely at the prison camps and they mean a great deal to the men. There may have been some anxiety about deliven, with food conditions in the Axis countries said to be getting more but apparently there is no foundation for it. lhe London Spectator in a recent issue, said :

Let us mnke the most of wlmt light there is in 1 understand there is not a single known ease of Red Closs p.IUOIs for prisoners of war in Germany being stolen—even though ihe p.ncels enable prisoners to maintain it better standard of living than many classes of the population of Germany itsell. , That is a tribute to the status of the International Red Cross. Regardless of national boundaries its humanitarian work proceeds and it provides the channel through which contact is established between prisoners of war and their relatives and friends in the home lands. Since the early days of the war enthusiastic and skilled worke.s have been occupied, under the direction of the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society, in packing parcels for prisoners of war and in censoring, and on occasion supplementing, next-of-kin parcels. Even today many people appai c tly fail to realize that only certain things can be sent to pnsoneis of wat. 11 of relatives will be to forward what they know the men would like, but it is a matter of sending what -s permitted and the inclusion in parcels of things which are contrary to' tllc nosed bv the enemy Governments simply adds to the v\oik of t p cel censors, for the prohibited goods have to be removed and returned to the next-of-kin. The co-operation ot the senders in this lespect would lighten the work of those dealing with these parcels. 1 lie regular dispatch of parcels to the men from the who are pr.soneis of war-and they exceed 8000-is one of the wartime activ tics that must be maintained and the War Cabinet’s decision will relieve the National Patriotic Board of a heavy dram on its resources and enst c that this service suffers no curtailment.