“VERY GRATIFYING”

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 59, 3 December 1926, Page 10

“VERY GRATIFYING”

CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR LEPERS Sir Maui i Pomare, . Minister in charge of the Cook Islands, desires to make his grateful acknowledgments to all who assisted in the response made by the people of New Zealand and Rarotonga to the appeal he made for Christmas comforts for the patients at the Makogai Leper Station This response has been generous Tn the extreme. There is no doubtrthat the recent visit of two of the French nursing sisters to New Zealand helped greatly to stimulate interest and sympathy in. the welfare of the patients, and made the public realise the extraordinarily fine work which the sisters of the French Catholic Mission are carrying out in the remote tropical island of Makogai. As the result of the appeal made by the Minister, at the suggestion of the Government of Fiji, approximately £5O in cash has been received, of which a portion lias come from the Cook Islands. The Catholic’ community- of New Zealand has subscribed about £4O, which has ben sent forward tlirough Dean Regnault. In addition, Christmas gifts of all kinds, and appropriate to patients of all ages, have been sent in great quantities through the Cook Islands Department and Dean Regnault. These gifts, through the generosity of the Union Steam Ship Company, the Railway- Department, and the Post and Telegraph Department, will be transported free to the leper island, dnd will be received there in good time for distribution on Christmas Day.

Dean Regnault states that it has been very gratifying to receive so many parcels, sometimes from anonymous donors, and sometimes from friends, not onlv from residents in the city, but from all parts of the Wellington provincial district. On behalf of the French nursing sisters, Dean Recrnault returns thanks to the donors. Tie was particularly impressed by, and feels especially grateful for, two parcels—one from a girls’ class of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Sunday School (with a monetary donation from tlie teachers), and another gift from some little girls of St. Peter’s Mission branch of the King’s Crusaders.