POINTS OF VIEW

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3940, 16 August 1937, Page 4

POINTS OF VIEW

OPINIONS OF OUR READERS. APPEAL FOR MAKOGAI LEPERS. Sir, —Christmas will soon be here, with its festivities and its associations of peace and goodwill. On the little island of Makogai in the Fiji group there are 349 men, 160 women. 38 boys, and 21 girls, all resident leper patients. Some of these afflicted people look forward to complete recovery, but other victims in advanced stages of the disease wait patiently for the happy release of death. These brothers and sisters of ours have looked to us for the past ten years to send them Father Christmas.

A short time ago I received a pathetic message from a blind European patient from New Zealand on this isle of pain. He asked that we would not forget them at Christmas time. This patient has since died. In May last I received two more letters from two young married half-caste leper women at Makogai, who came from the Cook Islands, our dependencies in the Pacific. These two women expressed deep gratitude for the help given them and pleaded for a continuation of this assistance.

I therefore feel that it is my duty, as well as a pleasure, to appeal to your readers on their behalf. We may not be able to cure these friends of ours, but we certainly can help to alleviate their sufferings. Gifts for Christmas may be sent to me care of the Christchurch Gas Company’s office, Worcester Street, and all donations will be acknowledged by a personal letter. All parcels for the lepers may be sent by post office al half the ordinary rates if addressed to me and marked “ For the Makogai Lepers.” Gifts of money will enable us to purchase goods which may be in short supply. Dr T. F. Telford, M.D., J.P., is associated with me in this appeal as trustee. We feel deeply grateful for the help given in past years, and we trust to receive this support once again. -I am, etc.,

P. J. TWOMEY, Honorary Collector