THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1409, 10 June 1915, Page 4

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS.

Mr George Gould, of Christchurch, said to be “a prominent supporter of the Massey Party,” has a curious way of showing his predilections in politics. The other day, when forwarding a cheque for £SO to the Press, to be added to the Hospital Ship Fund, Mr Gould made a very uufair and unjustifiable attack upon the Government. Like a good many other people, Mr Gould is apparently under the impression that appeals to the charitable for contributions to the Patriotic Fund ought not to be made, but that the Government should shoulder the full liability of caring for the sick and wounded, and for the dependents of those who are disabled or killed as a result of the war. In his particularly unfortune letter (because Mr Gould evidently misunderstood the position, and had not apparently troubled to investigate matters for himself), the Christchurch gentleman referred to accused the Government of adopting a “pusillanimous attitude. . . in shirking the responsibility of fixing by taxation upon a broad national basis the whole cost of our efforts in support of the Empire, including the outfit, complete In every detail, of the Hospital Ship.” So far from “shirking its responsibility,” the Government was, and is, prepared to do all that may be necessary in the several directions of which Mr Gould speaks. In regard to the Hospital Ship, we may fairly assume that Mr Gould did not read the Governor’s appeal on behalf of the Hospital Ship, or if lie did, that he entirely misunderstood its purport.