SHIPWRECK RELIEF

Evening Star, Issue 23880, 9 May 1941, Page 4

SHIPWRECK RELIEF

LITTLE-KNOWN SOCIETY INSTANT HELP IN CASES OF EMERGENCY At a meeting of the executive of the Shipwreck (Relief Society of New Zealand (Inc.), held yesterday afternoon, approval was given to the decision to have a cheque form printed, with the name of the society plainly shown thereon, this being the first time the society has had a cheque form bearing' its own name. In commenting on the decision, the president (Mr Edgar Hazlett) said that it was a wise one, and it would help to give publicity to the society. “ Only the other day,” he said, “ a man told rile he did not know this society existed.” It is in his remark, more than the decision made, that interest lies. Thei Shipwreck Relief Society is not very well known, largely perhaps because it does its work unostentatiously, and probably partly because demands on it are few. The society was founded in 1902, and since then some £IB,OOO has been paid out for the relief of crews and passengers on ships wrecked Of that sum, nearly £B,OOO has been handed out in the financial year just ended. For the relief of passengers and orew of the Niagara, when that vessel was mined, £1.405 18s 9d was paid out. In January of this year the crew of the fishing vessel Summit, which became a total wreck near Auckland, was given £9 16s. Realising the situation confronting seamen and others on vessels sunk by enemy action in 'war zone waters, the society made a donation of £5,000 during the year to the Royal Benevolent Society in England for dis-. tribution in fitting circumstances. To this sum had to be added £1,250 absorbed in exchange. The drain on the societies funds in 1940-41 was the heaviest in any one year. 1929 being the next, when the wreck of the Manuka off Long Point in December of that year called for relief payments to the extent of £2,000. The society came into Being after the wreck of the Wairarapa. when’ a gene-. ral appeal for funds was made to the public. The money left over from that appeal started the society, which is now the only one of its kind in the Dominion. Its funds are principally derived from Harbour Board and public donations, from interest accruing from these donations, and in a small way from entertainments given on passenger vessels trading between Australia and New Zealand. Shipwreck is a terrible tragedy, for the total loss of a vessel almost immediately means the complete loss of one’s immediate personal belongings. Instant assistance is essential if it is to be beneficial. It is there that the value of the society lies. The instant a wreck occurs in New Zealand waters the society’s funds are ready to be drawn upon for whatever relief may be required. The passengers from the Manuka had barely reached Dunedin than the society had given them sufficient money to tide them over the emergency, and the same applied to the more recent case of the Niagara. The society’s work really deserves a greater publicity, and it is to be hoped that the new cheque forms will help to give some of that publicity..