FOR THE WOUNDED.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 September 1917, Page 6

FOR THE WOUNDED.

WOBjK OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR CONTINGENT ASSOCIATION (From a Special Correspondent)'. London, July 23, 1017. ■ It is quite clear that, in some form or bther, the inestimable work which the New Zealand War Contingent Association has been doing in England must Shortly find a field in France. The developments of the last year or so have included a steady concentration of New Zealand wounded in New Zealand Expeditionary Force hospitals, which have been greatly increased in size, so that at the present time there are more than 4000 patients in New Zealand hospitals in tile United Kingdom, and only a eouplo of hundred in British institutions, In the New Zealand hospitals visiting is Btill a desirable feature of welfare work, but as the staffs (medical and nursing) are composed of New Zealanders there is a sufficient guarantee that our men will not lack anything requisite for their comfort or entertainment. In the English liospials wo have indeed the same guarantee, with the solo exception that patients treated in them are cut off from the company of their own countrymen and particularly appreciate the visiting arrangements of the Association. Quite a recent development, though, is the aggregation of New Zealand casualties in hospitals in 'France as part of the general policy of security against submarines. The reports which reach the Association now deal with a considerable proportion of men who are remaining across the Channel for treatment, and so cannot be visited by New Zealanders at all. Only a few of them are in our own hospitals. The rest are scattered over the whole length and breadth of the Pas de Calais, the Nord and the Somme. Their fellow patients are British, but only here and there New Zealanders and the people amongst whom they must spend their time during convalescence are all French—chiefly peasants. They therefore require the visiting system almost a 9 urgently as our first arrivals from Gallipoli in IMS. The War Contingent Association has been taking steps in the matter for some time past and with the co-operation of the British Red Cross is endeavoring to make some arrangement to give more attention to New -Zealand wounded in hospital in Prance. Lord Plunket, Mr. Charles Elgar and Mr. I. W. Raymond are conferring with General Richardson on the question. POT (POORRI, The following summary of a list of cheques paid out gives some idea of the varied nature of the work now being carried out in England by the New Zea- j land War Contingent Association: Groceries, nurses' home, Sandwich; live poultry for camp farms; comforts for men returning per "Ruahine"; officers and sergeants' messes; P.U. camp; alterations at Hornchurch Club; auditors' fees, reorganising book-keeping; stationery; boots for a man with a wounded foot; books for men returning per s.s. "Arawa"; donation to free buffet at Paddington; ditto to Empire Union Club; ditto sports fund at Codford. AN ENQUIRY BUREAU. Relations anxious for information about their soldier sons who have passed through hospitals in England or France during the past two years can always apply to the Record Department of t'.e New Zealand War Contingent Association at 125, High Holborn, W.C. These records have been 'kept since the first wounded men arrived in England from the Dardanelles in May, 1315, and they now refer to approximately 30,000 men. Every man who is reported to the Association either officially or through' the visitors, as a hospital inmate, is recorded on a card, and thenceforth every detail as to his welfare and progress is noted. The nature of the injury or sickness is recorded from the office data, progress reports by the hospital visitors, movements of the men after leaving hospital until they return to the front or to Sew Zealand, and incidentally a statement of the articles or <kit or clothing supplied to them by the Association. The Association confines its records to men who have been in hospital, and will be most happy to furnish to relatives any information in its power. The records from France have only been received re-' cently, but they are now regularly registered. Miss Eileen. Fitzherbert was in charge of the card index for a considerable time, hut has recently handed it over to Mrs. Martin. The number of men at Walton hospital who have undertaken basket making and needlework is steadily increasing, in spite of summer temptations to different methods of passing the time, and Mks Monro, the work superintendent, has been given ail assistant instructor. The office canteen of the New Zealand War Contingent Association has recently received a donation of £SO from Mr. H. Guthrie-Smith for furnishing and equipment. Miss Pratt, who has been asso-. ciated with Mrs. Burnett in charge of the canteen since November last, is returning to New Zealand to the Association's great regret. Miss Dinneen, who has had charge of the Aotearoa Club at Codford, has resigned to take up work in the war zone in France. Mrs. Shellshear has been appointed in her place. At the P.U Depot at Torquay, where Captain Garner is in charge, the open air life which the men are leading is indicated by the principal items of expenditure by the War Contingent Association on the entertainment of the men. Boat hire, swimming tickets and bathing suits head the list. HOW NEW ZEALAND DOES IT. The British Australasian devotes three pages to a, comprehensive account of the control and administration of the New Zealand army in England. The references to tiie War Contingent Association are very fiattering and the paper sighs editorially: "We wish it could have been written about Australia."