FINE EXAMPLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1941, Page 4

FINE EXAMPLE

SET BY PAHIATUA SUM OF £1,154 RAISED. FOR BREN GUN CARRIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. The Acting-Prime Minister (Mr Nash) today acknowledged, on behalf of the Government, the receipt of £1,154 from Mr S. K. Siddells, Mayor of Pahiatua, contributed in that district for the manufacture and equipping of a Bren gun carrier for service in New Zealand. “These moneys,” said Mr Nash, “were the result of purely local efforts, and originated in an offer by Mr Godfrey Taylor to contribute £5O if nineteen others in the town or surrounding district did likewise. The idea was enthusiastically' taken up by Mr Siddells. with the result that the amount aimed at was exceeded. This goodwill offering has been paid into the War Expenses Account and will be subsidised by the Government to the extent necessary to provide Pahiatua’s own Bren gun carrier. It will be suitably inscribed and will stand as a permanent testimony to the patriotic spirit of the people of that district. The very fine effort made in Pahiatua for home defence purposes relieves the Government to that extent and enables more attention to be given to the equally important problem of equipping our troops overseas. It is hoped that Pahiatua’s example will be followed by other parts of the Dominion and the idea of a .War Weapons Week in various localities should prove as popular and beneficial here as it has done in many centres in Britain. For instance, if any other town liked to subscribe say, £1,500, it could have the satisfaction of having provided its own universal or Bren gun carrier, and the fact could be recorded on the carrier.”