BELGIAN RELIEF.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2428, 6 April 1915, Page 6

BELGIAN RELIEF.

CARNIVAL AT OAMARU REALISES £6500. (By Telezraph.-Presfl Association.) . Oamaru, April 5. For several years Oamaru has held a g ardea fete on Easter Monday, the proceeds going towards town improvements, etc. It was decided this year that the Belgian Fund should benefit, and a queen of carnival competition was specially set aside for that purpose. Magnificent weather prevailed, and the town.' was packed with visitors. The beautiful public gardens were a blaze of glory, and a memorable response was made to the appeal. There were seven candidates for queen, and this alone resulted in £4271 12s. lOd. being collected. ' The winner, Miss. Claribel King, representative of the Bowling and Tennis Clubs, polled over 131,000 votes. Tho official figures of the net result are not available, but £GSOO will, bo available for the Belgian Fund, and this will bring the district's contribution up to over £11,000. NEARLY £900 IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. On Saturday morning, says a Press Association telegram from Oamaru, Mrs. John Fraser, who was known throughout New Zealand in musical circles as Miss Winnie Nixon, set out with a determination to raise a substantial sum for the Belgian Fund. By noon yesterday Mrs. Fraser was able to hand to the local fund the sum of £875 subscribed by eighteen donors. Considering that Sunday intervened this very large sum was raised practically in twenty-four hours. This must be regarded as a splendid achievement.