THE BELGIAN APPEAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2393, 24 February 1915, Page 6

THE BELGIAN APPEAL

THE PRIME MINISTER NOT YET NOTIFIED MAYOR READY TO, ACT READY PUBLIC RESPONSE • A cablegram published in the Dominion yesterday, sent on from Sydney, stated that the -Belgian Commission had sent by. cablegram','a long appeal to Australia and New Zealand, asking for a continiftusand supreme effort on behalf of seven million starving Belgians. The sum of £1,250,000 liad to be provided every month, .' and Australia and- New Zealand was asked to give £75,000, or its equivalent-in. goods, every month. The Prime Minister (the Right Hon. W ■ .F. Massey) stated to a Dominion 'reporter yesterday that 60 .far he had received no official notification of the appeal. He had asked His Excellency the Governor to cable to' Imperial authorities-with regaid to'/the statement published m the Now Zealand papers, as coming from tbe Belgian Commission, and to ask them how it was, proposed to distribute the money or goods which might b& forwarded jby either Now Zealand or Australia. In the meantime,- Mr. Massey said, the Government would be quite prepared to Teceive contributions for the purpose intended, and when he, got a. reply, which would .be m a day . or two, he would make the contents public.

,TEe Hon. C. J. - Johnston, Belgian Consul-General for. New. Zealand, sent a cablegram to London yesterday for information respecting the appeal, but not yet received a Teply to jus message.

THE MAYOR READY Stirring and emphatic as, was • the cable message requesting..monetary assistance to' keep the Belgian population from dying _of starvation, it has made an impression on many people in the city,' and there is likely, to be a special effort made to do something towards alleviating the terrible distress. Though the Mayor has received no official communication respecting th® appeal, lie telegraphed as follows yesterday to the Belgian Consul, the Hon. 0. J. Johnston, .M.L.C. ,"Ih connection with the special appeal for assistance to the Belgians . will do all possible when you request me officially to act.''

AN IMPERATIVE NEED . Sir James G.- Wilson -writes; from Bullsl beg to enclose cheque for £100 towards' the. new Belgian' fund. It is the proceeds of a paddock of wheat-I grew for them on a farm belonging to my daughter, near Marton, It was put in for. the Belgians; but as New Zealand wants wheat, and'no doubt wheat can. be' bought at Home for them, I send the first instalment of the proepeds.l There will be some more when the transaction is completed. The don-, ors are Jean, and Nancy Wilson. Th© case is so imperative that I shall bo glad to contribute £5 a month until the war is over. , v "

FURTHER GIFTS 5 . GOLF CLUB'S GENEROSITY. ; At the close of the Miramar Golf Club's annual meeting,last evening Mr. \V. A. Kennedy made a strong appeal to members to assist the starving Belgians, and asked them to make sacrifices to subscribe to this deserving object. Mr. Kennedy offered, there and then to head the list, with the result that 48 guineas. were subscribed in the room. . The secretary was : authorised to collect subscriptions from all-the inembers of the club, and it is confidently : anticipated that a substantial amount will be subscribed. . •ANOTHER £23 FROM' "THE GLAD EYE" COMPANY. , "The Glad Eye" Company, which raised'the sum of £80 for the Belgium Fund in a few minutes at the Grand Opera House'on Monday evening, made a further appeal; to last evening's audience,' with the Tesult that a sum of £23 10s.; was subscribed. IN OTHER CENTRES SUGGESTION FROM AUCKLAND. , CESj Telegxapn.—Press Association.) Auckland, February 23/ Thei Mayor (Mr. Parr) has telegraphed to the Right Hon. W. F. Massey, Prime . Minister : "There is strong public opinion,, here, that the Government should provide monthly contributions of, say, £15,000 to Belgium. Auckland has contributed nearly £50,000 in cash and £25,000 _ worth of clothing already". State action is now necessary to cope adequately and systematically with the magnitude of Belgium' 6 distress."-

SPECIAL .TAXATION URGED. r Timaru, February 23. Mr. Craigie, M.P., in a message to the Right Hon. W. F. Massey urges that the matter of Belgian relief- be. dealt, with on,i.national basis, and by special taxation to cover New Zealand's contribution, and asks that action bo taken at once. - The local committee meets to-morrow to take steps to help the Mayor of Timaru. It lias also sent a message on similar lines to Mr. Craigie'6, and asking what the Government intends to do. A DUNEDIN RECOMMENDATION. Dunedln, February 23. A deputation of citizens waited on the Mayor to-day regarding the appeal on behalf of the Belgians. It was unanimously Tesolved to recommend the Government to vote £25,000 monthly during the continuance of the war, and to communicate'with other councils urging them to take similar action. "SHOULD BE A NATIONAL . AFFAIR." ■ Invercarglll, February 23. Th'e Southland Patriotic Committee at a meeting, to-day decided that assistance to Belgium should be made a national affair, and a substantial contribution should be made from the public funds to supplement what is being done by private contributors. GIFTS FOR REFUGEES ACKNOW- ' LEDGED. Tho Hon. C. J. Johnston, Edgian Consul, has received thi following letter.from the Belgian Legation, London, dated January 7"T have much pleasure in acknowledging the receipt, of the six cases of clothing per s.s .Corinthic and the three cases per s.s. Star _ of Australia for the relief , of the Belgian refugees. The garments are all most useful and have f l>een distributed among ■the' distressed. I shall bo glad if you will convey my thanks to the Women's Patriotic Fund and any others who may have contributed for their kindness in sending this gift for the relief of the Belgians. Their generosity is yery much approciatcd indeed." AUSTRALIA'S QUOTA. CABINET TO DISCUSS THE MAT- . ' TER. By Telerrauh—TT«)3 Associatioo-tJopjn'glii Melbourne, February 22. Mr. 'Andrew Fisher (Federal Prime cholines to state definitely whether he proposes to take action in regard to the latest Belgian appeal, out - it is understood that ha is oonsiderma

the submission to Cabinet of a proposal to enable the Commonwealth to render further assistance. OVERSEA CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED IN LONDON. London, February 22. Count H. Lalaign, the Belgian Minister in London, has received £20,000 from Auckland, Christchurch, Queensland, and New South Wales, and a £5000 contribution from the Victorian schools for the Belgian and other . Allies' relief. . . THE "DOMINION" LIST. TOTAL TO DATE, £16,283 ss. Contributions to the fund' for tiro relief of the Belgians in- distress will subsequently be forwarded to the authorities in Belgium for distribution. £ b. d Previously acknowledged 15,746 110 Gisborne Citizens' Defenoe Committee —Thos. Hay, £5; W. H. Mill, £100; ■ . Matawai Sports Committee, £15; T.A.C.P., £50; Williams and Kettle's ■ sale of stock, '£14 4s. 9d. ....: 184 7 3 Jean and Nancy Wilson, Bulls 100 0 0 Feilding Club, per W. G. Haybittle, secretary ...... 83 2 6 Miss M. Tendall 50 0 0 Residents ,of Kaiparoro (per A. Falkner) .:.... .40 0 0 T S. Weston 25 0 0 Residents of Puketoi, per Mr.' J. Leighton ..19 1 6 Robert Orr •••••• 10 0 0 Wellingtonian (monthly instalment) '5 0 0 0. and R. Beere 5 0 0 Kaiwarra School children 316 0 L.S.W. 2 0 0 A. Kitson, Marfcon .'. 15 0 W. Billesdon 10 0 B. C. (left at office) ......... 1 0 0 A. Yarrall' 10 0 Peggy Rose Nathan 1. 0 0 K.M., Kelburn (monthly in- . . stalment) 10 0 Alf. ■ ...' .0 10 6 H.M., Wellington 0 10 0 E.A.H. -... ;... 0 10 0 Forbes and Bassett 0 10 0 X (contents of found purse) 0 5 5 A;V.W. 0 2 - B R.R.; 0 2 6 ' ' . £16,283 5 0 "HE CIVES TWICE WHO CIVES QUICKLY."

1 [To the Editor.] Sir,—The appalling cable news of the condition of the Belgian people is truly heartrending, and, I hope will call forth immediately a further and generous response from every citizen in New Zealand over and above what has already been contributed. . , ■ _ There can be no doubt that the call is a most urgent one, and the details cabled i must be correct. There is no doubt that we have enjoyed an immunity- from trouble, for which we have to in a large measure thank the Belgians, and at the same time we have benefited by the wave of prosperity that has been experienced throughout New Zealand, more particularly in regard to our products. ... It seems to mo that there is a call for human sjmpathy. for those in such serious straits, and also of, gratitude to the_ brave people of Belgium who kept their end up until the Allies were in a position to .meet the German attacks. Up to the present I think we are safe in concluding that most of the assistance we have rendered, has come out of funds that we could easily spare, but it is a duty that must appeal to every person, in the Dominion, that we, should go far beyond that and dip deeply into our pockets, ovon; if it costs us a good deal of self-denial, to contribute to this imperious call on each arid everyone of us. I have/ been contributing £2 per month to the Belgian Fund, and 1 bav®. determined to increase it to £5 per,month so long as it is needed; and I hope that the response will be practic-ally-universal as far as New Zealanders are concerned, and. that,as far as possible people will arrange to give their contributions in periodical instalments so as to keep the remittances up to a substantial amount for some montli6 to come.

Trusting that the appeal already made through your columns will be in every way successful, and that further organised steps may he taken to tho same end.—l am. etc., 1 ( WELLINGTONIAN. A meeting of women is to be held in the Mayor's room of the Town Hall on Thursday to consider ways of assisting Belgian women and children.