PATRIOTIC INTERESTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 06, Issue 100, 20 August 1943, Page 5

PATRIOTIC INTERESTS

» BOROUGH AND OHOPE AREAS COM MITT RE'S ANNUAL MEETING That the Borough and Ohope Patriotic effort for 1943 was proceeding satisfactorily and' that the year's activities had been productive of much splendid! individual work, was the general opinion expressed at the annual meeting of delegates held! in. the Borough Council Chambers last Friday. The Mayor, Mr B. S. Harry, presided over a gratifying attendance and in his annual review the chairman referred particularly to the excellent worik of the ladies who had staffed and stocked the well known shop in the Strand without a break. Funds from the Borough collection were also coming to hand satisfactorily. The Auckland Provincial quota for 1943 was £2.">0,704, of which the Eastern Hay of Plenty was asked to find £8770. Whakatane Borough, and Ohope was asked to lind 22 per cent, of that sum, which amounted to £1930. This figure had .since. l been reduced to £14.80 of which, the ladies had undertaken to find £750. So far the prospects of meeting the figure were very bright but lie hoped all would keep steadily on the job as any surplus could be carried forward to meet next year's quota, the extent of which no one could guess. He thanked the ladies for their vvprti in forwarding knitted, goods such as scarves, mittens, etc. and also the number of parcels which they had been responsible for. Concluding lie expressed his thanks to the promoters of the "Spitfire Revue." which had been staged at Whakatane and which had. netted a further £25 as, the Borough's half share of the proceeds. Election; of Officers * The election of officers resulted:— Chairman, Mr B. S. Barry. Secretary and Treasurer: Mr D. V. Saunders. Executive Committee, the chairman and. secretary of the Central', the Ladies' and the Men's Committees (Messrs Barry, Saunders, W. Sullivan, C. Good and Mesdames t Sullivan and Winstone). Mentioning the Borough collection the chairman said that the collectors were performing good. work. Mr Warren asked if the publication of the. names had had. a good effect. Mr Good replied that in his opinion. it had improved the position considerably. Mr Cutler added that the system was wrong, but the committee could do little other than to cany on until some fairer means of collection embracing everyone was devised. Signs, of Slackening Mr Good mentioned that there were slight signs of slackening in the. Borough collection. Some were falling out and he thought the matter should be kept alive so that people would be continually reminded of their obligations. Mr Warner' mentioned rehabilitation, which he said was now becoming a very real issue. Can't we do better than by sending all our money into the Central Patriotic Committee, he asked. Mr Barry pointed out that a substantial percentage of thy Patriotic monies raised was earmarked for rehabilitation purposes under the heading of 'after-care.' The executive was pressing very hard to have the administration of this money in its own hands. The suggestion had, not met with mucli success at first but was now making progress. Break from Auckland 1 Mrs Winstone asked if the zone could refuse to remit payment of its funds until it was informed of the manner in which the money was to be spent. The chairman: No! Mr Warner: Is it not true that if Auckland -fails to reach its quota our excess funds; go to meet the Auckland figure. The chairman: Yes! Mr Warner then said, he contended that, a break should be made, with Auckland, altogether, as was suggested last year. Mr Barry said that Zone 'K* delegates were strongly in support of the Waikato movement to break away but since then it had been suggested that a Separate area be formed in the Bay of Plenty embracing Tauranga, Te Puke, Whakatane and Opo(Continued in nest column)

tiki. It was now a very active issue and' everything possible in that direction was being done. Mr Warner said lie considered that people would give Car more readily if they realised that their money was being administered for the benefit of their own local men by a local committee which was fully conversant with the circumstances of cach case;