APPEAL FOR MONEY ON ANZAC DAY

Southland Times, Issue 24421, 29 April 1941, Page 7

APPEAL FOR MONEY ON ANZAC DAY

To The Editor Sir. —What shall it profit a nation to collect a few thousand pounds and lose its own soul? Anzac Day is a sacred day, set alone and apart in the calendar to honour our illustrious dead and to dedicate ourselves anew to the task for which they gave their lives. Yet in this year of all years, while our soldiers are literally fighting for their lives against overwhelming odds in Greece, and while lists of sorrow are already on their way to anxious mothers and wives, we unworthily indulge in a brazen orgy of money-grubbing. “Trash” is how Shakespeare describes money in comparison with honour—“Who steals my purse steals trash”—but the spirit of this Dominion has apparently descended to the level of trash and filthy lucre. Mr Milners inspirational address did not come over the radio, but one heard such ill-timed appeals as “Another £25 wanted to make up the quota.” I voice the sentiments of many returned soldiers in expressing indignation at this wanton desecration of Anzac Day. May we be spared the consequences which our unworthiness so richly merits. Tlie Patriotic Society’s use of a Red Cross programme on Anzac night to collect funds for the fighting forces may well be construed as a breach of the rales of the International Red Cross. It is analagous to forwarding comforts, supplies or munitions to the fighting troops by means of a hospital ship. If Germany takes any notice—and she appears to be remarkably well informed—she might reasonably interpret it so. With what result? Some of our pilots and many of our soldiers are already prisoners of war, and more are exposed io the peril of capture. The only means of forwarding them regular supplies is through the Red Cross. Moreover, 2000 inquiries from New Zealand have already been answered through the German Red Cross. Germany may retaliate by depriving our Dominion of these privileges, and those of us who are intimately concerned view this possibility with apprehension, nay, with anger. . . . Some presumptuous criticism has been lodged against the GovernorGeneral. I, for one, am thankful that he has not joined in the desecration of Anzac Day or the mis-use of the Red Cross.—Yours, etc., F. G. HALL-JONES. April 28, 1941.