GIFTS FOR AIRCRAFT

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 September 1940, Page 8

GIFTS FOR AIRCRAFT

DURHAM MINERS’ £lO,OOO. [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, September 19. The Ministry for Aircraft Production (Lord Beaverbrook) acknowledges the receipt of £lB7 towards the purchase .of aircraft from the British, French, Portuguese, and 1 Peruvian residents of Iquitos, on the Upper Amazon River, Peru. Gratefully acknowledging a fine gift from the Durham Miners’ Association of £lO,OOO for the purchase of two Spitfires, Lord Beaverbrook wrote: “I have received in past weeks many generous contributions from abroad, and from all sections of the community at home towards the cost of new aircraft, but none has moved me more deeply nor given me such immense encouragement as the donation you have sent on behalf of the Durham Miners’ Association. From members of an industry which has known cruel hardship in the past has come a gift so generous that it must kindle the imagination of freedomloving men and women the world over, giving them irrefutable proof of our determination to gain a total victory over our enemies.” A message was' issued to-night by Lord Beaverbrook to the repair organisation of the aircraft industry in which he gives the highest praise to their magnificent work by night and by day, their indifference to air raids, their maintenance of output in the face of danger, and their dwindling record of time out in shelters. For the week ended September 14, declared Lord Beaverbrook, the output of the repair organisations in operational types of aircraft—bombers and in excess of all types

lost or destroyed in battles and accidents. The Governor of Kenya has gratefully accepted an offer by five local native councils in ..the Central Province of £10,095 from their reserve fund as a contribution from the Kikuyu, Kamba, and Meru tribes towards the purchase of aircraft to be named “Kikuyu, Kamba, and Meru.” The Nawab of Bahawalpur has given £7500 towards the purchase of aircraft.