Aid for Londoners

Southland Times, Issue 24232, 16 September 1940, Page 4

Aid for Londoners

AS DAY after day the bombing of London goes on, bringing tragedy and loss to hundreds of civilian homes, many New Zealanders must be finding it difficult not to feel almost ashamed to be living in the peace and comfort of their own country. They cannot share the trials of the English people, nor can they assist, as hundreds of thousands of civilians in Britain are doing, in the front-line defence of their Homeland. But there are some things they can do. They can work harder to support tha': portion of the Empire’s war economy which is New Zealand’s responsibility, they can share in the local defence services now taking shape, they can fortify the strength of the British people with their own courage, endurance and determination. And they can provide whatever the need warrants and their resources allow to help lighten, the distress that is being caused by the indiscriminate Nazi bombings. In\giving £lOO,OOO in New Zealand currency to the Lord Mayor of London’s fund for the relief of distress the National Patriotic Fund Board was doing no more than every contributor to the New Zealand patriotic funds wanted it to do. Indeed, if the board had failed to act, the public demand for the sending of assistance would have become so strong that nothing could have prevented the launching of separate appeals similar to the fighter aeroplane funds which are now being raised in almost every part of the Dominion. To say that is not to disparage the Patriotic Fund Board’s action; the decision was made promptly and the gift was, in present circumstances, reasonably generous. The board evidently intends to make the new appeal part of a Dominion campaign on which it is about to embark with the object of raising an additional £1,000,000 for all purposes. Provincial patriotic councils are to contribute a proportion of the £lOO,OOO sent to London, and will be recouped from the money then raised. Details of the campaign have not been announced and comment at this stage is not called for. But it may be suggested that an appeal for funds for the relief of distress in London will bring a more rapid and a more generous response if it is made separately than if it is launched as part of a general patriotic appeal. Even if the Dominion’s contribution has to be limited in advance to £lOO,OOO, this would surely be the better way of raising it.