NEW ZEALAND'S GIFT

Chronicle (Levin), 14 January 1948, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND'S GIFT

Press AssociaXioni- .

« • .. . • V • W . . . r r^T , , Clothes Bring Happiness To Britains Destitute

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AUCKLAND, Jaiiu 18. - The destitute have beeii aided, young children have in some cases received their first new.frock or shirt, and the iiihrm and aged have beeii spared sbmethihg of the strain of queues and coupons as the resitlt of the gift of over 15QU garments seiit from Auckland to Jbritaiii. Baies oh elothing, most of whicli was new, filled the empty spaces of a packing case coiitaiiiing a iarge refectory table manufaetured 111 Auckland for Lord Bledisloe. to preseiit to the Boyal Empire Society. Lord Bledisloe obtained the table to replace a similar futv hishing destroyed- during the air raids 011 Britain.. It was suggested- that the space in the packing case could bc filled wit^i elothing for needy persons and 12 Auckland organisations and individual doiiors contributed the garmelits received in Britain by the Royal Empire Society. They were despatched to Durhhm, Glouccster and Fulham for distribution. Some of the hnman problems created by the spartan post-War lif'e , of Britain, are reflected in letters of thanks and acknowledgment whieh have now been 'received by the maker of the table, Mr. Wallis, of Moimt Eden. Some are from men and women who played a part in the distribution of the gifts. Others are simple and direct expressioiis of gratitude ot'teii written in a qliaverhig hand 011 brief sheets of notepaper, from old or infirm people who, have benefited. Three bales of elothing went to the Hon. Hester Alipgton, wife of the Dean of Durham, Dr. C. A: Alingtoii. Her comrnent was: "I really feel quite unable to express all the gratitude that this wonderfnl gift arouses. I do iiot think I have been able to send such happiness to others in all my life,"' While workers sorted aud repackcd the gift in the dining room oi' the deanery room that was used as a dormitory for monks in the 12th century, two doctors and two elergymen drew up a list of reciprents from the most needy families in the eity. >;In addition 30 parcels were chosen for very old

pensioners of the- Cathedral who were living alone and who found it very diffieult to get anything warm in the way of elothing. "Coupons and qiteues,>' it was stated, "worried them dread-: fully." ' .

Letters from the recipieiits themselves add to- the picture. A11 eiderly woman describes how her grandson, whose parents are invalids, grasped a new shirt from New Zealand with the same pleasure "as if it were a £5 note." The headmistress of a speeial school wrote of the children^ tlirill of wearing a pretty dress or a jumper for the first tirae in their lives. She remarked that had New Zealanders seen the joy on the children 's faces, they would have beeii amply repaid for -their kindness. : |i^| Similar experieiices were related by the warden of _ Bishop Creighton house, a residential settlement in the Fulham district of Londoii, which was a badly blitzed suburb during the_ wai'. One of the coats found an owner on the day the parcels Were uiipacked, a small boy who had lost his coat at school, whose father was a tuberculosis patient and whose family was almost destitlite. The mother could iiot have replaced the coat aud with the weather bitterly cold, the new garment was rushed to the child's home.