CANTEEN SCANDALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 218, 22 February 1915, Page 2

CANTEEN SCANDALS.

GIFTS SOLD TO TROOPS. HAMS KEPT TILL ROTTEN. On February 8 the Lyttelton Times published a letter from a correspondent at Methven'j in which lie stilted, on the authority of his son with tin- Expedi-1 tionary force in Egypt, that Kii'ts U; troops from New Zealand people had either been wastefully thrown overboard after they had been kept so long an to go bad or sold to the men, instead of given out gratis, as was intended by the donors. The correspondent lias sent along a further letter, in which he sav->: "I have since received the endorsed reply to my enquiries from the manager of the Helensville Fish Company, which shows that fish was presented for distribution, but in place of this it is now, or has been, sold by canteen at fnl per tin. It is all very well for the Hon. Mr Allen to say he does not believe the statements that gifts are sold. I am forwarding you my son's letter, and you ire at_ liberty to use any part of it. As you said in your leader o n the subject, a man would scarcely make up these statements. For my part, I am quite certain tlmt the letter is true. This scandal, for it is nothing else, ought to be seen into and rectified. The men are entitled to all presents donated." The reply of the manager of the Helensville Fish Company, as enclosed is as follows:—"Dear Mr , I am in receipt of your letter of February 4. I am proprietor of the Awaroa Fish Company, Helensville, and donated to the .New - Zealand Expeditionary Force 100 cases of canned mullet, each containing 48 lib tins, value of the gift being placed at £IOO. On instructions from Captain Reid, of Wellington, the cases were labelled, as you say, 'Donated to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, fortyeight one pound tins fresh mullet. Awaroa Fish Company, Hel'ensviße.—James Stewart, proprietor.' All the cases were clearly marked, and in my opinion, the contents, being a gift to the expedition, should not have been offered for sale,— Yours faithfully. James Stewart."

The part of the letter from Egypt referring to tho matter is as follows:--"There is a scandal put on us here that I will tell you about. There is a bis; canteen near here run by our crowd, and they arc selling us stuff which was given by New Zealand people for tlio benefit of the troops. I can prove this, for nearly every tent- in our lines has cot an empty box from there, and they all have labels on them with 'Donated by so-and-so.' or 'Gifts for soldiers from Citize n Club,' written clearly enough. Another thin# we can buy for one piastro a large bottle of lemonade brought from New Zealand. This is exactly the same bottle that we had to pay Is for at the start, and then 8d all through the voyage, Of course, we were told that the profits would go to the regimental funds, but what or where they are, no one knows, and ever will know. Some of them have made a nice thing out of it. It said in tho papers before we left that there was enough tobacco to last the 2nd Regiment fellows a voyage, of ten weeks or fore, all given by the people of South Canterbury. I take 'it that that was right. Well, we had one issue of two cakes of tobacco wr man a?d one pipe each. As for chicken (crates of them by the dozen came o p board) and apples (which were kept until they were rotten, and then thrown overboard), we never saw them, except by passing 3s or 4s over for a miserable little fowl to one of the stewards or cooks in the officer's mess. The next tent had two boxes in it, both -bought from the canteen, with a big label covering on ( > end of each box printed for the occasion 'Dominion Mullet, Awaroa Fish Company, Helensville, to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 48 x lib tins rich fresh mullet.—James Stewart proprietor,' and this we buy for two piastres a tin at the canteen. This is only one case in point. Tobacco is very likely donated and lots of other stuff as well, but we must buy it all. No wonder the Government found itself able to give Is I per man extra pay to us. Hundreds or iiams and sides of bacon were given for use Oji board, and we never saw it. Ihey serve it out now a little at a time arid we can't eat it, for it is rotten'. The take it all round, is disgraceful. This state of things that people in New Zealand would never believe unless they saw it. If we were not able (o buy stufl we would starve. I know I slioud. Our beautiful factory butter winch we are now getting stinks like any. It is going rotten too, but we must eat what we get or starve." FURTHER EVIDENCE.

I The Napier Telegraph quotes the fol lowing from a letter forwarded by a trooper .recently invalided home:—To take soW instances, a certain private made Ins way llp to the eant 1 b Iroopship Ko 12, and asked for a pack pl'iymg cards. After opening his purchase, which cost one shilling, a pretty "UDon th 'TV n . m!St ? tl h ' B Cyes - writtc ' n Iwn <W- /■ Car(1 -' th • " ist 0f Which Mfe, WlShll '?n yoU g00(1 !uck - «tc. from rm ' ,}Y llan S are ' Patriotic fund." [ The same tlnng applies to a writing' i had bought for the sum of sixpence the canteen. Jins of tobacco bore simi-| No in C n, agCS ? old . on board troopship No 10. One such note I have to hand it present, found in a small parcel of socks and handkerchiefs, bought on board troopship No 5 by Private C . Carter U r ' i"? w , on,in sr of which was The Green Island Girls Friendly Society wish you God speed and a safe return, 17-8-14 These are only a few instances that, came under mv notice.