THE FIGHTING SERVICES FUND.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 March 1940, Page 4

THE FIGHTING SERVICES FUND.

jN.the enthusiasm and energy with which the work of organising a collecting campaign lias been taken up in Masterton and elsewhere in the AVairarapa there is a good preliminary assurance and guarantee that the Fighting Services Welfare Fund will get in. this district, the broad measure of support to which it is so obviously entitled. Accounts of the preparatory activities of the Masterton Citizens’ Committee and kindred organisations, and an announcement of the various fund-raising efforts to be made during the coming week speak for themselves from that standpoint. By this time no doubt it is well understood and appreciated by most people that in contributing, to the fund which is to be expended by the Salvation Army and the Y.’M.C.A. under the supervisory control of the National Patriotic Council, they will be conferring benefits on the members of our fighting forces in training camps, at the front and elsewhere which cannot well be conferred in any other way. What the organisations named are asked to do is, in a word, Io provide for our soldiers, in the war areas and elsewhere, some elements of respite from war, of rest, comfort and recreation, made available to them by the free, will offering of the people they have left behind in the homeland they are defending. Tt is at once a kindling and a sobering thought that the last touch of homely comfort some of our men arc ever to know may be in the huts which the Y.M.C.A. and the Salvation Army arc to set up in [he war areas on. behalf of the’people of New Zealand. Tn such a cause, who will refuse to give what he or she may? It should be understood that the huts to bo established in war areas as well as in Dominion camps may be made to serve an all-important purpose. There are, of course, oilier means of maintaining the contact in which the members of our lighting service are united with (heir homeland. Letters to and fro arc perhaps the best means of all of keeping that, contact vibrantly alive. Parcels from kinsfolk and friends to soldiers, sailors, airmen, or nurses in whom they are individually interested are not to be despised as a means of conveying comfort and good cheer. All this being said, however, the establishment and maintenance of huts in which the members of our fighting services may enjoy occasional hours of comfort, relaxation and recreation in something of a homeland atmosphere is splendidly worth while, whether from a material or a spiritual standpoint. In order that these benefits may bo conferred and mav bo continued, a free flow of contributions from the eommunifv is essential. An excellent organisation has boon built up to invite and collect these contributions. Plans to that end will bo developed in full force during the coming week and it remains for individual citizens to do their part.