RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 20

RANDOM REMINDER

FOR THE CHILDREN

“Children are like woollen singlets. They are familiar assets, sometimes irritating, but they have their place close to the heart, and they ward off life’s chills.” We read this somewhere about a year ago, and nothing since has dissuaded us from accepting this view. For there is no doubt that children are the spur which helps the average man ride life’s long road. Some men live out their lives without knowing the pride and love parents have for their children. But they are

comparatively few. A feeling for family is a deep, instinctive impulse. Yet there are children, even in New Zealand, who are badly in need of help. They lack the security of family life. And today, the public of Christchurch will be asked to help some of them, for the Cholmondely Children's Home at Governor’s Bay is holding its annual street appeal. For more than half a century, the voluntary workers of this organisation have helped children who are ill, or disabled, or

deserted, or whose parents do not look after them. Permits to hold street appeals are not given lightly. There is not a cause, to which the public is asked to contribute, which is not worthwhile. But surely there could be no matter of more concern than the welfare of children. It seems so unfair that some youngsters are without the affection and care which is theirs by right and reason. Today, the collection boxes will become a measure of the public conscience.