APPEAL FOR BINOCULARS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 August 1940, Page 4

APPEAL FOR BINOCULARS

MADE BY THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE. NEEDED BY ARMED FORCES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. An appeal for binoculars, night glasses, telescopes and prismatic compasses for the armed forces was made last evening by the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones. ‘Tn asking the public to make a contribution in this form,” said Mi- Jones, “I feel that people will be very willing to give up valuable and perhaps even treasured possession for so vital a cause as the defence of our country and the Commonwealth. "Optical glasses arc largely manufactured in Germany, and the greatly increased need for them by the British armed forces is more than the productive capacity of the United Kingdom and the United States of AmericaX. can cope with just at present,” said the Minister. “Here in New Zealand we cannot obtain enough glasses to fill all our requirements. Yet it is essential to have binoculars for our army officers and for men engaged in coast watching, telescopes for signallers and coast watchers, and prismatic compasses for the army. Then there are night glasses which are required particularly for the fortress troops who are guarding the approaches to defended ports such as Auckland, Wellington, and Lyttelton, and also for coast watchers.

"There is no need for me to enumerate the uses of these glasses or to stress the vital and urgent need to procure them, since they cannot at the moment be imported in the quantities desired. If you have glasses you are not using or not needing, please pack and send them to the QuartermasterGeneral, c/o Ordnance Department, Trentharn, or so addressed to any defence office in New Zealand. They will be most gratefully received, and will, I can assure you. be put to the most practical use.”