£10,000 Raised For Food Gifts To Britain: How Waikato Plan Works

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 94, 31 October 1947, Page 5

£IO,OOO Raised For Food Gifts To Britain: How Waikato Plan Works

With the receipt of a cheque for £l7O 'from Inglewood the total amount received by the Waikato Red Cross for the Food for Britain campaign has reached £10,000,. So well known has the centre’s scheme become that many inquiries have been received from authorities in towns outside the Waikato whether the centre could attend to the purchaseand handling of monies collected in the campaign. ' .

Many other organisations in various parts of the Dominion are interesting themselves in the scheme, which by channelling the monies received through the Waikato Red Cross have been able to obviate difficulties in the purchase of food, shipping and distribution and avoid duplication of effort. The efficient system in use by the Waikato centre is> the result of effort by the president, Mr A. E. Gibbons, and Miss E. House, the honarary secretary. At the start of the campaign about two years ago the centre had great difficulty in arranging shipping, storage and purchase of the food but negotiations were successful and now the centre has the full co-opera-tion of everyone concerned. By special arrangement, an allocation of space amounting to betweenfive and ten tons per ship has been made available. This quantity is transported free by the shipping companies. The food is stored when necessary free of charge to the centre by the Auckland Harbour Board and is handled free on to the ship. Various wholesale manufacturers of food, have supplied the food such as jam, honey, malted milk, full cream milk, fat, meat, oatmeal, barley sugar, soap and various other commodities at a discount on wholesale rates. The goods are packed and delivered free to the wharves. The centre makes no charge for the handling and despatch of the goods. The full amount of the money received goes into the purchase of the fgoods.

Any charges which arise are absorbed by the Centre. Upon arrival ii Britain the* food goes to the Gift Food Allocation Centre which has a complete overall picture of the requirements of the United Kingdom.