A Dominion Memorial

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 390, 23 March 1937, Page 3

A Dominion Memorial

HIS LATE MAJESTY KING GEORGE V

ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILDREN’S HEALTH CAMPS. PRIME MINISTER MAKES APPEAL TO PEOPLE OF . NEW ZEALAND.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, makes an appeal to the people of New Zealand to support the establishment of permanent Children’s Health Camps in the Dominion as a National Memorial to His late Majesty King George V. In replying to Mr. Savage’s invitation to associate himself with the appeal, the former Premier, Mr. G. W. Forbes, stated:— “Nothing in my opinion could be more fitting as a memorial, as His late Majesty during his whole lifetime showed the deepest sympathy with those in ill-health, particularly the children.’’

Prime Minister's Office, +< Wellington, March, 22, 1937. < I t Just before Christmas I announced i < that the Government, having given ; ( very full consideration to the question < of a Dominion Memorial to King | , George the Fifth, had decided to in- j augurate a National Fund for the per- 1 , manent establishment in New Zealand | or Children’s Health Camps. 'Such an object would, the Government felt', be more in keeping with the sympathetic, concern always felt by His late Ma-

jesty for the health and recreation and i the welfare generally of his peoples I throughout the British Commonwealth j of Nations than any other of the nu- I nierous projects which had received I consideration. The scheme for Health : Camps had the additional merit that, ! while widely national in its character, its benefits would not be confined to any one spot in New Zealand. The basis of it, as now visualised, will be at least two permanent camps in each

Island as centres of the whole movement. - I now make an appeal to all the people of New Zealand that, between now and 3rd June next— His late Majesty’s Birthday—they ' will supplement, preferably by direct .giving, the sum of £25,000 with which, I have great pleasure in announcing, the . Government opens the New Zealand j Kyg George the Fifth National Me-< ial Fund. That sum is an earnest i both of the Government’s recognition | of our national duty fittingly to conn ■ memorate the noble life and notable reign' of George the Fifth and of its |.

regard for the Health Camp Move-1 ? ment as a great National Service. In j t addition to that initial contribution e of £25,000 the Government will sub- < sidise pound’ for pound all . moneys . t subscribed by the people of New Zea- < land after the Fund (inclusive of that < £25,000) has reached a total of l £50,000. The Government sincerely i trusts that the Fund will reach a.ti I 1 least a total of £lOO,OOO, the mini- ' 1 mum amount necessary to ensure th'b i t proper establishment of two perman- : i ent camps in each Island. ! <

It is not my intention, nor do I think : there is any need for me . in this ap-• peal, to elaborate on the worth or the ( work of the Children’s Health Camps j < to-day. From humble beginnings just after the war, the movement has j moved ahead with giant strides. ; Health Camp organisations through-1 out the Dominion have dealt with | thousands of children from both town ! and country. In some cases extensive : periods of camp life throughout the : year, particularly at Otaki (our near- J est approach at present to the type i of permanent camp we are visualis-• ing), in others, weeks of health-restor-j ing sunshine in summer and holiday!

’camps have, at .small.cost," set firmly on the road to permanent health children who otherwise would be in danger of lifelong ill-health and of becoming a heavy financial burden on our State and local medical and hospital services. The regard in which succeeding Governments and the people of New Zealand have held the movement in the past seven years is evidenced by the official establishment of the annual Health Stamp Campaign and by the increasingly generous response of the people to that campaign. The Health Camp Movement, however. reached a point last year when its future depended on the scattered local effort being nationally organised. As the result of a conference in

Wellington last July, the movement is now so organised that any danger of wasteful dispersed effort is obviated. The movement -did not begin as a Goverqnment effort. It began with the people themselves. It grew through their unaided efforts. It became associated with the State through its ’ importance and the national value of j the work it was doing. Its associa- j tion with the State, particularly through three great Departments— Health, Post and Telegraph, and Edu- I cation—has not resulted in the mover ment becoming just another State Ser-1 vice. On the contrary, none more than 1 j succeeding Governments and the permanent Departments of State realise i not merely the importance. but the absolute necessity of preserving the I identity of the Health Camp MoveI ment as a work of the people them-

selves freely banded together in all the various associations and leagues, and voluntarily organised into local committees, district executives, cen* tral councils, and a Dominion Advisory Board. It is a shining example of national work done in co-operation between the people themselves and important Departments of State, these latter not governing but advising and helping financially and in other directions. The Dominion Advisory Board itself reflects this co-operation, consisting as it does of two delegates from each of the Central Councils (at present four in number), the DirectorGeneral of Health, the Director-Gen-i eral of Post and Telegraphs, and the | Director of Education. i It is this Dominion Board which the I Government intends shall administer ! the King George the Fifth National i I Memorial Fund. The moneys will not ’ be paid into the Consolidated Fund, ! but will be formally vested in trustees of whom the Minister of Health will I be one. i The memorial to King George V. is • a matter altogether outside the realm j of politics. The Government of which I am head cannot claim for itself that

it either originated the Health Camp Movement or began Government assistance to it. Here and now I pay tribute to the work of past Governments in helping the movement along, notably by inaugurating the annual Health Stamp Campaign, and also by freely enlisting the aid of members of the present Government party when they were private members of the Opposition. What the present Government has done has been to recognise the national spirit of its predecessors and to carry on the work they began. It is most fitting, therefore, that this my appeal should be as national a basis at. the object of the King George V. Memorial Fund and the response which I know the people of New Zealand will make. To that end I invited my immediate predecessor in office, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, and the present Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Adam Hamilton, to associate themselves with me in this appeal.

In replying to my invitation, Mr Forbes said: “I will be pleased to have my name associated with the appeal that you are making to the people of New Zealand to support the establishment of permanent Children’s Health- Camps' in New Zealand as a National Memorial to His late Majesty King George V.

“Nothing in my opinion could be ifiore fitting as a memorial, as His late Majesty during his whole lifetime showed the deepest sympathy with those in ill health, particularly the children. “Wishing tha appeal every success.”

Mr Hamilton, too, gladly agreed to support my appeal. I am, further, in the happy position of being able to announce that I have received through His Excellency the Governor-General, intimation that His present Majesty King George VI. approves our proposals, and approves them, moreover, as an object for a National Appeal in lieu of any Coronation Memorial.

I desire to acknowledge the public spirit of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the Red Cross in readily agreeing to forego in favour of the King George V. National Memorial Fund their proposed joint Coronation Appeal. I make my appeal to every individual in New Zealand as well as to every organisation of the people of every kind.

And I mlake this appeal, not in their deep grief of a year ago, but in their calm recollection to-day of that King George V. 'Was and of all that his example meant to the welfare of his people and the peace of the world. Not in brass or stone or marble, but yet in the creation of this 1 tangible memorial of Children’s Health Camps, a form he himself would have preferred, will the name of George V. be an ever-living memory to the people of this far-flung outpost of the British Commonwealth of Nations which he served, literally unto death. M. J. SAVAGE, Prims Minister.