STREET COLLECTION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 88, 15 November 1939, Page 5

STREET COLLECTION

ST. JOHN AMBULANCE

PERMISSION GRANTED

At the meeting' of the Borough Council on Monday evening a letter was received from the St. John Ambulance Association requesting permission to hold a street collection on Friday, November 24, for the purpose of raising funds for a public ambulance.

The Mayor said that the position was that the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Committee wanted the week-end. November 24-25 for a cam paign for funds and this would include a street collection.

Cr Brabant: Is this a committee outside Government control?

The Mayor: There is no Government control at all. All' the moneys collected have to be paid into the A.P.P.A. funds and dispersed under that committee.

Cr. Sullivan thought it desirable to clear up the matter as most people are under the impression that the Government control the funds. The Government had made regula-

tions controlling the activities of the Patriotic Committees and the procedure to be adopted by them in the collecting and dispersal of funds. The regulations, however, should not prevent local organisations from collecting for patriotic purposes, and' they had been gazetted to prevent unnecessary expenditure and unnecessary waste. Government Subsidy. It was stated that the St. John Ambulance Association had' been pro mised a Government subsidy of £150 providing that the sum of £450 was raised in the district. The Mayor expressed the opinion that the St. John Ambulance Association should have permission for i street collection on Friday, November 24. Cr Canning said that as Chairman of the Association he would support it. "It is up to the council to support the movement," said Cr Canning. "The County Council has done nothing—even with a 10,000 population, and yet the ambulance would serve the county more than the borough. Each local body should give some assistance and lend a hand in a matter which is of the greatest importance to everybody." In Cr Canning's opinion the County Council could cfuite easily have made a donation of £10. "The whole of the town," said Cr Canning, "and the county too, are all the same—prepared to leave the matter in the same willing hands." Donation by Council.

Cr Sullivan said that, after all, it was only £50 that had to be raised because the Association already had £400 in hand and he thought that the council should make a gesture as the ambulance would always be there and it was a necessasrv thing to have. He moved that the Council assist the project with a grant of £2 2s. Cr Armstrong considered the donation too small and ought to be £5 ss. Cr Canning seconded that and Cr Sullivan withdrew his motion and the amended suggestion was put to the vote and carried. The request for permission to hold a street collection on Friday, November 24, was granted.