“POPPY DAY”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22545, 12 April 1935, Page 8

“POPPY DAY”

The Returned Soldiers’ Association will make its annual appeal to-day on behalf of those ex-servicemen who, either because they are unemployed or because they are incapacitated from work, are in need of assistance. The public has not in the past shown indifference to the claims of “ Poppy Day ” upon its piu’se, and it is not to be seriously supposed that it will on this occasion fail to respond handsomely to the invitation to contribute, according to its means, to a very deserving object. There is, it is to be regretted, no room for complacence regarding the condition of the ex-soldiers who benefit as a result of this effort. From a variety of causes, there should, indeed, be a sympathetic recognition of the need for a liberal support of the provision which the Returned Soldiers’ Association is making on behalf of the more unfortunate among its members. It is a matter of almost common knowledge that previously unsuspected weaknesses are liable to manifest themselves, with very little warning, in men who were exposed to the dangers and the terrifying experiences of war, and there is reason to believe that the tendency to breakdowns of this description has been very frequently exemplified during the past year. It is desirable that the Returned Soldiers’ Association should be placed in such a position as will enable it to afford relief, as considerable as possible, in cases of a disability due to this cause. The value ol the help which is afforded by it to

unemployed ex-servicemen does not require to be emphasised. We trust that the public will exhibit its appreciation of the services which the returned soldiers rendered to their country and its sympathy with those among them who are now in need of assistance by making to the “Poppy Day” appeal a response as generous as is consistent with its own circumstances.