N.Z. Gives £5000 For Relief In Skopje

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30196, 30 July 1963, Page 14

N.Z. Gives £5000 For Relief In Skopje

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 29. The New Zealand Government has decided to give £5OCu in cash towards the relief of the people of Skopje, the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) announced in a statement today. “The contribution is a concrete indication of the deep sympathy felt by the people of New Zealand for the victims of last Friday’s earthquake,” said the Prime Minister. "In the case of disasters like this, it is most important to give quickly and to offer assistance in the form which will be of most use,” he said “An immediate cash contribution seems most appropriate because it can be used by the relief authorities in whatever way they consider best—the purchase of medicines, blankets and dressings, the erection of temporary buildings or the payment of medical personnel,” he said. Mr Holyoake thanked those doctors and others who had volunteered their services or in other ways indicated their desire t.o help and expressed appreciation of the contributions already made by the National Council of Churches, the New Zealand Red Cross and the special effort of the Save the Children Fund. The Wellington Jugoslav Club decided yesterday to contribute £lOOO to the relief of distress caused by the earthquake. The club president, Mr J. R. Jurie, said the best channel through which to send the money would be investigated immediately. The amount consisted of an official club contribution and donations of various sums ’■ >m individual members, he said. The Commissioner of Works (Mr J. T. Gilkison) is

to be asked to send a New Zealand engineer to Skopje with a view to collecting information about the earthquake. This was decided at the annual conference of New Zealand consulting engineers, now .in session at Wairakei.

The president, Mr G. S. Beca, of Auckland, said this was an opportunity to collect vital information on the behaviour of earthquakes “As an earthquake country. New Zealand cannot afford to miss this chance,” he said Mr Beca told the conference the facts gained could be tabled at the earthquake conference to be held in New Zealand in January and February of 1965. At present the Ministry of Works has a representative studying the effects of the recent earthquake in Chile. As an alternative, the Wairtkei conference will suggest that this representative be brought back to New Zealand by way of Jugoslavia. More than 60 engineers at the Wairakei conference agreed that the facts of the Jugoslav earthquake would be of “tremendous value” to New Zealand.