Telethon

Press, 30 June 1983, Page 16

Telethon

Sir, — Telethon is entertaining and gets the money in. Unfortunately contributions are invested, meaning profit to those who relend the money, while those most in need could be dead before the pay-out. Your headlines proclaim |4 million “despite economy.” The economy does not deter those on lower incomes; years of street and house collections show that it is the poor, the elderly and those who are themselves handicapped who can be relied on to show their charity. As a welcome gesture the Government could augment Telethon by disgorging some of the millions grabbed in lottery tax. An even easier way to get money for urgent charities would have been to charge one cent premium on every dollar invested in KISS, producing $l4 million. But that would have hurt the wrong people — those who had over $1.4 billion to spare, despite the economy — Yours, etc., VARIAN J. WILSON. June 27, 1983. Sir, — In reply to Barry Stewart (June 25), I say thank goodness all New Zealanders do not share his moral or social conscience. Where on earth is his sens# of humanity to his fellow man? Some

expect the Government to wetnurse us all just because we pay taxes. It does not hurt any of us to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than ourselves. I found it ironical to see Barry Stewart’s letter printed on the adjacent page' to the feature on Graham and Barbara Hazelton and the way they are dealing with their problems. I gave a donation to Telethon and did not think of my moral or social conscience, or even if my donation was bigger than that of my neighbour. I gave because I wanted to help my fellow man. I include Graham and Barbara Hazelton in that category, and hope that their burdens will be lighter in the not too distant future. — Yours, etc., J. BOYDE. June 27, 1983. Sir,—On Sunday evening I watched the closing minutes of Telethon with a large lump in my throat. It was a huge success and a magnificent effort by all concerned. However, amid all the shouting and cheering and the thanking of the overseas stars, local personalities, cameramen, producer, there was one glaring omission. No-one thanked Ken Ellis. I think Ken should be thanked for the job he did of fronting the Christchurch show. Through it all his warmth and good humour showed through and it seemed his interest and enthusiasm for this fund-raising event never waned. — Yours, etc., A. HENRY. June 28, 1983.