STREET COLLECTIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10615, 14 June 1920, Page 5

STREET COLLECTIONS

AND THE P.P.A. Ob the Editor, “N.Z. Times.”) Sir,—The paragraph which appearu in yesterday’s issue under the heading "Street Collection,” in which His [Worship the Mayor is said to “ex- . plain” the letter of the P.P.A. on the matter of street collections, .contains ''explanations” so misleading that I hope for his own sake the Mayor has been misreportcd. The Protestant Political Association did not protest against the street collection for the .Romanist Orphanage at the" Hutt as the Mayor “explained”! "What wo did, and do protest against, is that .. these collections lx? taken without disclosing the object for which they are being made. If the Romanists receive the necessary permission, of the City Council to take a collection, then there ought to he no masquerading or dissembling on the day of the collection. As it was, the collection in question was made under the advertisement; “Orphans’ Day.” The boxes held, hy the collectors were devoid of any intimation whatever of the object of the collection. No other organisation or institution obscures the object of the collection when it is being made, except the Romanists, and this is a practice that that organisation resorts'to continually, as the incidents of the Queen’s Carnival at Wanganui, the sale of the raffle tickets at Marton, and the recent collection in Wellington prove. There can be only one object in the concealment, i.e., to secure gifts from those who, if the true object was disclosed, would decline to contribute to institutions concerning which they have the_ strongest religious and practical objections. That actually happened on the day referred to. Our protest, therefore, was directed against this practice being permitted. The Mayor, in his reply to our letter, frankly admitted the righteousness of the protest, and assured the association that in the future the object of each collection would bo dearly and explicitly stated. Assuming that the Mayor has ' been correctly reported, his remarks and "explanation” require further explanation as to why he distorted the meaning of our objection and contorted in the extraordinary manner he has done since replying to the P.P.A. I enclose copies of the correspondence addressed to the Mayor, and the Mayor’s reply. Your readers will be enabled to appreciate *the facts after perusal. HOWARD ELLIOTT. ■Wellington, June 12th, 1020. J. P. Luke, Esq.; C.M.G., Mayor of Wellington. Your Worship,—The attention of my association has been directed by many people to the fact that on Friday, May 14th, a street collection was made in this city under the announcement, “Orphans’ Day,” and that ‘the proceeds of that collection wore in aid of Roman Catholic institutions, and not for “orphans” generally. Assuming that information to be correct, I am instructed hy my .exccuth o to urge upon Your Worship and the _ City Council the desirability of insisting, when sanctioning such collections, that the precise object for which the money is being raised and the institution to benefit, shall be plainly and legibly stated on the advertisements and on the collection boxes. As it was, there were many who contributed to the collection on Friday last in ignorance of the object, and in violation of their principles. It was _ obtaining money by false representation, so far as the bulk of the people who gave wpre concerned. My executive, therefore, asks that in the future the object and the , name of the institution _ benefiting shall be clearly set out in order to prevent iho concealment of the purpose of the collection.—l am, yours faithfully, (Sgd.) H. SYDNEY BILBY, Dominion Secretary. Sir.—l am directed by His Worship the .Mayor to acknowledge the receipt bf your letter of the 21st instant Svith regard to the street collection recently made in the city for Orphans’ Day. . His Worship finds that, no special mention was made by advertisement of the nature of the collection. It is, however, always required that