THE ART OF ASKING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19280, 19 March 1926, Page 13

THE ART OF ASKING.

LIFE-SAVING SOCIETY. INGENIOUS CASE MADE OUT. There is an art in askirg >ot nvfhing and it was not the fault of the honorary secretary of the Canterbury head centre of the Royal Life-saving Society that he did riot receive h donation from the Christchurch Tramway Board. In a letter to the board he set up a good case to prove that, irrespective of the humanitarian side of the question, it was clearly in the, board's financial interests to give a donation. He set out his case in the following manner:— "As your board is doubtless aware, there are, annually in New Zealand, 150 lives lost through drowning. Many of these could have been saved had our methods been more widely known. Those drownings must djrectiy affect the income of your board, because if there are drownings on the beaches people will not visit them, and then the trams lose business. Also, by teaching swimming and lifesaving we encourage people to visit the sea. which they do by travelling in the trams. So our society is deserving of your assistance from a financial point of view, if not from a humanitarian one." A motion by the chairman, Mr. W. J. Walter, that owing to the present state of the board's finances it regretted it could not see its way clear to give a donation was carried. However much members would like to give, the chairman continued, the board's finances could not Etarul it. Two members said they believed the matter was outside the functions of the board, and Mr. J&. W. White stated that the Life-saving Society was in the same position as other bodies worthy of a subscription. If the board gave to one, it .■would have to give to aIL