NEW HOME IN BARI

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1943, Page 4

NEW HOME IN BARI

FOR NEW ZEALAND CLUB. FINE BUILDING SECURED. (Official War Correspondent. NZ.E.F.) SOMEWHERE IN ITALY. Novemebr 30. One of the finest buildings in the main thoroughfare in Bari, southern Italy, has ben taken over by New Zealand and will shortly be in full operalion as the New Zealand Forces Club. Carpenters and decorators are now working under the personal supervision of Lieutenant-Colonel Waite preparing the building for its new function. It is a handsome modern sixfloored structure of white concrete, with large windows on the higher floors. Formerly the office of a large insurance firm with headquarteis at Trieste and' Fiume, occupied the second floor, and the upper floors were originally flats. It stands on a corner section in the Via Cavour, a splendid boulevard lined with trees and having a park-like centre strip. It is intended to use the lower floor as club rooms for “other ranks,” and the story above will later be fitted up for officers, nurses, and V.A.D.’s. Two floors will be given over to sleeping accommodation for New Zealanders on leave, for which a small charge will be made. The top floor will accommodate the staff.

The aim is to provide tegs and sandwiches free to the troops, along with other facilities. For meals and more substantial refreshments, a nearby restaurant has been taken over, with its staff, and will operate under the supervision of New Zealand personnel. The new club is now the scene of great activity, and very soon the New Zealanders in Italy will have as fine a “home from home” as the well-remem-bered premises in Cairo.