GIFTS FOR TROOPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24415, 28 September 1940, Page 3

GIFTS FOR TROOPS

WELCOME DISTRIBUTION ENGLAND AND EGYPT An assurance that gift parcels despatched to England for the members of the second echelon are being distributed is given in letters which ■ are now reaching New Zealand. The letters also indicate that the contents of the parcels are being greatly appreciated by the soldiers. One letter received in Auckland was from a chaplain attached to the 11th New Zealand Forestry Company, and was written in England on July 31. He said the comforts sent by the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council had been received, and were in the best possible condition. The writer had been asked by the men of his company to express their thanks for the gifts and for tl e good wishes which had accompanied them. The gifts from New Zealand were most acceptable, said a member of the Medical Corps attached to the First New Zealand General Hospital in England. He and his messmate received parcels, and the cigarettes were particularly welcome, as the cost of cigarettes in their area was fairly heavy. Advice has also been received of the arrival in Egypt last week of the second consignment of comforts sent from New Zealand for distribution to the men of the first echelon. The first consignment of gifts was sent forward with the ships conveying the second echelon, but when this force was diverted to England the goods were carried on. A further consignment was sent forward as soon as possible, and it is this lot which has now reached the men.