A GENEROUS DONATION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2747, 15 April 1916, Page 5

A GENEROUS DONATION

——»■■ : ' TO A NEEDY CAUSE. _ At its' meeting last evening the Wellington Savage Club decided to donate tlie sum of £137 10s. towards a. Returned Soldiers' Home in Wellington, which may meet with the approval of tlie committee. The history of fhis movement is not without interest. During the last session of the club, a rumour was spread around that our ■troops in Gallipoli were not nearly so well supplied with machine-guns as was the enemy, whereupon money was subscribed in other centres besides Wellington (notably in Christchurch) to purchase machine-guns. ' Whether the rumour had a basis of faot or no was never disclosed, but it was found, on discussing the matter with tlie •Minister of .Defence, that England turning out munitions of war as fast as she could, and the fact of a few hundred pounds being sent Homo from ■New Zealand for .a specific purpose was jiot likely to expedite matters in the least. Thereupon machine-gun funds all over the country fell. flat. Having made the collection, the Savage Club then i asked its members to allow" them to_ spend the money in some way beneficial to our forces ill' the field. This permission was given, but it was found on inquiry that there was nothing that . could be supplied in the way of armaments that was not being supplied. So it came/to pass at last evening's meeting when this item of £137 10s. was under discussion, that Major A. A. Corrigan thought of the notion of diverting the money to a Returned Soldiers' Clnb in Wellington. There was such a club in Wellington, but it . was not what it should 'he, being dingy and not very well equipped, otring to lack of funds. It compared most unfavourably with similar clubs in other cities and towns. - Major Corrigan soon found supporters for his idea. ' Mr. J. M. Clark mentioned ' that in Napier, chiefly through the efforts of Mp. Frank Moeller, a splendid club was in prospect. A plot of land bad been secured, and there was something like £1000 in band for the building, which .was to be a Soldiers' Club for all time. Major Corrigan moved that the allocation of this money to a Returned Soldiers' Homo bo a recomm.ondation to "the committee, but Mr. W. H. Atack went further, and proposed that it bo substantive motion, and as such it Jvaf3 carried unanimously. Private Nicholas Howes, of the Fusiliers, has died at ■Ashington, _ Northumberland, from blood poisoning caused by burning his finger on a stove. Mr.. R. H. Frew, of Melbourne, Victoria, in a letter dated January Oth, 1915, iwrites of the Wapganui River trip:—"l ,?/as greatly taken with the' Wangamii River trip, the provision mado for the public is first class, the scenery is just wonderful, there surely cainot be anything finer in the worm. I was surprised jit the excellent catering and attention. Pipiriki House reminded me of' a firstn£ass fJtr h/iinl-jftrcollftnt."—Arftf-*