GIFT SHIP PLAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23761, 14 September 1940, Page 12

GIFT SHIP PLAN

MINISTER'S EEPLY . INADVISABLE AT PRESENT BRITISH STORES ALREADY FULL [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] WHAKATANE, Friday The suggestion made at the meeting of the Red Cross Society and St. John Ambulance Association committees that a "Gift Ship'' be despatched to England carrying produce from this country, and -which was commended some weeks ago by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, has been described by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, in a letter to the secretary, as inadvisable at the present time in view of numerous other appeals and the fact that the foodstuff supplios in Britain are npw at storage capacity. In his letter, the Minister states that the matter was referred to him as Minister of Marketing by the Prime Minister. "Th§ proposal," he writes, "has received the consideration of the Government and has also been discussed with the secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board. The position at the moment, however, is that all available ships are already engaged in carrying foodstuffs and other essential primary products to the United Kingdom. No Ship Available "Under these circumstances it is regretted that a vessel could not be made available for a gift cargo without a serious dislocation of our shipping programme. • "It is understood, moreover, that at the present time supplies of foodstuffs are up to the storage capacity of the United Kingdom, particularly in regard to the products which New Zealand has available for export. The secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board has advised that, although the board is fully in accord -with the idea of assisting the United Kingdom if it were at all practicable to do so, it is thought that in view of the appeals in various parts of New Zealand tor money for the purpose of providing aeroplanes and arms, and of the urgent necessity of building up patriotic funds for purposes other than sick and wounded, it would be inadvisable at the present time to launch a scheme such as that suggested by your society. Goodwill Objective "The spirit in which the suggestion has been put forward is nevertheless much appreciated by the Government," concluded the Minister. The original suggestion was that the farming community in particular and the public in general should subscribe primarv products instead of money. It ■was thought that boxes of butter and carcases of meat would be more appreciated by the British public than gifts of monev made for the relief of distress. In addition it was emphasised that the goodwill engendered would do much to assist the marketing of New Zealand produce after the war.