QUOTA REACHED

Evening Star, Issue 25893, 10 September 1946, Page 6

QUOTA REACHED

FOOD FOR BRITAIN OTAGO GIVES 101,690 COUPONS It was announced to-day that Otago had collected 101,690 food coupons in the “ Food for Britain ” drive which ended yesterday. The target set for the district was 100,000, and until the last moment there was doubt whether this quota would be reached. Of the total number collected 96,259 were meat coupons, representing a total value of £1,203 3s 3d, or a week’s ration for over 20,000 Britishers. The 3,735 butter coupons given represented gno ton of; butter, or a week’s ration for 12,000. Tea. brought 972 coupons (one hundredweight) and sugar 724 (five hundredweight)..

The larger part of the quota was given in the second week of the drive, when the response was over three times better than in any previous week since the inception of the coupon-saving scheme over five months ago. The Dunedin and suburban postmen and postwomen willingly lent their support to tiie drive, and operating a voluntary competition among themselves, collected 37,610 coupons. Of all the postal runs, P.itt street did best with 2,054 coupons; Peliehet Bay came second with 1,856, and Maori Hill third With 1,823. The box placed outside the Chief Post Office also brought in a 'large number of coupons, the record being broken yesterday, when 1,710 were placed in it between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The churches handed in large packets of coupons collected over the week-end. Four city shops also acted as depots for coupons, and many were received from that source. Among the country districts (which excluded Oamaru) an outstanding contribution was made by the. small community of Wanaka, which gave 2,326 coupons, Cromwell gave 2,837, Mosgiel 2.208, and Port Chalmers 1,721, ° The sub-committee of the Otago Famine Emergency Committee, which has been controlling the drive, met this morning to receive the final figures. Members of the sub-committee are Mr Ernest Smith (chairman) and Messrs A. Thomas, D. ,Sbeard,/L. Frude, C. A. McLay, and H. Ninnis. Mr Smith said that the public were to be congratulated on their response, which enabled the quota to be reached at the last moment. Members of the sub-committee were also to be congratulated for their exacting work in organising the drive. Special thanks were due to the postmen and postwomen, who had given invaluable service in enabling the coupons to be collected. . , , _ (Mr Smith, in his capacity as chief postmaster, had borne a large burden in 'controlling the campaign, said Mr Thomas, and he would like to express the thanks of his fellow-members to him for his work. Thanks were also expressed to the broadcasting services and the Press for the publicity they had given to the drive. It was emphasised at. the meeting that, although tho special fortnight’s campaign had now ended, the need for coupon-saving was still present, and the people should not relax their efforts to give every available coupon to the savings scheme, which was still in operation.