WEEKLY DANCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 July 1940, Page 4

WEEKLY DANCES

FOR NEW ZEALAND TROOPS IN LONDON SATISFACTORY HEALTH STANDARDS. MILD CAMP EPIDEMICS ABATING. (From the Official War Correspondent Attached to the New Zealand Foj ces in Great Britain). LONDON, July 27. The first all-ranks dance in London, organised for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force by the New Zealand War Services Association, wqs a great success. Last evening between 300 and 400 officers, non-commissioner officers and men attended, travelling to and from camp by free omnibus. The tickets cost Is, including supper. Three hundred partners, specially selected and invited by the women's committee in London, included Miss Mary Churchill, daughter of the Prime Minister, and several girls of the titled aristocracy, besides New Zealand nurses and civilians living in England, the latter being guests of the High Commissioner, Mr W. J. Jordan, and MajorGeneal B. C. Freyberg, V.C. Members of the New Zealand Air and Naval forces, were also present. The music was played by the Brigade Band. It it proposed to make these dances a weekly feature for the entertainment of the troops. Though letters posted on June 8 included air mail arrived via Egypt, some earlier air mail and all steamer mail have not yet been received. Mr Geoffrey Cox, New Zealand Rhodes Scholar and till lately a Fleet Street correspondent, has enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionay Force. Though the sickness rate is still rather higher than among the English troops, the health of the New Zealand men is satisfactory in view of the rather erratic weather and temperatures of the past 10 days. The mild epidemics and measles and mumps are now clearing, only 25 cases remaining in hospital. There are vei;y few cases of serious illness, and the number on hospital suffering from minor complaints other than measles and mumps is about 100. A convalescent home is being established in an attractive Queen Anne residence' with extensive grounds near the New Zealand General Hospital.