U.N. APPEAL FOR CHILDREN HAS STRONG SUPPORT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 82, 14 August 1950, Page 5

U.N. APPEAL FOR CHILDREN HAS STRONG SUPPORT

(Special to Beacon) Wellington, yesterday,

With strong support coming from all sections of the community, the 1950 United Nations Appeal for Children is moving into its second stage. The public knows the reasons for the appeal and knows its urgency if millions of children are to be saved from disease and death. Henceforth the campaign message will be ‘‘Give now; don’t wait for someone to approach you.”

These facts were reported to a recent meeting at Appeal Headquarters, over which the Dominion Chairman, Mr C. S. Falconer, presided. Practical Expression

Information from all parts of New Zealand emphasised the tremendous fund of goodwill that exists towards the Children’s Appeal, and many instances were quoted of practical expressions of this goodwill, rang-

ing from the Auckland City Council’s donation of £SOO to the shillings collected by the efforts of school children. Becks . School, Central Otago, for instance, with only 30 pupils, paid in £9O to the Appeal. Three community song gatherings at Dunedin raised -nearly £I7OO. Indicating how the Appeal has gripped the public mind was a cheque from a large national organisation whose secretary wished to close a dormant account. He did so by sending the money to United Nations Appeal for Children.

Believing that adequate publicity had now been given to the reasons for the Appeal, the Committee decided that future activity should be directed towards asking people to go ahead and make their contributions without waiting to be individually approached. It was reported that facilities for receiving donations were now existing in practically every city, borough and county in New Zealand. Appreciation was expressed of the almost unanimous lead given by mayors and chairmen of county councils and town boards in organising local appeal committees. “We cannot hope to make a per-

sonal approach to everybody in New Zealand,” the committee states. ‘People wishing to give to the Children’s Appeal should do so now, by posting their donation to their local Mayor or United Nations Appeal for Children' treasurer, or by taking it to one of the numerous collecting points established through the country.” Flow In Steadily _

With the local committee now past the organisation stage and entering the collecting stage, money is beginning to flow in steadily, the rate of inflow mounting daily. At the beginning of this week Palmerston North led the rest of New Zealand. Then came Wellington, closely followed by Christchurch and Invercargill. Many smaller places like Dannevirke and Timaru, though not high on the list on an absolute basis, are doing extraordinarily well for the size of their population. A notable feature of the campaign is the generosity of the country districts where pro rata the response has been extraordinarily good as well as more prompt than in the cities.