HASTINGS POPPY DAY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 112, 24 April 1936, Page 4

HASTINGS POPPY DAY

Street-Sellers Busy FUNDS FOR LOCAL CASES To-day is Poppy Day in Hastings, and street-sellers and members of the Returned Soldiers’ Association have had a busy time disposing of their poppies. There have been signs, notably at Easter, that money is rather more plentiful than it used to be, and tho U.S.A, is therefore hopeful that there will be more money available for spending on poppies, the proceeds from which are devoted to the care of local returned soldiers and sailors in necessitous circumstances.

It is explained that the R.S.A. deducts nothing from the collection, the costs of which are borne by tho association itself, leaving the whole of the sura collected for addition to the fund for the relief of distress.

“Returned soldiers, for some reason or another, have a disinclination to speak about their circumstances, even if they are pretty bad,’’ said an official of the Hastings R.S.A. to-day, when asked what degree of distress exists among returned men in this district, “but I can assure you that silence does not mean that there is no call for assistance. We have a number of men or dependants of returned men whom we look upon as being urgently in need of our help, and every penny collected to-day W'ill be put to excellent use.”

Collectors who have been selling from house-to-house report that sales have been very good, and the R.S.A. executive is confident that by the time the collection has been completed today an excellent result will have been achieved.

People attending the Anzac Day service to-morrow are asked to wear their poppies, and ex-servicemen to wear medals and decorations.