ART UNIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1932, Page 6

ART UNIONS

NEW ZEALAND SYSTEM PRAISED. THE FAIREST IN THE WORLD. A visitor of note who was Hokitika this morning en route to the Hr am: Josef Glacier, was Mr George Fitzpatrick superintendent of the New South Wales Community Hospital, Inc., and in an interview referred to the question of lotteries and art unions m connection with the hospitals. The New Zealand system of conducting art unions, he said was among the fairest in th e world. Mr Fitzpatrick had >been in charge of more art unions, as apart from lotteries, than any otter man in Australia, He was familiar witlh th e methods adopted by the New South Wales State lottery, the Queensland Government “Golden Casket,” Tattersall’s in Tasmania, and the Irish .Fre e State sweepstake, but, in his opinion, the method adopted in New Zealand had points .superior to any of the others. . , The New Zealand method obviated the possibility of tickets sticking together, or, where marbles were used, any chance of tH e marble failing to rotate or from remaining in the same place ’in the bnrv:l at -a distance from the drawing instrument. He realised tot there inherent difficn .es in the New Zealand system, m that it prolonged unduly the drawing but he thought that this difficulty might be overcome. ~ . . On his return t° Australia he m ed to recommend to the New vou 1 Wales Government that the Attorney General might give consideration to the. Dominion method, with certain alterations, whidh h e thought might be m preference. He said that the system of granting art union pem.it, in New Sonth Wale, was entirely different to that m the Dominion. There, it was not possitee to get a permit to hold an art union for the purpose of granting the proceeds to different causes, as gold mining ,a rifle team, or, say, a horticultural society. Thtese were assisted 'by a specific Governmental grant. In Australia the art unions wer e reserved almost entirely for hospitals .and charity and were sulbject to departmental discipline, Government audit and investigation. Mr Fitzpatrick -was on e of the nrs men in the world to make an appeal over the .air for a charitable object, and he commented very favourab-y_ on the Greymouth broadcasting station. To be wakened by the strains of music, ~l 3 he had been this morning, was very delightful, and it was his first such experience in New Zealand. In Australia it was a feature of the A and B stations, and music at breakfast was the usual routine. Nearly 15 years ago he made an appeal for charity from an experimental Australian station, and 1X response was received from as away as 100 miles. While in New Zealand he had broadcast from A class stations at Christchurch and Dunedin, and his voice h-J been clear-y heal a in Sydney, over 1000 miles away. Mr Fitzpatrick, wiho has a commission from tile New South Wales Government to make a report on the New Zealand hospital system has also Been invited to .furnish his observations to the Minister of Health here, and he proposes to visit the Westland Hospital on liis return on Monday. He has inspected hospitals from Auckland t„ Dunedin, and is carrying out the work in An’honorary capacity.