CHURCHES CALL FOR MORE RATIONING

Chronicle (Levin), 23 April 1946, Page 8

CHURCHES CALL FOR MORE RATIONING

-Rress Association

ONLY WAY (TO HELP BRITAIN MATERIALLY

By Telegravh—

CHRISTCHURCH, April 22. 1 ' We desire to bring to the notice oi* all eitizens tlie united effort which thechurehes are making to press urgency for such extension of rationing as will enable New /Zealand to send additional supplies of food to Britain, " says a statement issued tonight by the New Zealand chiireh leaders. 'fWe qordially support the effort whieh the Government is making for a voluntary effort but we Lelieve that nothing less tlian further rationing will achieve the result which is desired. It is our hope tliat the efforts how being made by the eliurches and others in that direction, will assure the Government that the cc.untry would be b'ehind tliem if they instituted a mandatory and inclusive instead of a voluntary and fraginentary system. "We are not unmindful that such an extension of rationing will bear hardly on some of our people but we hope that when such temporary hardship is compared with the prolonged aud exhausting restrictions from which people in Britain are suffering, we shall all be willing to make the effort for a limited period of time. "During the war years we have enjoyed a comparative abundance while the people in the Hom eland "have, with dogged endurance, endured a diet wliose monotony and limitations must | have drawn heavily on their mental and physieal reserves of strength. Now that peace has come, instead of enjoying some relaxation, they facec a further period of severe rationing. Anything we can do will not only help to relieve their physieal necessities but it will also assure them that we are anxious to share in their privations, and will cheer aud encourage them in faeing up to the difiieult months ahead." The statement bears the following signatures: Campbell, Archbishop of I New Zealand; Thomas O'Shea, Areh!;ishop of Wellington; J. W. MeKenzie, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand; W. T. Blight, president of the Methodist Conference; L. J. Boulton Smith, president of tho Baptist Union; R. T. Wright, president of the Assoeiated Churehes of Christ; H, H. Miller, chairman of the Congregational Union; 0. VValls, chief seeretary of the Salvation Armv in New Zealand on behalf of Commissioner Evan Smith; Montague Goldsbury, clerk to the New Zealand general meeting of Society of Friends.