RELIEVE SPAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1937, Page 7

RELIEVE SPAIN.

EFFORT IN AUCKLAND

Generous Public Response to

Appeal for Funds.

DONATIONS EXCEED £200

Reports from the organisers in Auckland of medical and other aid to be eent to Spain reveal that over £200 in cash and donations of blankets and clothing 1 have been received in the city and province during the past two or three weeks. This is regarded as a splendid responee to the appeal for urgent assistance. "Wonderful," was the comment today of Mr. Thomas MeNab, Mayor of Mount Eden, who is chairman of the Auckland branch of the Ked Cross Society, in commenting on the fact that the workers for the society in Auckland had secured over £100 worth of comforts for Spanish children this month. These comforts, consisting of blankets and underclothing, would be »ent to Spain by the first available direct vessel of the C. and D. Line and should be available for distribution in the Spanish distressed areas soon after faster. Mr. McNab explained that the goods were now being packed in Auckland warehouses preparatory to shipment. "Our effort has been made in response to an appeal from the international headquarters of the Red Cross Society in Paris," said Mr. McNab. "The comforts are intended for Spanish children and will be distributed by Red Cross workers in Spain. In other parts of Now Zealand similar good* worth about £400 have been provided by public donations, making a total for the Dominion of £500 worth." Mr. McNab seid the eociety was grateful to all donor* for their help, and he particularly mentioned that most of the money 'received was in small sumo, much of it being given anonymously. All part* of the province were represented in the effort. Medical Unit Needed. A larger undertaking, the provision of a medical unit, in which Dr. D. G. McMillan, M.P., of Dunedin, was the prime mover, is also receiving encouraging support, according to a statement made this morning bv Mr. T. Stanley, chairman of the Auckland Medical Aid Committee for Spain, which has been active for several weeks in organising the local appeal. Mr. Stanley said that so far £100 hail been iai«'eri towards the purchase of an ambulance and the payment of the fare* of a doctor and four attendants to be sent to Spain from New Zealand. The cost of the ambulance would be £4."i0 and a further £200 would be required to cover fare*, making a total of £((50. Afterwards there would be the cost of maintaining the ambulance, which would be New Zealand's responsibility. On Humanitarian Grounds. It was explained that the various Auckland borough councils and other local bodies were being invited to assist the effort by donations and by authorising street collections or street meetings in their districts. A keen local advocate of medical assistance for the Spanish people. Dr. J. P. Hastings, a member of the Auckland Hospital said the effort initiated by Dr. McMillan was made on humanitarian grounds and was nonpartisan. It was the desire of the organisers that everything possible should be done to succour the wounded on both sides. Dr. Hastings emphasised the urgency of the need. "There is the danger of an epidemic breaking out in Spain which would spread to neighbouring countries land so envelop the whole of Europe," he *Htd. "In Madrid ami in other desolated cities. wlicM'c t'ie drainage systems mid the sanitary arranT-monts have been broken ui>. the i'n»>»lit'nn«* of li'e are a grave menace, i iie lonier the siege continues the more wio'ix does the position become and the Government* of Europe are today seriously concerned about the safeguarding of i their populations."