AID FOR BRITAIN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 139, 24 March 1948, Page 4

AID FOR BRITAIN

Drive for Coupons, Fat and Food DISTRICT COMMITTEE MEETING The Mayor, Mr B. C. Bathurst, presided at a meeting of the Ashburton Aid for Britain Committee. The committee decided that subcommittees be set up in the various county centres, and it was resolved that drives for food coupons, fat and tinned foods be organised. The Mayor stated that Ashburton had been declared a separate district in the Aid for Britain campaign, with the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers ' as boundaries. This meant that the Ashburton returns in saving food coupons were being shown separately. Formerly they had been included in the Christchurch totals. The Mayor referred to a statement by a farmer in the district that the Government received £SO a ton for fat that was collected free of charge. The farmer undersetood that this money wa« put into a fund. He maintafned that as it cost nothing to collect, it should be distributed free of charge, or with a small charge to cover the cost of distribution. Mr C. Hilgendorf said that the fat collected voluntarily was sold to the soap works for £2O a ton. The money was probably given to the Food for Britain Fund. Fat buyers received £2O a ton and the Government sold it at from £BO to £l2O a ton, depending on quality. The question of an intensive drive to encourage the saving of food coupons wae discussed. Technical High School pupils were congratulated on their efforts in saving food coupons. It was decided to circularise all borough and county schools appealing to the pupils to collect food coupons. It was suggested that boxes for food coupons could be placed in shops, with an appeal to the public to place spare coupons in them. The committee decided that an appeal be made to the public in the borough to place any surplus fat on top of rubbish tins. The fat would be collected in containers on the rubbish carts and dumped in petrol drums at the fat depot Tins would be sent to farmers’ wives, for the collection of fat, and it was decided to ask the transport companies and mail drivers to collect the tins and bring them to the fat depot. It was resolved to ask the Ashburton Red Cross Society to organise a drive for tinned food in the borough. Early May was suggested as the most suitable time time to make the drive. Adequate publicity must be given to the drive, and each donor of tinned food will have his or her name put on a sticker on the tin. It was suggested that the Red Cross co-opt the various organisations in the borough to assist in the drive.

Rationing to Continue-

The Town Clerk, Mr R. C. Major, reported on a conference of Aid for Britain committees that he attended in Wellingon. He stated that it was considered that rationing in Britain would be in operation until 1952 at least. A motion of thanks to Mr S. Mitchell for the splendid service he had given on the Famine Emergency Committee was passed, and it was resolved to ask him to organise volunteer work of the fat depot. Present at the v meeting were the Mayor, Mrs J. Bathgate, the deputyMayor, Mr A. A. McDonald, the Town Clerk, and Messrs Hilgendorf, J. G. Hannah, W. S. Russell and T. J. Harney.