U.N.R.R.A. IN PACIFIC

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 7, 9 January 1946, Page 7

U.N.R.R.A. IN PACIFIC

AUSTRALIA’S BIG SHARE

An American who is well known to Australians, Mr. Frank S. Gaines, Acting Director of UNRRA in the Southwest Pacific Area, returned to Sydney just before Christmas after a visit to Washington and the Philippines. Mr. Gaines has done much to make known abroad the important part Australia is playing in UNRRA and to awaken interest in the “land down under.”

On January 3 he again left Australia this time leading a fact-finding n : ssion to Korea, which at the last meeting of the UNRRA Council in London, was declaring a region which could qualify for relief. The mission will investigate the needs of the region and give UNRRA Headquarters in Washington a detailed report on conditions there and what is needed for immediate relief and rehabilitation purposes. On his last trip Mr. Gaines opened the UNRRA office in Manila, Capital of the Philippines, and on a tour of the islands saw some of the devastation caused by the Japanese during their ruthless occupation. BOON TO PHILIPPINES “UNRRA arrived at a very opportune time and accomplished in the Philippines the very purpose for which the Administration was intended,” he said on his return to Sydney. “The first shipment of UNRRA flour brought th«» black market price of a 11b loaf ot bread down from four pesos, or 10s Australian, to one-tentn of that price. “Two thousand tons of used clothing collected in the United States has already been distributed in the Philippines and as Manila s 1,000,000 inhabitants are much better off than those in the provinces, relatively little of the clothing was distributed in the capital. The people in the provinces, "where the Japanese struck hard and the countryside looks as if a plague <4. locusts had ravaged it, were almost entirely without clothing, and they benefited enormously from UNRRA’s P ee issue.

“The UNRRRA Philippine programme now involves the expenditure of about 3,000,000 dollars, much of which is being spent on food. The lehabilitation programme will provide UNRRA with an opportunity to prove its worth, as it calls for rehabilitating the fishing industry, developing the rice crops, and locating and dispatching to the islands livestock Io replace the stock destroyed by the Japanese. Water buffaloes are an important part of this plan, and UNRRA hopes to be able to find these in Australia.’’

Mr. Gaines added that while he was in Washington he had heard splendid reports about Australians who were serving overseas with UNRRA. “I’m mighty proud of them all.” he said. “UNRRA has a big job to do in the J ar East,” concluded Mr. Gains, “and

while in Washington I took steps to sfp that Australia’s part in this job would not be overlooked, and I think I have been quite successful in this respect. Australia, as the fourth largest contributor to UNRRA, has played, is playing, and will continue to plav a most important part in the Administration’s work, and every Australian ran rest assured that the contry’s part will not be overlooked.’’