THE NATIONAL FUND

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20260, 31 July 1937, Page 9

THE NATIONAL FUND

KING GEORGE V. MEMORIAL A MAGNIFICENT RESPONSE, PRIME MINISTER’S STATEMENT. (Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, Friday. “Apart from farewell functions, my last public act as Prime Minister before leaving for the Coronation and the Imperial Conference was my appeal to the people of New Zealand in launching the King George V. National Memorial Fund,’’ said the Prime Minister in a statement Just issued. “Now, on my return, it is my pleasure as well as my duty to thank, on behalf of the Government, the people of New Zealand for their magnificent response to that appeal. In fixing the formal closing date of the appeal at his late Majesty’s birthday, I asked the people to subscribe £50,000 In just over ten weeks. Both my colleagues and I recognised the magnitude of my request.” The Prime Minister explained that Easter fell in the same week and the people generally were preparing for Coronation festivities.

“For all that, my colleagues and I felt confident of complete success. Progress reports calbled to me in England filled me with pride in the confirmation they brought to my belief that the people of New Zealand would show to the full their reverence for the memory of a great and noble king. Half the objective was reached a week before Coronation Day. By May 22 the fund had reached a total of £44,000. On May 29 £54,000 (£4OOO beyond our'objective) had been subscribed. The final response in the remaining five days to the close of June 3 was truly wonderful, another £20,000 being subscribed. And to-day the public response has reached a total of £86,293 2s 6d. “Justly Proud." "The result Is one of which all may feel justly proud. To me the most satisfying features are: First, that all but a small percentage of the total has come from direct giving; second, that some hundreds of thousands of individuals have contributed; and, finally, that every section of our people has responded so well. It was our desire that the Children’s Health Camps should be the gift of the grownups to the children of our own and succeeding generations. Before I left I purposely did not ask the children to take part in the appeal. I find, however, that from one end of the Dominion to the other they took the matter into their own hands and played no small part in the general effort.

“It is impossible for me in this statement In acknowledge the indebtedness of the Government or myself personally lo all tlie individuals and organisations to whom I, before my departure, or my colleague, the Hon. P. Fraser, who acted for me during my absence, made a direct personal appeal. I shall take ihe first possible

opportunity of writing to cacli and all of them. I do, however, desire to acknowledge with heartfelt gratitude my indebtedness to His Excellency the Governor-General, the Right Hon. W. G. Forbes, my immediate predecessor, the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Adam Hamilton, and my own colleagues for their wholehearted support and 00-operation, which right from the beginning set the appeal on a truly national basis. The King’s Interest. “To His Majesty King George VI., for his gracious approval of the fund as an object for a national appeal in lieu of any Coronation memorial, our loyal gratitude is due. I am sure that His Majesty will be proud of the response made by his people of this Dominion, not in their grief of a year ago, but in their calm recollection today of all that his beloved father was, and all that his example meant to the welfare of his people and the peace of the world. “The very magnitude of the public response imposes a greater responsibility both on the Government ami on those who will administer the fund. That responsibility will be accepted in Its entirety to the end that (to repeat the final words of my appeal) ‘not in

brass or stone or marble, but in the creation of that tangible memorial of Children’s Health Camps, a form he himself would have preferred, will the name of George V. be an ever-living memory to the people of this far-flung outpost of the British Commonwealth of Nations which he served literally unto death.’’