AEROPLANE FUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24474, 6 December 1940, Page 11

AEROPLANE FUND

DOMINION TOTAL £145,607 FULL AMOUNT FOR AIRCRAFT GOVERNMENT CHANGES DECISION <Fer United Press Association) WELLINGTON. Dec. 5. The Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, announced to-day that the total so far received as subscriptions to the Aeroplane Fund for Britain amounted to £145,607 5s sd. which had been contributed as follows (to the nearest pound):— Northland 5,010 Auckland 39,599 Taranaki 4,625 Hawke's Bay 6.050 Canterbury 6,823 Wellington 15,662 Nelson 1.592 ' Marlborough .. .. 1,298 Westland i .. 747 Otago . • 529 Southland 21,000 In addition to the district collections, the following sums have been forwarded direct to the GovernmentNew Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, £7500; Women's Division of the Farmers' Union, £5008; New Zealand Meat Producers' Board. £30,000; European and Native of Niue Island, £l5B 17s. Otago's Deferred Collection Mr Fraser said that, at the request of the Mayor of Dunedin (Mr A. H. Allen), the collection in Otago had been deferred, but. was now being made. The appeal generally, Mr Fraser added, was launched on the basis of £IOO.OOO, New Zealand currency, to be given for the purchase of fighter planes, any balance over this sum to go towards the training of pilots under the Empire air scheme in Canada or the purchase of war machines for the defence of New Zealand. The Government had now decided to give the whole amount to the purchase of fighter planes. Twenty-three Planes Having regard to the district collections and the amount contributed by the Meat Board. Mr Fraser added, a request was being made for the purchase of 23 planes, representing the purchase value of the £145,000 already collected, as follows:—Northland, 1; Auckland, 5; Waikato, 1; Taranaki, 1; Hawke's Bay, 2; Wellington, 3; Marlborough -Westland-Nelson, 1; Canterbury 2; Southland, 3; country women of New Zealand, 1; New Zealand, 6. SPIRIT OF BRITAIN GRATITUDE FOR GIFT " MAGNIFICENT GESTURE " (Per United Phess Association* WELLINGTON, Dec. 5. The Prime Minister. Mr P. Fraser, has received the following message from the British Minister of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook:— Were any fresh evidence necessary of the utter devotion of the people of your Dominion to the Empire's cause, it would be overwhelmingly provided by the contribution sent to me by your High Commissioner in London for the purchase of fighter -aircraft. Our hearts are uplifted and our spirits fortified. By this magnificent gesture of support, you enable us to strike ever harder blows at the evil forces of Nazi and Fascist aggression, bringing nearer the day when the hosts of Hitler and his Italian jackal will forever bite the dust. In sending to the Dominion of New Zealand this expression of my heartfelt gratitude and thanks, I know I speak for the whole of the British nation, and, indeed, for all in every land who love freedom.