The Hawera Star TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1928. ROCKEFELLER’S BENEFACTIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 9 October 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1928. ROCKEFELLER’S BENEFACTIONS.

Delivered every eventu* by S' o clock In u&wera. Manair.. Normanby, Okaia'v a. Eltham, Mangatoki. Kaponga. Alton, TTnrleyville Patea. Waverlev. Mo_oia Wnakamara. Ohangai, Meremere. Peasei Road, and Ararata.

The magnificent gift of £700,000 to Cambridge University is another proof that the Rockefeller benefactions arc to be .used “to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.’’ Seven years ago it was estimated that. John D. Rockefeller’s bequests exceeded £100,000,000, and in making this, tbo most wonderful donation to charitable and educational purposes, if is said that •he drew upon his capital as well as his income to such an extent that he was no longer, as he had been, the richest nmni in the world. Nearly four-flfths of his donations wont to four great boncvolont corporations that ho created: the Rockefeller Foundation, the General Education Board, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. Quite on a level with the magnitude of these gifts was the fact that they were free from all restrictions, and the governing corporations, if it is found necessary, are free to spend principal ns well as interest. One' of the earliest, and at the same time one of the most important, of the activities of the Foundation was in the direction of medical education and public health. Largely through its appropriations valuable results were achieved in the eradication of hookworm disease in the southern districts of the United States and twenty-two other States or countries, and wide. Investigations were also made possible on the prevalence of yellow fever In Central and South America. During the war the Foundation provided funds for dealing with tuberculosis in France, and the continuation of this valuable work was taken over by .the French Government after 1920. Some estimate of the huge amount given as benefactions for dealing with disease may bo made from the statement that, in 1924, nearly £400,000 was appropriated for measures of relief and control of hookworm, yellow fever, malaria, and tuberculosis, while £700,000 was donated to medical schools, of which McGill University at Montreal received £IOO,OOO, and Cambridge University nearly an equal amount. These gifts are those made for one year only, and the extent to which Cambridge University has benefited does not represent the only benefactions made to Britain, for in 1920 the London University College Hospital Medical School received •£835,000 far the advancement of medical education and research. China, also-, had, up to the end of 1924, received over £3,000,000 for the development of scientific medicine and hygiene, but in view of subsequent happenings in that country there may be some doubts as to the value received for such w great expenditure. In general, the policy of the Rockefeller 'Foundation is to limit its activities to medical education and public health as being the best way of furthering the aims of the most generous benefactor of all time to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.