WELLINGTON CITY'S RESPONSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 140, 15 June 1937, Page 11

WELLINGTON CITY'S RESPONSE

CONTRIBUTIONS TOTAL ALMOST £15,000

SURVEY OF THE CAMPAIGN

The final meeting of the Wellington committee of the King George V Memorial Fund Campaign is being held this afternoon in the. Council Chamber, Town Hall, when the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, will hand to the Acting Prime Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser, a cheque for £14.994 15s 4d, Wellington's contribution to the fund, to be devoted to the establishment of permanent health camps, for children.

The secretary arid organiser for the Wellington area (Mr. C. O. Coad) has prepared a detailed survey of the progress of the Wellington, campaign.

. Only a few short weeks ago, in response to the Prime Minister's appeal, a meeting was held to consider ways and means of raising funds to commemorate in the form of a living memorial the life and reign of the late monarch* King George V, stated the. report. Up till that time practically no contributions had been , received. Wellington was clearly waiting for this committee to get together to formulate a plan of campaign. Today it affords the/ committee much pleasure to report that the sum raised in Wellington City stands at £14,994 15s 4d, and the sum raised in the Wellington metropolitan area .exceeds £16,000. As regards the methods adopted in raising funds the committee decided to apply itself to the obtaining of contributions. : This did not debar- any outside body from holding functions in aid of the fund. On April 30, the Mayor sent out 5000 personal letters, with a special appeal and subscription lists, addressed _to business houses, incorporated societies, social clubs, and other organisations. Local broadcasts were arranged by the Mayor, the vice-chairman ,of the committee, Mr. B. H. Nimmo, and Colonel Cowles. The Kelp of the Rotary Club was sought through the president (Mr. H. E. Anderson) and a very fine response was received. In addition, most of the members of the committee agreed to interview business houses. Sir Charles Norwood, president ■of the Chamber of Commerce, was good enough to address a personal'letter to all members of the '/chamber and in addition he himself contacted many leading business houses. Up to that time (May 17) the fund had been growing very slowly (the sum contributed was then only £6000), but with the personal contacts made by Botarians, Chamber of Commerce representatives, and committee members it began to grow rapidly in snowball fashion. SUCCESS OF FLAG DAY. Flag Day was held t ori the late King's birthday, June 3. 'The Wellington Returned Soldiers' ■■Association kindly lent ■ its organisation ■of voluntary helpers to sell flags in the streets, and assistance was obtained from women officers of the Public Service, the Post and Telegraph Department, ■ and the Railway Department and from a number of women's organisations..At 11 o'clock in the morning of Flag Day a ceremony was held at the "Field of Remembrance," the grass plot at the corner of Molesworth Street and Lambton Quay. The procession "Cavalcade of Transport," which caused so much interest and amusement, was arranged by the Automobile Association under the leadership of Mr. W. A., Sutherland. The proceeds of the day reached the very fine total of £883. ' The main work was done by the womenfolk, who from early morning until late in the afternoon stood in the streets collecting donations. The'day, although fine, was cold, and for many of these ladies the work was something of an ordeal. A photographic record was required of the Field of Remembrance, and the Fire Brigade was good enough to turn out with its large escape ladder to enable the "Evening Post" photographer' to take a photograph from a suitable altitude. ' The colleges and primary schools also supported Flag Day by means of handsome donations. The -idea of nag planting, stated Mr. Coad, emanated from ■ Councillor L. McKenzie. The executive committee - realised early in the campaign that any effort to raise funds would be incomplete if it did not have, the assistance of women's organisations. Accordingly the Mayoress kindly agreed to call a meeting representative of the different women's organisations, at which the ladies' committee was set up, the Mayoress as chairwoman, Mrs. Mar-shall-McDonald vice-chairwoman, and Miss N. Donovan secretary. The ladies' committee was considerably hampered in its activities, by reason of the. shortness of time,'but notwithstanding this they were instrumental, m conducting an art union, a guessing competition, and a cabaret evening, which brought in £74 for the,fund. Through the good offices of Mr. S. Ansell oi the J. C. Williamson Picture Corporation, the Wellington picture theatre proprietors arranged for four Sunday night picture1 entertainments, and at the final concert a cheque for £356 15s 6d was handed to the Mayor. RESPONSE OF LABOUR UNIONS. The various labour unions had been very liberal in their response to the appeal. An appeal w,as issued over the signatures of Mrs. P. Fraser, Mr. J. O. Johnson, president of the Labour Representation Committee; Mr. J. Tucker, president of: the Trades and Labour Council; Mr. K. Baxter, secretary of the district council, Alliance of Labour; and Mr. J. H. Collins, secretary of the Labour Representation CommitteeJ Addresses were given also to the workers in. various institutions and business establishments. , Following an address by the Hon. Mr. Fraser the sum"of £69 was collected on.the waterfront, and the.total sum subscribed through the Labour Representation Committee was well over1 £450. All unions received the appeal with enthusiasm and worked assiduously in rais-' ing funds^ In'addition to the amounts collected, by the Labour Representation Committee Mr. Glover,, of the "Standard," was instrumental in collecting £159 2s 9d. Wellington could claim to have received the highest and the lowest contributions to the fund, continued .the report. The- Wellington Harbour Board's contribution of £3000 was the highest in the Dominion, and the distinction of contributing the smallest amount went tq, "4 Scotsmen," who combined to contribute Id., Not onlyhad business firms and private individuals been most liberal, but churches, sports bodies/friendly societies, and social organisations of all kinds had been most generous. All sections of the community, had participated. THANKS TO THOSE WHO WORKED. "During the course of the campaign so many people have helped that it would be quite impossible to name them all. There are certain outstanding people and bodies, however, which must be referred to. I must mention first of all the Mayor, who took up the

Prime Minister's appeal, made it his own, and by his labours, addresses, and example did so much to ensure the success of the appeal, and Mr. R. H. Nimmo, vice-chairman of the committee, who alone was instrumental in bringing in well over £1000. Mr. H. E. Anderson, president of the Rotary Club, led the Rotarians in : contacting business firms; Mr. J. Spence, of the Returned Soldiers' Association, was responsible for the street collections on Flag Day; Mr. W. A. Sutherland, of the Automobile Association, arranged the Flag Day procession; and warm thanks were due to ColonerCowles, who acted as marshal at the flag-planting site; Mr. T. M. Donovan, who not only did a vast amount of work in contacting business firms, but gave the benefit of his advice and assistance in many other directions. Thanks were due also to Sir Charles Norwood, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and Mr.'Bardsley, secretary, for interesting business folk in bringing about so many handsome contributions. To Mr. Collins, of the Labour Representation Commit* tee, Mr. Glover, of the 'Standard,' and to the 'Evening Post' and the ■ 'Dominion,' not; only for their newspaper subscription lists, but also for their most generous reports of the'doings of the campaign. Stations 2YA and 2ZB also were of the greatest assistance, tlje latter not only broadcasting announcements, but opening up its own subA scription list." ' ■ Station 2ZB gave a concert in the Town Hall on' Mothers Day, and this resulted-in the raising of £60 14s Id, the collection being made by Red Cross nurses and associated helpers. Twelve commissionaires also gave-vol-untary help. Various concerts and home functions in aid of the fund had been given by adults and children in and about the city. ' Other functions included Messrs. .Chas. Begg and Company's piano exhibition, the proceeds from which were £50,. and a football match, Public Servic^ y. Wellington, which brought in £126. ' Mr. Coad expressed his personal thanks to the Town.Clerk, Mr. E. P. Norman, 'and' to the City Treasurer, Mr. B. O. Peterson, his clerical assistant, Mr. W. Cooley, and personal typiste, Miss Falkner; Miss Mudie, of the City Solicitor's staff, and Miss Gochrane, secretary to the Mayor. Finally, said Mr. Coad, thanks were due to Mr. J. W. Heenan, Under-Sec-retary, Department of Internal Affairs, who had been the means,of inspiring people from one end of the Dominion to the other in showing their affection, fc-r our.late-Monarch in tangible form. Mr. Heenan took a personal interest in the Wellington campaign, and in spite of the ordinary demands of his office and work involved in conducting the Dominion campaign he was chairman' of the Wellington Flag Day committee and much of the success of that day was due to his effort. The Mayor had agreed that the expense involved should be borne by the city and in this1 connection it was interesting to note that the total expense to. date was-'only; £85.,■ It ...was estimated that the final figure would be approximaely £100, which represented an expenditure of only 12s for each £100 collected. ' In conclusion, reference should be made to the most important aspect of the campaign; that was the influence that it would have on the health of New Zealand children. The benefits would extend not only to the children of today but to.children of the future. All who had worked and had given freely would feel amply rewarded in the thought that the good they had done would live long after, them. "We have been successful in .raising the wherewithal to place Health Camps on a definite permanent basis," concluded Mr. Coad. "The camps are doing wonderful work now,1 but in a comparatively small way. We have been privileged to assist in making it possible'for them to do greater and better work in giving to children who need it the greatest of all blessings —the blessing of health."