ISLANDS' EXAMPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1940, Page 8

ISLANDS' EXAMPLE

British Official Wireless.

GIFT FOR FIGHTER PLANE

Rec-. 5.5 p.m. Rugby, Sept. 9. The spirit of the British people and their determination to rid Europe of the curse of Nazi oppression is illustrated by the action of the population of the islands of Lewis and Harris, who are mostly fishermen and crofters, in sending more than £6000 to Mr. Churchill to be devoted to the purchase of an aeroplane. In a telegi-am to Mr. Churchill, which he acknowledged, the islands' Spitfire committee says: "On the anniversary of the declaration of war the people of Lewis and Harris, in the Outer Hebrides, are proud to convey to you their unswerving loyalty and devotion to the national cause. Since September these islands have claimed the high honour of having more men proportionately in the fighting services than any other part of the Empire. Many villages have had close on 20 per cent. of their total population on service since the outbreak of the war. Casualties have been three times higher than for the country as a whole. "The people still at home, wishing to emulate that record of those on active service, have to-day forwarded the sum of over £6400 to the Ministry of Aircraft Production for the purchase of a fighter plane to be called the Lewis and Harris fighter. This sum was collected in a single week with . the enthusiastic support' of the islands crofting and fishing communities. Typical of the spirit which accomplished this result is the comment of a crofter who contributed a pound, declaring he had not one pound to give, but he would sell his calf to get it."