GIFTS FOR NEW

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1916, Page 6

GIFTS FOR NEW

ZEALANDERS. UNAVOIDABLE .DELAYS. DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSHIPMENT. SOME SUGGESTIONS.. . (From Malcolm Ross, Official War Correspondent with the New Zealand Forces.) Cairo, .Tan. 23. The warm-hearted generosity of the people of New ZeaJand is proverbial. It has readied high-itfatcr mark during the present war. In respect to gifts to the sick and wounded and to the men in the trenches, it could not well have been surpasesd. It is unfortunate that owing to the exigencies of war, to the uncertainty and perilousness of long and varied lines of communications, and to some lack of knowledge of the circumstances and want of organisation in the Dominion itself, the full benefit of these gifts has not yet been secured to the troops. From careful enquiries made during the past few days in Egypt, I am able to state what the position really is.

The first difficulty the authorities here are met with is that, in most cases, no inventory is sent with the gifts. Th» result is that each case has to be opened and laboriously gone through in order that a list of its contents may be obtained. This is putting more work upon our already hard-worked soldiers, and it seems that such work might be more easily done while the cases are being packed in New Zealand. The, necessity for ,an inventory becomes quickly apparent here, because without it the gifts cannot he distributed to the best advantage^-one lot of men will be getting things they have already been supplied with, while- others will go wanting.

The system of sending in eases gifts for individuals, and even for sections of troops such as "The Napier Boys," is unpractical, for the reason that the Napier boys are scattered throughout different units on the Peninsula, and hospitals and convalescent depots in Cairo, Alexandria, Malta, and England. It involves unpacking the cases, and re-addressing the gifts to individuals, whose whereabouts can only be ascertained with difficulty, and In some cases not at all. In many instances these individual parcels arrive at their destination after the addressees have left on their return to the trenches or even to New Zealand.

A large shipment of Christmas gifts camp from various committees in New Zealand. These arrived at Suez durin* November in five transports. The matter of their distribution was left to a Salvation Anny Chaplain who has been doing splendid work in Egypt in connection with the New Zealand troops. The transports arrived on different dates, and it took a fortnight to get the whole of the goods out of the holds and sent by rail from Suez to the base at Alexandria. In the gieat majority of instances the goods were not listed.' and the eases had to be opened to ascertain their contents. It was then found that the cases contained parcels for men who were at places as far apart as Egypt, Malta, (»allipoli, and England. They also contained parcels for groups of men at AnJ.ac from various districts in New Zealand. Here, there was the same difficulty in regard to distribution, for these men were widely separated on the Peninsula—some in the Mounted Brigade, some in the infantry, and some in the artillery. Every ease had to be opened, re-sorted, and re-packed, as in a big post office. Some of the eases were so big and so heavy that they had to be made up into smaller cases in order to make final transport possible. No case of more than 801b weight should be sent from New Zealand, so that two such cases could be packed on a mule and finally, where necessary, manhandled into the more inacessible trenches. Personal presents to individuals should, of course, be sent through the Post Office in the ordinary way. It is advisable that the cases should be hooped and fastened with screw nails, so as to minimise the danger of looting. It will be interesting to follow the course of these Christmas gifts, which J may say are only now reaching the men. When they got to Alexandria, it took a big staff ten days and nights to unpack and repack them, so that they could be sent forward to those still on the Anzac roll, to those in the many hospitals here, at Malta, and in England. The sorted goods for the peninsula were got on to a transport that was to leave'for Mudros in a few days. Tn the meantime the destination of the steamer had to be suddenly altered to Marseilles, whither she had to proceed to take away a regiment. The cases—there were 4000 for Australia "and 800 for New Zealandhad now to be unloaded on to lighters, on which they floated in the harbor for some days. Finally, they were unloaded from «he lighters and put aboard another transport. The chaplain-cap-tain went in this ship in charge of the gifts as far as Mudros. where, in the ordinary course of events, they would have to be transferred to .lie othervessels going to Anxac. But, in the meantime, evacuation had been decided upon, and while it was fairly easy to get oil' the Peninsula, it was a matter of impossibility for any ordinary mortal to get on to it. or for anything in bulk to be landed there. Even mails were .nterdicted. Steamer space was at a premium; lives were more valuable than letters and gifts. At Mudros, lighters—very scarce and valuable vessels at t.hi s time—were supplied, and the gifts were unloaded on to them. These lighters were conveyed to the beach of. Ibe island, where the - great majority of the New Zealanders were then going into camp. It was hoped to get the ffifts to the troops there. On the following morning, however, by the time half of the cases bad been unloaded on to the beach. It was found that our troops had to leave for another destination. With much labor the cases were then shipped on to a second transport bound for Alexandria, at which port they had beeii shipped three weeks previously ! Then there was a further unavoidable delay, owing to causes that it would be inadvisable to mention, because to do so would be placing information in the hands of the enemy. To crown all the dllieulties, the New Zealand base is now ordered to give up the shed in which the gifts are stored. This shed has been,-in our possession For the last nine months, but is now urgently required' for other and more important military purposes. Tt is, however, hoped that by the end of January the men will have received all tH gifts which, under ordinary' uicumstances they would have received at Christmas. In the meantime such articles gs plum puddings will have deteriorated, but there is now not so anich demand for them, owing to altered

circumstances, and . many have already been supplied. In connection with this matter of gifts, there are one or two other points worth mentioning. There is, for instance, the matter of cigarettes. It is not worth while s/ending cigarettes from New Zealand. It simply means that considerable sums of money are being wasted, because there is an arrangement with the British and American Tobwco Company hero by which we can get quite good cigarettes out of bond at one penny per packet. For some months past there had been no dearth either of to'jaceo or cigarettes on the Peninsula. Vigarett.s are made here by the million, and are much cheaper than in New Zealand. Another point is that there is probably some overlapping of funds-r—i.e., of moneys sont for the purchase of such luxuries as chocolate, and of moneys sent through the staff paymaster of the New Zealand Forces, who acts as treasurer of the Sick and "Wounded Fund account established by the Government in Egypt, which fund i s administered by committees in Cairo and Alexandria composed of the senior resident military and medical officers, chaplains, and superintendents of hospitals and convalescent homes. The result is that some men have a plethora of chocolate, etc., and others will get none at all. It would perhaps he better if all such moneys were paid into a. central fund in Wellington, which could be operated upon tnei,- lie..:.'." 1 - navmaster of the New Zredand Forces to the bQst advantage. At present money is being, or has been, sent to be spent on individual battalions. One week this battalion might be 1 000 strong. A week or two ;ater it might be reduced to half that number. Surety in such a case it would be better to sink parochialism, and let other and equally deserving troops share in the good things that are going. The foregoing remarks are not meant m the slightest degree as carping criticism, but are simply given for what they are worth, with the idea of putting the whole matter of gift diatrbiutinii upon a sounder and more- equitable basis. One and all, while recognising the splendid generosity of the l people of New Zealand, would, I feel certain,' be glad if some improvement could be made in this matter of gift distribution that all have so much at heart.