TO HELP RELIEF

Evening Star, Issue 20140, 3 April 1929, Page 6

TO HELP RELIEF

GOVERNMENT ASKED FOR £3,000 A meeting of the Relief Committee was held this morning; present— Messrs J. S. Dougins (deputy-mayor), E. W. Mitchell, L. Todd, E. E. Grace, S. Dunkley, Mrs Baker, and Revs. G. Moreton and Y. G. Bryan King. The financial report showed receipts to he £4,039 los Id. In view of the heavy commitments ahead, the committee decided to continue the appeal for subscriptions and to ask the Government for a grant of £3,000. | Mr Moreton reported that £615 Os Od i had been received at the depot. A toj tal of 556 cases had been attended to, 56 new cases having come forward since ! (lie last meeting. Fresh inquiries for J relief were being received daily. Ho did not think the committee could assist people in the surrounding districts.

Air Grace; Green Island raised its own fund last time.

Air King; They finished with a balance.

Mr Grace; Yes. Money was sent from Port Chalmers during ihe last flood, and we helped them. An additional sum of £l3 had been received from the Dunedin Licensed Victuallers’ Association, making a contribution of £53, said Air Morcton. Mr George Crow had given, personally, goods to the value of £25. The school children, particularly those at Musselburgh, had sent in valuable gifts of vegetables, food, and clothing, while two dozen overcoats had been received from the High Street School. _ The spirit of the children to assist in the alleviation of the distress was laudable. Messrs If. Wilson and Co., as agents for N. W, Stevens, Ltd. (Wellington), had forwarded five cases of baked beans. Messrs Wilson and Balk had given tea to the value of £5, and Messrs Irvine and Stevenson had given a quantity of canned goods. 'Two hundred and’fifty donations of clothing had been received, and the ladies of Owaka had sent in clothing. In addition to the hand m volunteers, there were 50 workers at the bureau. and they were willing to stand by. They did not require commendation from a coterie of people wishing to use the relief work as a stepping stone to other things.^ “We have heard a lot of criticism about landlords collecting their rents on the Monday following the flood,” said Mr King. “ But it only fair to mention that not all the'_ landlords collected Om man went to his tenants and told them that he would not ask for rent for a month, and a woman, notin a good financial condition, waived her claims for a fortnight’s rents.”

Mr Todd: There is always another side to every picture. Mr Dnnkley reported that 486 coal orders had been delivered.

Mr King said iho Mission House, Patients and Prisoners’ Aid Society, and the Salvation Army had funds for giving repeat orders of coal to destitute people. The committee had decided not to give double orders. It was reported that from to-day the relief depot would he transferred to the St. John Ambulance rooms.

Mr Moreton expressed the committee’s and workers appreciation of the lucid manner in which Mr Douglas had defended the relief work in a letter to the ‘ Star.’

Mrs Baker: And we also owe a debt of gratitude to the ‘Star’ for the editorial which placed the facts so plainly before the public.