POPPY DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 February 1922, Page 8

POPPY DAY.

DETAILS OF THE SCHEME. RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT. At its recent quarterly meeting the Dominion executive of the Returned Soldiers’ Association approved of the Poppy Day scheme under which a replica of the Flanders poppy will be sold all over the Dominion next Anzac Day, the proceeds to be devoted to the relief of unemployment amongst returned soldiers. Details of the scheme were supplied to a Lyttelton Times reporter by Mr. W. E. Leadley, secretary of the Christchurch Association. The artificial poppies, which it is proposed to sell, were made by widow’s and children of fallen soldiers in the devastated areas of France. They will of course be paid for the poppies. The executive estimates that it will be able to dispose of 396,000 small sized and 3564 large sized poppies. Headquarters of the association will distribute the poppies to district secretaries, who will in turn allocate them amongst the various towns in their districts. It is hoped to be able to sell the large sized poppies to schools for the purpose of making wreaths to be placed on war monuments. The executive considers that in. each town a local committee should be formed to make arrangements for the sale of the poppies and suggests that these committees should consist of not more than twelve members and should comprise representatives of the Red Cross and of any women’s organisations, mothers and widows of fallen soldiers, representatives of the Returned Soldiers’ Association and the Mayoress of the town. With regard to finance the ex*ecutive has decided that all iverhead expenses are to be paid locally out of the Poppy Day receipts. Districts, secretaries will then forward to headquarters the net proceeds from their districts, and from these proceeds headquarters will pay the expenses they have incurred, including the price of the poppies. The proceeds after all payments have been made will then be re-distributed to district secretaries for the relief of unemployment in their respective districts. The distribution of poppies and proceeds from their sale will be made by headquarters to the various districts on a population basis.

It is proposed to sell the large poppies at 2s each and the small ones at Is each. The gross return from the 3564 large poppies should therefore be £3'56 8s and from the 396,000 small £19,800, or a total of £2O/156 Bs. The main items of expenditure will be the cost price of the poppies, £l4B 10s for the large and £4950 for the small or a total of £5098 10s. leaving a gross profit of £15.057 18s. It is estimated that it will take twelve large poppies to make a wreath.

Some time ago the executive of the local R.S.A. decided to devote its proceeds from the sale of the poppies to the upkeep of soldiers’ graves. The recent decision of the Dominion executive regarding the disposal of the proceeds w’ill be discussed by the local executive at its next meeting.