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India The work in this area continued under the able supervision of Mr. C. R. C. Gardiner, the Board's Honorary Commissioner there. Australia The Board's representatives in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth continued to care for visiting personnel. This work was greatly increased owing to the large numbers of troops calling into Australian ports on their way home. Haeremai House, in Melbourne, which had fulfilled a valuable service as a hospitality centre for visiting Service personnel, closed on the 31st March, 1946. Japan With the New Zealand occupation Force which left the Middle East in January, 1946, went a fully equipped welfare service under the control of Mr. R. S. Knapp, Senior Y.M.C.A. Secretary, and National Patriotic Fund Board Commissioner. Sufficient sports equipment to last twelve months, canteen supplies, picture plants, and a variety of other items which would be necessary to establish a welfare service equal to that which had operated in the Middle East were taken. Conditions, however, were very different in Japan from those in the Middle East, mainly due to the fact that suitable buildings as recreation huts were not available, nor was furniture readily procurable. The various problems were surmounted, but it was some time before a satisfactory welfare service was established. No supplies were available locally; these were all obtained through the central purchasing agency for the British Commonwealth Occupational Forces. To supplement supplies, stocks of tea, sugar, and milk were forwarded from New Zealand when opportunity arose. Items of this nature were issued free to the troops. Apart from the moneys and stocks taken from the Middle East, the Board's expenditure on the Force up to the 30th September, 1946, amounted to £10,617. 5. Disposal of Assets Overseas. —With the exception of band instruments and equipment in remote localities such as the No. 1 Islands Group, all patriotic property was sold in the area in which it was located. The amounts realized exceeded £350,000. New Zealand. —The disposal of the Board's property in New Zealand was entrusted to a special Committee set up by the Board for the purpose. Some three hundred different types of items were handled, including huts, furniture, musical instruments, cinematograph-plants, ice-cream plants, and sports equipment of all types. The aim of the Committee was to afford all persons an opportunity to purchase, and to that end sales were effected by public auction and by tender in all parts of the Dominion. Prices generally were very satisfactory. The sum of £lBl,OOO was realized during the year. 6. Secretary During the year Mr. G. A. Hayden, who has been Secretary to the Board since its inception, and whose work has been of inestimable value to the patriotic effort of New Zealand, suffered a severe breakdown in health. The Board expresses the wish that he will soon be restored to full health. 7. Obituary The Board regrets to record the death during the year of one of its most valued members in the person of the Hon. Vincent Ward, M.L.C., C.8.E., who was also Honorary Secretary of the Wellington Provincial Patriotic Council. Mr. Ward had rendered outstanding service to the patriotic effort throughout the war years, and his loss was a grievous one.

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