APPEAL TO PUBLIC BENEVOLENCE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 54, 3 February 1872, Page 9

APPEAL TO PUBLIC BENEVOLENCE.

[to THE EDITOR OE THE NEW ZEALAND MAIL.] .Sill, -May I, through the medium of your widely-circulated paper, solicit the assistaace of the inhabitants of Wellington, and of the public generally, on behalf of the settlers of Carterton who have suffered a Revere loss from a large bush fire. Many dwelling-houses are completely destroyed, and as many workshops, barns, and other out-buildings. One or two families have lost all their furniture and household effects, as well as their houses ; whilst, the fences are partially destroyed in all directions, so that the cows and the few stock they possess have been driven into the bush, where they must remain for some time, until the fences are mended, and the grass grown, which, at present is utterly destroyed. Ihus in a few hours have the scanty earnings of years of hard toil and privations been swept away, and the poor people are poorer than they were when they settled there. In some cases, also, the few crops have been destroyed by tbe fire, and so the means of supporting their large families during the coming winter have been taken from men who have worked as hard as any class of men in the province. W"ill anv ladies or gentlemen help to mitigate the distress of those who have toiled early and late, in the midst, of a dense bush, in order to procure from the poor soil the means of a bare existence ? Will the amateur societies, which sometimes give public entertainments, give one in Wellington for the benefit of these poor people ? I shall be happy to receive any donations on behalf of the sufferers, and will acknowledge their receipt, until a committee has been appointed to ascertain the amount of loss actually sustained, and to regulate a just distribution of any subscriptions which may be kindly given.—l am, &c, A. Knell. Greytown Parsonage, Wairarapa, January 25th.