WESTPORT NOTES.

Grey River Argus, 20 May 1922, Page 2

WESTPORT NOTES.

(Our Own Correspondent.) A Charity calls upon the public purse have been exceedingly frequent of late. During Ihe war period, people felt the drain upon their pockets on account of the, frequency of appeals on behalf of the sick and wounded. Many civilians were relieved of a good deal f, of anxiety in this direction when the (’ armistice was signed. Even though it b was always a pleasure to give, they c; felt a certain amount of relief in the b i idea, that calls for the future would a not be quite so persistent. There were tl some, however, who declared that we Hi would not feel the real financial effect Ip of what was going on in Europe, until some time after the war was actually [w over. Their prophecy has come true. Post-war calls arc becoming infinitely • a

mure frequent ami urgent than were n the appeals during the period of the u hostilities, and most of* them are tin' L direct outcome of tire devastation j wrought by the conflicting Powers in n the recent world wa r. | p I promised to contribute a note or pi two on Clutha Mackenzie’s lecture. v They are of a rather critical kind, am! f 1 propose to forward them one by one. s The first tells of a very strange thing v which happened the close of his ad-!,, dress. Two clerics, in moving a vot 4 of thanks to the lecturer, paid a tribute to his genius, and one predicted'., for the blind soldier politician eleva- ( j t ion to Cabinet. But being a man de-\ prived of his sight, Mr Clutha Ma<ken- | zie was not cognisant of the fact that | they were pastors who were paying I him .such very line compliments, and consequent upon his blindness, the > speaker, in returning thanks, told the | following delightful story: ‘•When my | father was first elected to Parliament, ) I can I'cniincber an old Scotch lady com ] ing up and saying to him, ‘Ah. 'fam, j I’m glad you’ve taken to polities; 1

always bad a notion you were cut out ] for the pulpit!’’ (Apparently the old , Scotch lady preferred tin- political I arena to the pulpit, i Mr Giljivic, the proprietor of the | newly-established motor service be- ( tween A\ aimangaroa and Denniston, ha< ( a contract to convoy .16 miners from ♦he flat to the Hill top e\ary week-end. I understand the miners have thii'.' wives and families residing on the Hat, and they (the miners) work on the' mountain-top for live days in the week* and spend the remainder of their homes in Waimangaroa. Mr George Gothard, an ex-Mayor off rhe town, has been chosen by the \\ cs'- I ’iort Borough Council to represent its .nt erests at the sitting of the Assess-I priciil Court which takes place on Mon-I I day. . . . The mcnioers of the Ila ngim.irie Croquet Club are giving a dance to Mr Geoige Aitken. Rhodes Scholar, on' Wednesday, the 2-Hh. The commit-i tee at first engaged the Orange Hall. | but afterwards found that there* was such a demand on the invitations that • t would be necessary to hold the function in a larger building. I hey have consequently arranged to transfer to the , K ing’s Theat re. The following were present at the* Soldiers’ Gateway Memorial me<*ting in: the Town Hall on 'Thursday evening: ! Mayor Menzies, Mr C. I'. Bryan, Mr A.< Taylor, Mr C. IL Gothard, Cr Fox, Rev. |('oursey, Messrs Driscoll, Borlacc, Huge dorn, Carr, Vincent, Mesdamos Duthie, Rose, Hobbs, Loek and Riley. Mr IL E. Holland, M.P., is expected back in Westport early in the first week in June. An endeavour is being made to get the Prime Minister to come to West port for the unveiling ceremony on J une I ■ [i. In the event of Mr Massey s inability to attend General Russell is to be asked to come along. Failing Gen oral Russell, Colonel Chaytor or Richards will be communicated with. Captain Mitchell's name was also mention ed as a likely comer. Mayor Menzies > said Lord Jcll'|-oe had been asked to attend but he had replied regretting very much that it was impossible for ■ him to be present. At a, meeting in the ’Town Hall on Thursday evening called for the pur- , pose of receiving the committee’s report on the erection of the Soldiers’ Me|inorial Gateway at Victoria Square. In a written report read out by the secreary, Mr Taylor, Town Clerk, it was stated that £IS7G had been collected, £l2OO was cash and £376 of promised money was still to be collected. Mr Bryan, chairman of the committee, speaking to the adoption of the report paid a tribute to the public for the magnificent response they had made to th<*

appeal for suftieieiit funds for the erection of the very fine memorial now in the progress of construction. Mr C. IL Gothard, who seconded the adoption of the report, ffaid the memorial gate would be one of the finest in New Zealand He was sure when tin* erection was completed tin* public would be satisfied th i! the money had been well spent an i their choice a fitting ami proper on. . The report was unanimously adopted. 'The meeting decided to secure ribbons with “In Memori.-im” printed on them and sell same for 1/- apiece* on the day of the unveiling ceremony. Mrs G. Gothard is to be asked to act as lady secretary of the. movement 'The subscription list with the names of all who have subscribed to the memorial will be laid on a table on June 3, and L’livone wishing to add their names, will have an opportunity to do so. H was also decided to inaugurate a copper trail. A meeting of ladies will be called to organise the propositon in regard to the sirte- of ribbons and the inauguration of a copper trail. The unveiling ceremony will commi'iice at 1.30 p.m. \ our correspondent acknowledges with thanks Press compliment ary tickets from tin* proprietors of Morgan’s Picture 'Theatre, Mr W. M. Kerr (secret arv of the North Beach Surf Club), and Miss B. Tulloch (hon. secretary Westport Ladies’ Hockey (’lub).