MISS N.Z. QUEST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 65, 11 August 1947, Page 3

MISS N.Z. QUEST

WIDESPREAD RESPONSE PARCELS FOR DESERVING PEOPLE The “Miss New Zealand” quest anounced recently by the Royal Society of St. George in Wellington in aid of its “Food for Britain” fund drew an immediate and widespread response. In the first 48 hours twenty girls from Kaiwaka in the north to Winton in the south, sought further particulars with the idea of entering, and as the campaign progresses more enquiries are being received daily from all over New Zealand. First official entry was made on the day the quest opened by Miss Mary Wootton, of Christchurch, who is sponsored by radio station 3ZB. First official entry in the North Island came shortly afterwards from Miss Valerie Simpson, of Petone, Wellington, a talented girl who is conducting her own campaign to raise the £250 qualifying fee. “Our objective is to get 200 girls in this quest,” said the executive di-

rector, Mr K. W. Kilpatrick. “Na

turally, girls and their sponsors will want a little time to plan their campaigns, but the Royal Society of St. George wants to emphasise again that the sooner the qualifying fee is paid the sooner the money can be turned into food parcels for needy people in Britain. We are urging early entering and progress payments of the £250.

“I have been asked ‘who gets the parcels which the money buys? Do they all go .to members of the Royal Society of St. George in Britain?’ The answer is definitely ‘No.’ The list of addresses to whom the gifts are sent comes from the Royal Society of St. George in London but it is not a list of that society’s members. It is a list of deserving people in Britain and it includes many wartime winners of the Victoria Cross, the . George Cross and- the George Medal. There is at the headquarters of the quest in the Hotel St. George building in Wellington a list of one thousand of the people who get these food parcels, and soon we hope to have there the names of a second thousand. They are there for public inspection.”

Another point emphasised by Mr Kilpatrick was that the judges in the quest should not be confused with the Board of Directors who ai-e responsible for it.

Because the . judges are to interview personally every entrant it is impossible at this stage to draw up any itinerary for them and until that is known it is not possible to choose the judges. Entries close on September 2 and it is expected that the choice of judges will be made shortly before that date, when sufficient entries have come in to allow of a programme for the judges’ New Zealand tour to be drawn up. It is hoped that the judges will include an artist, a doctor, a photographer, an educationalist and an authority on voice culture and personality. Another point which needed clarifying in the minds of the public, said Mr Kilpatrick, was that the winner would receive in cash not only the £250 for her personal expenses on the trip to Britain but also the £IOO as a prize for winning her district final. - Each of the seventeen district finalists will receive £loo' and in addition there will be a special award to the candidate who most exceeds the £250 required for the “Food for Britain” fund.

Full details of the quest, together with suggestions to candidates for raising money, are now available in a handy pamphlet, obtainable from the headquarters, Hotel St. George, Wellington, or P.O. Box 3002.