SUCCESS OF POSTIES' DRIVE

Evening Star, Issue 25171, 10 May 1944, Page 2

SUCCESS OF POSTIES' DRIVE

GENEROUS PUBLIC RESPONSE NEARLY £4,000 FOR RED GROSS FUNDS The Dunedin posties' drive for funds for tiie Red Cross has produced a generous response from the public, and £3,700 has been received to date. Collections were still being; made to-day, and it is confidently expected that tiie final result will reach £4,000. This amount is roughly 10 per cent, of the Dunediu-St. Kiida patriotic zone quota for the year, and represents a splendid . result from one single effort. Following the delivery of the envelopes to householders last week, the postmen and postwomen set out on Monday to begin collecting the filled envelopes. They called at each house and gathered the envelopes into red Post Office bags, and before the day was over many of the women were carrying no mean loads of cash. This work lias been continued on the subsequent days of the week, but, far from feeling jaded from their efforts, the posties are extremely enthusiastic. They report that they have been given an excellent reception by almost every householder, and contributions have been offered most readily and cheerfully. COLLECTION AND SORTING. After the envelopes have been returned to the Chief Post Office the staff of the Post Office Savings Bank lias come into the picture. Their aid has been enlisted in sorting and computing the contributions. They also have given their services willingly, and have returned to the office each evening for this special duty. In his appeal for support for the effort the acting chief postmaster (Mr D. 11. Thomson) asked householders not to confine their contributions to small change, but to give notes where possible. His words have been taken literally by many contributors, and not a small proportion of the donations has been in notes. it is evident that householders also fodowed the instruction to pass the envelopes round the whole house, because some small coins were rather obviously the contributions of junior members. These gifts included half-pennies and even a farthing.

Foreign coins entered into the collection, there being several dollars, half-dollars, smaller American coins, and even the coins of other foreign nations. Some of- the gifts indicated how close to the heart at the present time is the name of the Red Cross. A prisoner of war who has been in the hands of the enemy since 1941, first in Italy »vnd now in Germany, had instructed his family to make a contribution on his behalf to the Red Cross of £o as an expression of his gratitude for the great service he had received from the organisation in the supply of food parcels and other comforts. His gift came into the posties' drive. Soldiers, sailors, and airmen in the Miller Ward at the Dunedin Hospital took up a collection and contributed £5 10s towards the drive. A pensioner also sent £o with a note of grateful appreciation to the Red Cross workers. A soldier on furlough made his contribution with a similar sentiment. POSTMASTER'S APPRECIATION.

Mr Thomson expressed his appreciation to-dav to the public for its generous response to the appeal and to the members of the staff who had undertaken the laborious work of collecting and sorting the contributions in addition to their already heavytasks. He said the staff had entered into the appeal with a fine_ spirit, and had conducted the drive with growing enthusiasm and an ardent desire to make a success of it. The were considerably in advance of any similar previous effort by the Post Office workers. The posties concerned numbered 29 women and 25 men. They wished to thank the public, he said, for the fine contribution they had made and the courteous spirit in which they had met the collectors. They felt that their faith in the generosity of the' Dunedin public had been fully justified. The entire proceeds would become available to the Red Cross, the appeal having been conducted without expense.