PATRIOTIC GESTURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 228, 9 July 1941, Page 2

PATRIOTIC GESTURE.

PAHIATUA SUBSCRIBES £1154. TO'PURCHASE BREN CARRIER, (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash) to-day acknowledged, on behalf of the Government, the receipt of £1154 from Mr iS. K. Siddels (Mayor of Pahiatua), contributed in that district for the manufacture and equipping of a Bren gun carrier for service in New Zealand.

“These moneys,” said Mr Nasji, “were the result of purely local efforts, and originated iir an offer by Air Godfrey - -Taylor to contribute £SO if-19 others in the town or surrounding district did likewise. The idea was enthusiastically taken up by Mr Siddells, with tho result that the amount aimed at was exceeded. This goodwill offering has been paid into the War Expenses account and will bo subsidised by the Government to tlie extent, necessary to provide Paohiatua’s own Bren gun carrier. It will be suitably inscribed and will serve as a permanent testimony to the patriotic spirit of tho people of that district. “This very fine effort, made by Pahiatua for home defence purposes, relieves the Government to that extent and enables more attention to be given to the equally important problem of equipping the troops overseas. It is hoped that Pahiatua’s example will be followed by other parts of the Dominion, and the idea, of a War Weapons Week in, various localities should prove as popular and beneficial here as it has done in many centres in Britain. For instance, if any other town liked to subscribe, say, £ISOO, it could have the satisfaction of having provided its own universal or Bren gun carrier, and the fact could be recorded on the carrier.”