16 Radio Stations In Plunket Phone Appeal

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28268, 4 May 1957, Page 10

16 Radio Stations In Plunket Phone Appeal

By calling either of two telephone numbers on the night of May 14, anyone living between Kaikoura and Hinds will be connected without charge to the Chief Post Office in Christchurch, which will be the district headquarters for the evening of the national radio and telephone appeal for funds for the Plunket Society.

Those two numbers will connect with 33 extension telephones manned in relays by more.than 70 Post Office staff. The lists of contributors and* amounts they promise Will be transferred to a battery of teleprinters, which will transmit names and amounts directly to radio station 3ZB. There a staff of 20, working in five-minute shifts, will broadcast the names and promises throughout the evening. In the Post Office, computing machines will be running off metropolitan and provincial centre progress totals. By midnight it is expected that the district total will exceed £50.000. South Canterbury and the West Coast will work through their own radio stations. This will be the greatest radio appeal ever held in New Zealand. Sixteen radio stations throughout the country will each have associated a similar organisation. The total of 32.000 names broadcast last year in a cancer campaign appeal held in the Auckland district gives some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking. “There is tremendous enthusiasm in the country districts we have visited and promises of support received from the business community in Christchurch make me confident that we will reach our target,” said the chairman (Mr J. A. White), reporting to the Christchurch Plunket Appeal Committee yesterday. “But the

success of this appeal will depend largely on the ordinary man and woman whom we cannot reach personally. If every family telephones promising its £l, £5, or £lO we shall soon reach our objective.” The national committee insisted on the strictest accounting and auditing so the public Could have complete confidence in the handling of their contributions, Mr White said. It was extremely important that this aspect should be appreciated. A receipt would be sent for every donation as it was received. Gifts might keep coming in for three weeks after the appeal, but special facilities would be provided. The trading banks would arrange for direct payments into the fund, mail addressed “Plunket Radio-telephone Appeal” would be delivered by the Post Office to the proper district headquarters, even if there was no other destination marked. The huge task of auditing would be undertaken free of charge by Messrs Mac Gibbon, Mason and Company.