RED CROSS GIFTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20070, 17 October 1939, Page 6

RED CROSS GIFTS

WARNING TO PUBLIC UNAUTHORISED CANVASS ACTIVITY IN GISBORNE WAR FUND ENTHUSIASTS Advice ’ that householders in Gisborne are being invited to subscribe to Red Cross funds for war purposes has been received by the district executive of the Red Cross Society, and in consequence a- warning has been issued that the society is not yet making any appeal for war purposes. Persons asked to contribute to any fund are advised to request the collector to show his or her authority, and to refrain from making any donation where this is not forthcoming. The Red Cross Society has not yet given authority to any collector to act on its behalf, but there may be other organisations which have commenced activity in this direction. On general principles, collectors should be asked to produce some proof that they are acting in a bona fide capacity. Discussing the matter to-day. an officer of the Red Cross Society pointed out that the reports received might be based on a misunderstanding. More than one district organisation was represented by collectors who secured contributions to the normal finances, used for peace-time activities. A request made to a householder or business man by one of these collectors, in the present circumstances, might be regarded as an appeal for patriotic purposes. Acknowledgment Advised His society was not in a position to state that any unauthorised collections for patriotic purposes had been made as yet. It simply advised the public to ascertain the character of the fund it was asked to subscribe to, and. in the ' case of donations to Red Cross work, to secure acknowledgment on the official Red Cross Society form. “There may have been unauthorised activity on the part of enthusiastic collectors, who, impatient at the apparent dilatoriness of official methods, have ‘taken the bull toy the horns,’ ” continued the Red Cross officer. “While there is no intention to condemn the spirit in which such -activity might toe carried on, it is nevertheless unwise to encourage them at the moment. The Red Cross Society is not yet in a position to sponsor any collections. When it is in such a position, it will make a public statement in respect of its programme. “Direct donations offered to the society for patriotic work will not be turned away. They will be accepted and set aside for disposal when the position with regard to appeals is cleared up.” PATRIOTIC FUNDS EFFECT OF REGULATIONS “This is not going to be an encouragement to the collection of funds for war purposes in the district,” said Cr. Bryant, when the circular from the Department of Internal Affairs on the Patriotic Purposes Emergency Regulations came before a meeting of the Pahiatua County Council. Summarising the effect of the regulations, the clerk, Mr. J. Hutton, said there were many things that could not be done to-day that were done during the last war. They would not be able to arrange a concert or social for war purposes unless the consent of the council in Wellington had been obtained.. Then it would be necessary to submit within seven days a statement of receipts and expenditure. It seemed from the regulations that nothing was going to toe left to chance. The chairman, Cr. A. W. Bisset, said it looked as if the regulations might kill a lot of patriotic giving. Anything that was given was Usually given on the spur of the moment.