CORRESPONDENCE.

Hutt News, Volume 11, Issue 10, 4 August 1937, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

the Editor.)

'Sir,—Christmas will soon be here with its festivities and its associations of peace and goodwill. On the little Island! of Makogai in the Fiji Group there are 349 men, 160 women, 38 boys, 21 girls, all resident leper patients. Some of these afflicted people look forward to icompletc recovery, but other victims in advanced stages of the disease wait for the happy release of death. . These brothers and sisters of ours have looked to us for the past 10 yeaTs to send them Father Christmas. A short time ago I received a pathetic message from a blind European patient i from New Zealand on *this isle of pain. He asked that we would not forget them at Christmas .time. This patient has since died. In May'last I received two more letters from two young <marrieffl- half-caste leper women at Makogai, who come from "the Cook Islands, our dependencies in the- Pacific. These two women expressed deep gratitude for the help given them, and pleaded for a continuation of this assistande. I therefore feel that it is my duty, as well as a pleasure, to appeal to your readers on 'their behalf. We jnay not be able to ,cutc these friends of ours, but we certainly can help to alleviate, their sufferings. Gifts, for Christmas may be sent to me care the iChristchureh Gas Company's Oftk-c, Worcester Street, and all donations will be acknowledged by a personal letter. All parcels for the lepers may he sent by Post Office at half ihe ordinary rates if addressed to me and marked for the "Makogai Lepers." Gifts of money will enable us to purchase goods which may be in short supply. Dr. T. Fletcher Telford, M.D., J.P., is associated with me in this appeal as trustee. We feel deeply grateful for the help given us in past years, and we trust to receive this support once again. I am, etc. P. T. TWOMEY,'' Honorary Collector. Christchurch, August 2, 1937.