The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1915. “HE GAVE TWO POUNDS.”

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 338, 16 November 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1915. “HE GAVE TWO POUNDS.”

itli which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Waimarino News.)

So VOI T much has been said about the Uji natural, miserly capitalist who refuses to give of his riches towards ' the amelioration of the suffering of those who are defending our homes and Empire in the bloody struggle that is so materially adding to bis wealth, without any particular case in point having been quoted that we were rather disposed to regard them in a measure as untrue; but the Feilding Star, or the Feilding Patriotic Committee has deemed it in the country’s interests to let it be known that miserable men of this character do exist, and they have dealt deliberately and firmly with one such ease. An editorial published in the Star conclusively demonstrates that the talk about very wealthy men being so mean-spirited and so devoid of all national and humane considerations as to refuse to help in any way those who are making life, home, and freedom possible for him. The Star says;—Wo often wonder if some people know the Empire is fighting to retain its right to exist and that every day brave boys are engaged in desperate conflict, shedding their limbs, their sight, and even their life'? blood in order that our womenfolk and little ones may be protected from outrage and torture infinitely worse than death, th-t our property may be left safely in our possession. and that we as a nation may be permitted to develop our institutions for the freedom of the world. There are eligible men in Feilding without family ties, who positively refuse to enlist. There are also men of wealth who give little or nothing to make smooth the path of life for those lads who come back from the firing-line maimed and handicapped because of their willingness to bear the burden of the brunt of the battle. The man of means who will not give is quite as bad as the shirker who wily not fight. Borne few weeks ago the Feilding Patriotic Committee appointed canvassers to augment, their funds for wounded soldiers. One of these from whom a donation was solicited is a resident who is worth certainly not loss Bum £50,ono. He is well past the prime of life, has no family depending upon him, and no one specially to whom to leave his money. After thinking over these facts, he sent the Patriotic Committee a donation of £2l Pic remembered the valuable property which he owns, the sums cf money he has invested in various ways, and his comfortable home which the soldiers are enabling him to spend the rest of his days in, so he sat down and wrote out a cheque for two pounds sterling. He read in the paper the accounts of bloody battltes where hundreds of our brave lads have fallen or been maimed for life, and out of gratitude to these boys who are standing up so nobly for the cause of liberty, he forwarded to the Wounded Soldiers Fund the sum of two pounds. The Patriotic Committee were very gentlemanly about it. They gave him a month in which to think over it, Suggesting that he must have made a mis-

take. They wrote him a letter to that effqct. But nary a mistake. He did not even reply to the letter. The Committee at its latest meeting decided to send the cheque back, saying they did not wish to damage their list with its record, and praying that if the donor wished to emphasise his liber dity and loyalty, the committee would prefer that he choose some other channel.