AID FOR CRETE

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26127, 1 June 1950, Page 3

AID FOR CRETE

ACTION BY 2ND N.Z.E.F. ASSOCIATION

A letter which Mr William Martin, of the British Consulate at Canea. in Crete, addressed to the editor of “The Press” appealing to New Zealanders to send gifts of food and clothing to Crete to relieve the distress of villagers, has prompted the Christchurch branch of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association to convene a meeting in Christchurch on June 15, at which it is hoped a committee will be set up to organise aid to the Cretans. Invitations to attend the meeting are being sent out to 17 local organisations, and the association is hopeful that other interested persons will also attend.

“It is the considered opinion of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association that, apart from former servicemen, the people of New Zealand as a whole owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Crete, which can never be repaid and must never be forgotten,” says a circular letter being issued by the president of the branch (Mr M. W. McKenzie) and the secretary (Mr W. D. Martin). “Now that the guns are silent and our own servicemen and women are in the process of being rehabilitated it is a : hocking thing to discover that our friends and comrades in the dark days of 1941 are starving and in want of warm clothing. We swore then that we wou'd never forget, and now that the opportunity has arisen when we can endeavour in this small way to repay, at ♦least some of our debt, let us organise and go forward with glad hearts."