The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1931. WHAT OF CHRISTMAS?

Southland Times, Issue 21576, 14 December 1931, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1931. WHAT OF CHRISTMAS?

This morning wc publish a special appeal by Mr Coates in connection with Unemployment Relief. The Government has done something to give men work during the days preceding Christinas, but it is unable to meet the requirements of the situation m full, and the appeal to the public is to remember that anything they can do to assist in the next ten or twelve days will make all the difference between “privation and a little comfort in the. home” during Christmas. Wherever work can be offered by people who are in employment or who arc in a position to pay for a day’s work, it should be placed at the disposal of someone in need in these next ten or twelve days so that Christmas may be brightened a little in homes where comfort has been at a low ebb these many months. But this appeal goes beyond the provision of work, and it cannot fail to touch every man, woman and child who is fortunate enough to be able to look forward to an adequate Christmas dinner. The sentiment of Christmas cannot be taken lightly. If it is really felt, the knowledge that there are men, women and children who are compelled by no fault of their own to spend a bleak Christmas will intrude upon the festivities, however modest. People who are in receipt of regular wages have had those wages reduced by cuts, and taxation, and by calls made upon them in the name of charity; people have had their incomes reduced markedly; but if they compare their position with that of those who are on unemployment relief they will find it difficult to convince themselves that they cannot do some little more to make Christmas brighter in distressed households. The appeal of the women and children cannot go unanswered —no amount of argument, no thought of individual cases of unworthiness can lessen the strength of the cry of children who arc the innocent sufferers, and who will be denied all of those things which their childish imaginations have associated with this season. Speaking in bald practical terms to people who can anticipate some cheer at Christmas, Mr Coates says:—-

Some who are prepared to help will not be able to offer actual work. I am confident that they will respond generously to one or more of the appeals for cash now before the public of Invercargill on behalf of social service organizations. Others, again, will be able to help by sending some goods, whether farm produce or clothing or anything that is needed by the relief depots. If these people communicate with the Mayor of the nearest city or borough, I am sure , they will be told how their gifts may be best directed.

This statement shows people how they may help, but the task of showing them why they should assist must be left to their own consciences. They must satisfy themselves, when they have piled up all the sacrifices they have been compelled to make and have undertaken, that they can still shut their ears to the cry of those who have nothing or next to it. The payments the Government is making can go no further than the barest necessities at best, and in many cases, as those who are most intimately associated with relief work know, they will not go that length. Between now and Christmas there will be many occasions on which individual members of the community will spend small sums on their own pleasures. They are not asked to cut them out; but they are asked to remember that some small portion of that expenditure can be used to give greater pleasure. The accumulation of small sums can build up funds large enough to accomplish something very real between now and Christmas. The Mayor’s Relief Fund is sadly in arrears. It would be an achievement if before Christmas that deficiency were wiped out, and the regular contributions built up by an additional £l4 or £l5 a week to make it equal to the demands made on it. If 300 people now in regular work,

could join their fellows who are contributing 6d a week this deficiency would be wiped out, and if 500 citizens gave a florin each the resultant sum would make possible the brightening of many homes in this city. Mr Coates has couched his appeal in matter-of-fact terms, but he might have added that every person who is in regular work must ask himself or herself whether at this Christmas they can enjoy themselves when they are aware that in many homes Christmas cannot enter. There are ten days in which to ponder this question, and if it is considered humanely, we think the answer will be sufficient to satisfy everybody that the hearts of New Zealanders have not hardened, that community of interest does not. stop short of charity. Who then will jeopardize his own peace of mind and disdain this appeal?