CHINESE RELIEF

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 122, 19 November 1937, Page 11

CHINESE RELIEF

APPEAL FOR FUNDS

THE RESPONSE TO DATE

COMMITTEE MEETS

Progress reports of the response to date to the appeal for funds to provide ■ assistance for stricken Chinese in the Far East were submitted to a meeting in' Wellington yesterday afternoon of the committee conducting the appeal. The"committee has,in sight from Wellington and other parts of the Dominion a total of £2039 13s 4d. Steps being .taken to augment the fund were outlined: and prospects discussed as to the ultimate response before the appeal closes at the end of this month. The meeting was held in the Red Cross Society rooms, Sir James Elliott presiding. . Mr. M. S. Galloway reported that the subscriptions to date which had passed through the. Wellington office totalled £952 14s 6d. . Lists numbering 1500 were at .present out and were slowly being returned.. It.had not been possible to arrange. a. community sing. A number of children had handed in the proceeds of their Guy Fawkes" collections and gifts in kind had been received, principally old linen. The Chinese ladies had/collected and washed clothes and arrangements had been made to fumigate the goods. NATIONAL RESULT. Reporting on the response to the appeal nationally, Mr. C. Meachen said that 64 local bodies had replied to the joint council's communication -stating that subscription lists had been opened and that they were co-operating •: in every way to make the appeal a sue cess. The amount acknowledged to date was £1213 6s lOd, and with amounts from other centres of which advice had been received <the total was approximately £2039 13s 4d. The Church Missionary Society in Christchurch had prepared a case of some 1500 bandages of all kinds. Two cases of surgical instruments had been'given by Mr. Edward Mason, veterinary surgeon, of Woodville. An appeal had been made to the Wellington warehouses for gifts of linen and calico, and members of the St. John Ambulance nursing divisions were, arranging to make bandages on. receipt of the material. The dhristchurch joint committee advised that the appeal had definitely gathered- momentum. Mrs. Lowry had, been in touch with the various women's clubs throughout the Ijominidh, and contributions were now being received from this, source. , The- only support received, from the Tarariaki. district, continued Mr. Meachen, was that of Individual .citizens, as at a meeting of Mayors of Taranaki towns ,it had been, decided that the appeal should be one conducted by the Government and not by particular organisations.. A benefit .dance under the auspjees of the' joint local committee of Lower Hutt. was to be held on Wednesday next and the Chinese : Consul and party would be attending the function in national costume. PICTURE ENTERTAINMENT. • Approval was given to the holding of a p&lure 4heatre entertainment at the Majestic- Theatre, Wellington,, on Sunday, .November 28, commencing at 8.15-pan.. ■'■ ' 'v "Sir James-Elliott said1 he. had ..been ih-ehristctiurch>rfeceritly and the Mayor, of Christchurch- had said that =■ there would be no question of ChristchurcK not obtaining its quota of £2000. The decision by the Mayors of Taranaki towns had :tiad "an injurious effect, but, nevertheless, some money was being received from this quarter. Auckland . was rather a problem; The Mayor had been out of town, and the Order of St. John there had been rather handicapped in' view of its appeal in connection with ambulance services. A greater stimulus to ■ the .appeal was desirable in--Auckland. ■ A member: Send a.few of our own people up to them. They would stimulate them. ; . ■ ■. . ...... The Rev. F. C. Long raised the question of whether the ■ locaL canvass for funds in business firms was being conducted on quite the right lines in view 01-the factthat the contributions largely were being made by the employees. There seemed, from the subscription lists, to be little: response from the firms themselves. ' ■•••■■. . .-• . ■■■-.■ ■ Mr. Galloway said that although the names of staffs were to be seen -on the lists, some of the lists were started off by the heads of the firms. The lists were now coming in, and some firms had applied for more. Sir James Elliott: If you cast your bread on the waters it will return after many days, seems to describe the position. li was decided to hold a street day in Wellington on November 30. Mr. Galloway said that the R.S.A. as far as. possible would provide the collectors. Mr. Galloway read a letter from the principal of the Wellington Girls' College enclosing a donation subscribed by the girls. It was mentioned also that collections were being made in other colleges. MOTION DEFEATED. The question'was raised by Sir James Elliott as to whether some measure of relief should be afforded at once of whether they should wait until they knew the final result of the appeal at the end of the month. \ A motion to send a cable to the Red Cross Society representative at Shanghai inquiring whether the most urgent need at the present time was doctors, drugs, or money, was defeated. > Lady Myers expressed, the view that it would be better to wait until the end of the month. With the funds available then they might be able to send a few medical men and supplies as well. , I

In reply to one of the members, Sir James Elliott said that medical men who were considered suitable for the purpose had applied in New Zealand to be sent to China ion money from the fund. The number sent; and the urgency with which they were sent depended upon the amount of money received and how quickly it- was needed. At the end of the meeting Mr. Galloway announced that since the meeting began a cheque for £48 \l7s Od had been received from.the National Board

31 JMUESJUI1S. • . . - ■'- ■ .- . ' ■■■ £ s. d. Previously acknowledged .. 56 1 3 in as Much .. 500 S.H. .w.................... 5 0 0 Mrs. David Aiken 3 3 0 Makara Sunday School .... 0 15 ' 0 Sympathiser .;.... 0 10 0 Anonymous ,..:, 0 6 0 \.j, •••••' ° 2 6 £70 17 9