FOUR-FIGURE CHEQUE

Evening Star, Issue 21519, 18 September 1933, Page 8

FOUR-FIGURE CHEQUE

LAST-MINUTE CARNIVAL THRILLS CIVIC AND CINEMA RIVALS ORGANISING SECRETARY REVIEWS CAMPAIGN Asked his opinion regarding the general results of the queen carnival, the organising secretary (Mr G. A. Wycherley) said that he considered them to have been highly satisfactory. The fact that the business firms and many individuals had already contributed heavily to the direct appeal made by the mayor on behalf of his relief fund confined the' activities of the queen carnival committees to the sphere occupied by those citizens whose means were more or less limited. To gather something like £5,000 from this field, therefore, was an achievement for which the committees of the four queens deserved great credit. The result also proved, said Mr Wycherley, that the section of the public whose sympathies were said to have,been alienated because of the means used to raise some of the money could not have been so. large or so important as certain critics had thought it to be.

Speaking of the contest and its result, Mr Wycherley said that it had been a most interesting one throughout. He had judged, towards the end, that at least some of the queen committees had been “ playing ’possum,” and were keping a fair amount of money “up their sleeves,” but he had not been altogether prepared for the heavy last-moment payments made by the,.two leading queen committees. There had been a touch of the dramatic about those “ death knock ” proceedings. Five minutes before the time set for closing the services queen was leading, with sports second, and civic third. It was then that the keen treasurer of the Civic Queen Committee (Mr J. A. Aitcheson) came along with a final cheque for an amount just under four figures. This was a weighty bit of paper in the scales, but at precisely ten seconds before 11 o’clock the equally keen chairman of the Cinema Queen Committee (Mr S. Pitt) placed upon the table a still weightier one—a cheque actually for four figures. But, lr/avy as it was, this fell short, by _ £26 only, of the amount needed to win. It was a thrilling moment, though, and the disappointment of the cinema queen's followers when the result was made known could be imagined. However, there it was.

“ So far as my observation went,” continued Mr Wycherley, “ the civic queen’s win was largely due_ to widespread and efficient organisation. This included a large number of committees of enthusiastic workers and a hardworking and methodical secretary in Mr E. H. Ombler. But the committees and secretaries of all the queen organisations worked hard and unselfishly.” ‘‘As a matter of fact,” concluded Mr Wycherley, “ the proceedings during the whole of the lengthy period of the carnival were remarkably free from serious friction or disqord, and now that it is all practically over there can be nothing but the friendliest feelings existing among all concerned, from the live and energetic chairman of the executive (Mr J. J. Marlow) to the least of the ‘ donation ticket ’ sellers. And the greatest satisfaction lies in the fact that a sum of money has been raisedwhich will help materially to alleviate the distress which exists in Dunedin.”