PATRIOTIC GIFT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 3 December 1940, Page 2

PATRIOTIC GIFT

LOYALTY AND CO-OPERATION OF MAORI PEOPLE ■ j [United Press Association! WELLINGTON, This Day. : The loyalty and co-operation of the j Maori people in matters affecting New ' i Zealand and the British Empire gen- ; i erally are praised by the Governory General. Lord Galway, in a letter that I has been forwarded from him to the j chairman of the Arawa District Trust ! Board. Rotorua, acknowledging rej ceipt of a gift of £SOO from the Arawa J tribe which he has credited to the National Patriotic Fund Board. The l I disposal of the money was left to his ■ Excellency’s discretion, and it was y I part of £IOOO which earlier in the y 1 year the Arawa tribe decided to raise on the income of Maketu farm, the e ' other £SOO having been given to the ■ Government as an interest-free war lloan- [ In his letter his Excellency stated that the £SOO would be used by j. the National Patriotic Fund Board to the very best possible advantage in * the interests of the New Zealand soldiers. He said that during his term " of office he had been deeply impressed by the loyalty of the Maori people to His Majesty the King and their readiness as members of the British Com s monwealth of Nations to play their part in its defence. , The generous donation now made to the patriotic funds, coupled with the j loan free of interest to the Government, afforded striking evidence of the determination of the Maoris to assist in every possible wdy. and, his s. Excellency added, it would be his pleasure, on his return to the United Kingdom, to acquaint His Majesty of I the important part they were taking in the Dominion’s war effort.