TOBACCO FOR TROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1942, Page 4

TOBACCO FOR TROOPS

DISPATCH OF PARCELS FROM N.Z. SCHEME EXTENDED TO MIDDLE EAST. OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. People in New Zealand may now send, through the National Patriotic Fund Board, parcels of cigarettes and tobacco at reduced prices to individual members of the New Zealand Forces in the Middle East. This arrangement has been made possible by a special concession from the Egyptian Government, and it is one which it is expected will be welcomed not only by the New Zealand service men in the Middle East, but also by their next-of-kin and friends in the Dominion. It should be understood that the concession applies only to cigarettes and tobacco sent through the Patriotic Fund Board. Parcels containing cigarettes or tobacco sent in the ordinary way will render the recipient liable to the payment of Customs duty as in the past.

Attempts to induce the Egyptian Government to admit free of duty parcels of tobacco addressed personally to members of the forces have been made over a long period, but without success. Arrangements have now been completed, however, under which relatives and friends of the men in the Middle East may send to them individually their favourite brands of tobacco and cigarettes.

The concession granted by the Egyptian Government, the secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board (Mr Hayden) states, enables the board to extend greatly the scope of the postal tobacco service inaugurated in the middle of January for the benefit of the New Zealand Forces overseas. “We have known for a long time,” he added, “of the preference by the New Zealand Forces for the brands of cigarettes and tobaccos they were accustomed to smoking in New Zealand, but while the board has been able to do something towards meeting that demand in the Middle East with shipments of bulk supplies for free distribution and also for sale at the New Zealand Forces Club in Cairo and in the canteens, the Egyptian Government until now has not been agreeable to people in New Zealand sending individually addressed parcels of tobacco or cigarettes or parcels containing cigarettA or tobacco.”

Mr Hayden added that the special forms for ordering tobacco and cigarettes that already had been issued to tobacconist and other stores co-opera-ting with the board in operating the postal tobacco service would also be available for those wishing to place orders for men in the Middle East. These forms had been perforated and so designed that sections might be detached to give the sender a receipt when he placed his order and so that he might be advised when his parcel had been sent, and also to enable the board to keep a complete record of the whole transaction. The board attended to the packing and despatch. There was a range of six brands of cigarettes, eight of cigarette tobacco, and seven of pipe tobacco. The prices charged, which included postage and the cost of a tin for packing, represented reductions on the ordinary prices of approximately 5s on 200 cigarettes and ?s on 11b. of tobacco.