The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1915. THE COMING CARNIVAL.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 230, 21 June 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1915. THE COMING CARNIVAL.

(With which ia incorporated The Tab hape Post 'ina WaizDarino Newi.)

V A carnival with its Queen Competitions and the usually attendant sideshows and art unions has been, sc far successfully, launched in this district in aid of the sick and wounded soldiers' fund. When it is thoroughly and universally understood throughout the Taihape territory that provision made for our brave fellows who are being mown down by the Turks is painfully and almost inhumanly inadequate we shall all realise the imperativeness of so conducting our Carnival as to get the utmost penny possible out of it. Its success can in no way be measured by the amount of enjoyment participants can abstract from it, but solely by the sum total of pain and suffering that it can be made to alleviate. Only a few days ago it was stated by the chairman of a city patriotic fund that it would be absolutely necessary to bring the money 1 in hand up to £250,000, and even then ■ it was regarded as certain that this amount would be altogether inadequate. If reports are true, and from the way in which they have been received it seems obvious they are, New Zealanders have not made the provision they should have done for those who have gone from our midst to fight our battles, and who are now lying wherever a place can be found amongst wounded ■who are entire strangers to them. Al- , though we may be ever so much oppos- j ed to anything approaching the sensa- , tional, there must be no "fools' paradise" about the life and death of our men at the front. No political considerations should cause any man to -withhold information about the condition and the provision made for our lads 1 that are wounded. The Wellington Evening Post with no unmistakeable motive has dealt trenchantly and emphatically -with what ,if substantiated, will arouse strong public indignation all over New Zealand. A letter has been received by a well-known Anglican clergyman, Catfort Curzon-Singers, from one of the chaplains Avith our exfpeditionary forces, stating that no provision whatever has been made by our Government or our Defence Department at the base in Egypt our own wounded. '/Thq Now Zealand* woiiaded>A? wp?:aro-;told,-’‘tars-aiaoßg the ' several' hospitals. We- JuwV'twl’ building for bur own, no nurses, aiodf-no doctors:,' We’ are. dependent' .upon' th«A Australian and Egyptian Governments! far hospital room, for doctors, and for J

nurses. ’ v To csp this narrative o$ in* neglect, the writer adds that, theye is no money available no pur* cVasc srnatl luxuries and comforts for the wounded aiid convalescent, because

the regimental funds are in the hands of the officers, who are'away on active service. In the course of its article on the subject, the Post remarks: “Now, if it is true that no provision whatever has been made for the reception and treatment of our wounded at the base on the same linos as for the Australian expeditionary force, this constitutes a very grave reflection on th 2 Defence Department and our military administration.’ ’ Our Wellington contemporary advises suspension of judgment until more corroborative testimony h available; but if the facts are as stated it is hoped and believed that h perfect storm of popular wrath will descend upon those responsible for such a deplorable condition of things. Wo have a right to demand that our gallant soldiers shall receive all the earj ami attention that is their duo after being struck down while lighting fo u« and for the Empire. So that in the conduct of the great Carnival Tailmpe has entered upon there may be no misunderstanding or misapprehension about the need for straining to the extreme limit this district’s capacity for giving, is the chief reason for quoting our contemporary. Our object is to show clearly that wo cannot fall back upon our Government, for it is obvious -that it will find scox>e for all it can do in making provision for what the Anglican clergyman at the front declares is lacking. What is required by the men that come to us maimed and otherwise incapacitated must bo provided by those who havc’nt been able to go into the fight. It is our privilege to contribute the necessary funds in accordance with our position and prosperity.

At the Carnival Committee meeting on Friday night there seemed to he a silence auguring uncertainty about how to .start the ball rolling, and it appeared that votes were being cast with a hesitation that indicated a lack of understanding of the main feature? of the work involved in carrying through the project to the mos t successful end. Some - expressed doubts about the methods adopted, and it is not quite clear that these doubts were not well-grounded. Carnivals of the kind arc not now something we know nothing abount; they have been held in various places and we have road from day to day the course followed, and what has been done. Only a few days ago the organiser of the Wanganui Carnival gave a brief epitome of what it was necessary to do and to keep in view. He said some things which men who might be prone to resent anything which does not accord with their views, should treasure in their minds if they desire to avoid marring in any way the success of what they have with the best and noblest intentions taken in hand. It is presumed that the Taihope Carnival will be conducted on similar lines to those held in nther towns. If so, a period will bfixed and various money-raising methods will be immediately organised. Entertainments and fetes will follow in rapid succession; gifts of land, house* motor-cars fif they materialise) will be art unioned, and right through it all will continue the competition amongst various sections of '.ho community for the proud position of "Queen. ” We believe a very capable and energetic secretary has been appointed, one with a known and tried capacity for organising. Therefore, if every officer and committeeman follows the lines contributed to the Press by Winganui Carnival organiser, it h safe to predict a huge success.