Record Opening To Health Stamp Campaign

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 October 1949, Page 4

Record Opening To Health Stamp Campaign

Health stamp sales in the Greymouth postal district yesterday for the opening of the campaign were easily a record. The district, in fact, obtain - ed in one day a sum which in last year’s campaign nearly three months to raise. For the district, the quota this year is £1350, ans. £1220 worth of stamps was sold yesterday. Thus the district should have no difficulty in exceeding its quota within a very short time; perhaps, it may be exceeded today. The chief office in the town of Greymouth itself was responsible for £BOO of yesterday’s amount, and the sub-offices accounted for the balance. The response was certainly gratifying in a district which last year struggled on Until practically the closing, day of the campaign (January 31) before reaching its quota—and last year was the first year that the quota had ever been reached. Results yesterday gave an indication of the active campaign undertaken by the Health Camp Committee to try to promote sales of health stamps. . Outstanding success was gamed yesterday at Camerons, where the non-permanent postmistress, Mrs V. M. Ward, collected £44 from sales. Usually, the custom is to send a sheet of stamps containing stamps of each separate denomination, and of a total value of £2 ss, to the non-permanent postmistress in the area to dispose of. Substantial Sales Some of the more substantial sales in the district areas yesterday were as follows: —Hokitika £ll5, Reefton £93, Kumara £59, blackball £ll7, and Brunner £lOO. Included in the sales for Blackball and Brunner, are the levies which the miners earlier agreed should be taken from their wages for the purchase of health stamps. In Greymouth, £l5O was collected in sales to members of the Greymouth Rotary Club. “I am very impressed with the results, particularly with the attitude shown by the people who were interviewed for the taking of orders,” said the Postmaster, Mr H. R. Pool. Mr Pool said that such a fine start to the campaign had shown that there was a general realisation of the importance of the movement to the health of the children of the Dominion. “The amount that will be allocated to the health camp committee as a result of the sale of these stamps will enable the full number of children to be sent forward to the camp from this district for another year,” he said. The indications were that if the same enthusiasm were shown next year, then great hopes could be held that the quota would be attained on the opening day, he added. Sales In Other Centres When the post offices in the Wellington postal district closed yesterday health .stamp sales had nearly reached the district quota for the campaign states an announcement from Wellington. Sales amounted to £9228 and the target was £10,050. District quotas were based on the sale of 4s worth of stamps to each householder. , It was known ,in Wellington last evening that at least 10 towns in New Zealand had exceeded their quotas by 9 a.m. in the case of Glen Oroua (Manawatu) by 400 per .cent., and of Queenstown by 300 per. cent. An Auckland message: states that health stamp sales in Auckland were a record. Figures of sales for the whole district were hot known last night but those at the Chief Post Office exceeded the record established by first day purchases last year. Health stamps to the value of £3937 were sold at the Chief Post Office on the first day last year and purchases yesterday were £4493. Last year 42,000 first day covers were sold, breaking the record, but this was broken again yesterday by the sale of 45,000 covers. Sales in the Otago district for the opening day of the 1949 campaign had by last evening amounted to £8631, exceeding by £1941 the objective for the whole of the campaign states a report from Dunedin. The quota for the district was £6690. The outstanding country centre was Cromwell, where sales realised £302, compared with ’the quota of £lOO. A Christchurch message says that stamps worth £10,457 were sold in the Christchurch postal district from Clarence to Rangitata yesterday, to set a new first-day record. Of the takings £7,861 was from the Christchurch area which has a quota of £11,200.