“GOOD AS GOLD”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 May 1941, Page 5

“GOOD AS GOLD”

NEW ZEALANDERS IN MIDDLE EAST PRIME MINISTER VISITS WOUNDED. A FINE HOSPITAL SHIP. illy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright I N.Z.E.F. Official News Service. CAIRO. May 26. ‘’Good as gold”—the New Zealand Prime Minister. Mi- Fraser, thinks this must bo the motto of the New Zealanders. for as he visits the Now Zealand war wounded and sick in various hospitals throughout Egypt and inquires as to their condition he invariably receives this reply. On Saturday last, after attending a war conference in the Middle East. Mr Fraser set out on this strenuous two-day visiting programme. He saw war wounded in the big military hospitals in the rear of the Canal Zone, going from man to man with the thermometer reaching 118 degrees in the shade. It is difficult for the New Zealanders to visit these hospitals and the inen were more than pleased to see no less a person than the Prime Minister himself.

Late that evening Mr Fraser and his official parly went aboard New Zealand Hospital Ship 40. a famous inter-colonial steamer that is now a modern and well-equipped hospital ship. Originally commissioned in 1912. she has seen service on many Pacific trade routes, and Vancouver. San Francisco. Honolulu, Papeete. Suva and the Australian and New Zealand ports know her well. In 1914 she helped to convey the main body overseas, and in 1917 she transported American troops to France.

Every ward is fitted with a refrigerator. and the prevailing colour scheme is green. Particularly pleasing to the medical authorities are the operating facilities and the modern equipment. As a hospital ship she travels with all lights on, but nevertheless the orderlies carry steel helmets and respirators and decontamination suits are available for all. The ship's quartermaster was very proud to show me the diet sheet which he and the ship's dietician have been able to provide. Whitebait and oysters are two delicacies that the quartermaster has up his sleeve. Among the crew are some tradesmen, several of whom saw service in the Great War. The ship's plumber, Mr Rowe, proudly told me how lie himself saw service in the Great War. His son is now serving in the Second N.Z.E.F.. and he is doing his bit again on the hospital ship. This is the spirit of New Zealand. On Sunday morning Mr Fraser safely landed after a choppy voyage between the ship and shore, during which the official photographer nearly lost his camera. Mr Fraser was able to visit some New Zealanders who are

working on our lines of communication and all were pleased to see him when he called. Mr Fraser lunched in the officers' mess at a New Zealand convalescent depot. Most of the convalescents are men who fought in the Greek campaign. and the Premier was pleased to have another opportunity to hear further war experiences, talking with the men themselves, and telling them news from back home. At a town nearby Mr Fraser was able to see for himself the- fine work the New Zealander Miss Jean Begg is doing to provide recreational facilities and transit accommodation for the nurses and women workers in the army. The Y.W.C.A. there is comparatively new, but it is just one of the many that Miss Begg hopes to establish throughout the Middle East.