COMFORTS FOR SOLDIERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 March 1940, Page 7

COMFORTS FOR SOLDIERS

WORK OF SALVATION ARMY AND Y.M.C.A. ADDRESS BY MISS O. R. SUTHERLAND. A largely attended meeting of the Dalefield Women’s Institute was addressed yesterday afternoon by' Miss O. R. Sutherland. M.A.. as the representative of the Masterton Citizens’ Committee which is organising the present Fighting Forces appeal for the National Patriotic Fund. Mrs L. Rogers, newly-elected president of the Institute, was in the chair. Miss Sutherland spoke of the two organisations which have been asked to sponsor the appeal, from which all the money will go to be administered by the National Patriotic Board. The total sum expended by' the New Zealand Salvation Army during the last war was £lOO.OOO, and the enthusiasm and devotion to duty of that organisation could not be doubted. The whole expenditure on Y.M.C.A. operations in France and England during the last war was £169,579, of which the total outlay on free comforts for the men was £46.505. This free comforts scheme was one of the biggest schemes of the whole organisation. During the 1918 trek to Germany the Y.M.C.A. managed to get itself established in almost every village before the troops came in, and was on the spot with a free issue of cocoa, biscuits, chocolate and cigarettes. It its religious work the Y.M.C.A. closely co-operated with chaplains. Its buildings were placed freely at the service of padres of all denominations and they in turn frequently took part in the Sunday services of the Y.M.C.A. The happiest relations always existed. Miss Sutherland quoted instances related by' returned soldiers which showed how the Y.M.C.A. was to be found ready to give much-needed assistance in the most unexpected places, in the mud and shell holes of the most desperate situations, often exposed to shell fire. With the Y.M.C.A. thus in the forward line, the Salvation Army work was carried on largely in base camps and towns where their huts provided much needed assistance for tired troops. At the conclusion of the meeting a vote of’ thanks was accorded Miss Sutherland and later arrangements were made for canvassing and also for helping in a shop day to be hold in Carterton.