NOT ADEQUATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1942, Page 3

NOT ADEQUATE

W.W.S.A. CLOTHING ALLOWANCE IN EGYPT. QUESTION IN THE HOUSE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. An allegation that the girls of the New Zealand W.W.S.A. on active service in the Middle East were suffering great hardships and disabilities as the result of the paucity and unsuitability of the equipment issued to them was made by Mr Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga) in notice of a question in the House last night. Mr Doidge asked the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, if he would have inquiry made immediately with a view to improving the position. In a note to his question Mr Doidge said that the position in regard to the clothes supplied to the W.W.S.A. was declared by the girls themselves to be impossible. “The working clothes,” he added, “are declared to be unsuitable for a tropical climate. The replacement problem is more serious. ’ The girls get £4O clothing allowance, and £lO a year maintenance. It is the £lO a year maintenance which is inadequate. In Egypt, a khaki uniform costs £7 7s, and a drill uniform £2 ss. Laundry work is rough; the natives have scant regard for materials, and the wear and tear of underclothes is heavy. The British Women’s Services are found with all clothing and necessities. Our girls have to find ‘■everything out of £lO a year.”