PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3297, 6 August 1943, Page 4

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

MIDDLE EAST AMENITIES APPRECIATED BY SOLDIERS PAEROA BOYS’ EXPERIENCES Soldiers on furlough from the Middle East have with warm appreciation of tne administration of patriotic funds in that area and of the many amenities which have been provided for the men by different organisations through grants from the funds. A Paeroa soldier told a Gazette representative recently that excellent work was being done all the time by such institutions as the Lowry Hut, the Y.M.C.A. and the Church Army Huts, and the New Zealand Club :n Cairo.

These institutions sold tea and cakes and tobacco to the men at very cheap rates and provided free writing materials. They also arranged tours for the men when they were on leave. The club in Cairo was one of the best and there was almost every facility there that a soldifer on leave could desire.

Distribution of Parcels V So far as the distribution of patriotic parcels was concerned the officer said they' were generally issued on the basis- of the ration strength of each unit. If the section had a ration strength of 500 when the parcel allocation was made then 500 parcels were issued to the unit. Between the date of allocation, and the issue of the parcels a unit might receive some reinforcements and that would affect the distribution of parcels. It waS pointed out, however, that the order of distribution was from the privates upward and if there was a shortage it. was the officers who suffered, as they recognised that they received certain amenities not available 'to the men. On the average each man received about two of the patriotic' parcels a j year, apart from any which he received from relatives or friends. He personally had received four parcels a year during the whole period he had been overseas.

The parcels were greatly appreciated and they contained the right kind of things.

Mobile Canteens It was also stated that out of the money- made available the Y.M.C.A. had provided mobile canteens from which the men can buy extra supplies at very cheap rates, and one of the features of this service -was that its best efforts were right up in the fighting areas. When the division got into Tunis me second night in the line they received with their rations an issue ’of choco- • . late and cigarettes brought up by the mobile canteens and shortly after there was also an issue of patriotic

parcels. Mobile cinemas are also run by the Y.M.C.A. on patriotic funds. “They had a very good selection of pictures,”' said the soldier, “and the boys liked the shows.” They came right out intothe desert and every time there was- a halt, when there was no engagement on, the picture show was set up. There were, he thought, three units operating, and on the journey back from Tunis to Tgypt there must have been z at least five or six shows put on by. each of the outfits.