Dominion-wide “Cleaning” Rag Drive

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 64, 18 March 1944, Page 8

Dominion-wide “Cleaning” Rag Drive

SATURDAY, MARCH 25tli Ono of tho less known facts of mechanical warfare is the prodigious increase in the amount of cotton rags or waste consumed by the fighting services. Mechanical equipment must be clean to bo efficient; that goes for guns, planes, automatic weapons, tanks, everything. Therefore it comes as no surprise to hear that the stock of rags held by the Dominion fighting services is getting low, and that Army, Navy, and Air Force chiefs have sent an S.O.S. to the National Council for the Reclamation of Waste Material calling for clean, cotton rags. The National Council has lined up the 100 local Waste Reclamation Committees through out New Zealand, and once again the New Zealand Girl Guides’ Association has offered to undertake the hugo task of collection. So on Saturday, March 25th, tho Girl Guides will do a house-to-house canvass of New Zealand. As the public are well conversant "with the very urgent national importance of this drive, it is felt certain that tho response will be generous. However, it should be emphasised that the collectors aro young girls, who are undertaking unusual and heavy work. Householders can save them time and effort if they will make up the rags into neat securely tied bundles, and leave them at the gate. This is a national effort, and its success will be more fully secured by the understanding cooperation of all the people.