GIFTS DEPOT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 August 1940, Page 9

GIFTS DEPOT

COMFORTS FOR TROOPS

RECEIVING AND SENDING.

CONTINUITY OF SUPPLY

If a patriotic organisation is to be really effective and successful not only must it continue to have the good will and support of the community but the organisation itself must see to it that continuity of supplies of comforts for the fighting services is preserved. This does not allow for any slackening of effort; on the contrary the amount of work and responsibility involved and the volume of comforts required are growing all the time. Throughout the country, ever since the departure of the Second Echelon, preparations have been in hand for the building up of further large stocks of goods, which pass from time to time through the National Patriotic Fund Board's gifts depot in Wellington, the clearing centre for the Dominion.

The provision of gift parcels (unaddressed gift parcels) and the packing and despatch of them has been a big job on its own, for New Zealand now has two Echelons overseas and the idea is to collect sufficient parcels of comforts to enable one to be given to each man. This is what is officially known as the National Patriotic Fund Board’s “unaddressed gift parcels scheme.” It was designed to ensure that every member of the N.Z.E.F. overseas receives something from this country from time to time. Unfortunately, the first consignment of gift parcels from this country did not reach the First Echelon in Egypt, owing to the destination of the ships in which they were carried being changed after departure from New Zealand. The Second Echelon got those parcels, but since then it has been possible for the National Patriotic Fund Board to send a fresh supply of parcels for the First Echelon. Altogether since the Second Echelon left the Dominion 1,494 cases of comforts have been cleared from the j board’s gifts store in Wellington. This total comprised 1,359 cases of gift parcels, each case containing about 10 parcels, 16 cases of malt. 13 cases of woollen goods and 106 cases of fruit

cake. Besides this large quantity of goods the store has also dealt with further supplies. Some of the gift parcels received from outside centres have been packed in cases that have been too large. They must be in boxes the size of kerosene cases, and because some districts have sent, their parcels to Wellington in large cases involving the unpacking and repacking of the contents this has added to the amount of work that has had to be done. Expert packers from various firms help to lighten the work in this connection from time to time. They give their services voluntarily and when they are on the job they certainly do make high piles of unpacked parcels disappear. Recently at night six packers from one Wellington firm boxed and wired over 900 parcels in an hour and a quarter. They got them into 92 cases. In addition to its big store, the board has storage space in the old Wellington Central Library Building, and there the final touches are put to the packing of all the woollen goods, such as balaclavas, scarves, and mittens. To protect these articles from attack by insect pests they are put into tinlined cases, and when the goods are packed the lining is sealed down right around the top before the wooden box is nailed up. These cases hold a considerable quantity of goods, anything from 24 to 27 dozen mittens, for instance.

Providing for large numbers of men in the way the National Patriotic Fund Board and the provincial patriotic councils are doing is certainly a big-scale job, involving not only a considerable amount of work but also much thought .and organisation. Without the assistance that has been given so readily throughout the country, notably by the women, it would be impossible of achievement. The National Patriotic Fund Board is grateful for that help and knows that in its efforts to do the very best for the men of the services it can count a continuance of that support.