AID APPRECIATED

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21372, 17 March 1941, Page 7

AID APPRECIATED

HELP FROM AMERICA GRATITUDE OF DOMINION (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sunday The deep appreciation of the Government and citizens of Wellington for the assistance rendered Great Britain and the Allies by the United States in passing and carrying into effect the “Lend-and-Lease” Act was voiced by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, and other speakers, at a largely-attended meeting in the Town Hall this afternoon. The gathering was convened by the New Zealand section of the BritishAmerican Co-operation Movement. On the motion of the Bishop of Wellington, the Rt. Rev. H. St. Barbe Holland, the following resolution was adopted unanimously:—“That the Prime Minister be requested to forward the following cablegram to the President of the United States: ‘This mass meeting of citizens expresses its deep and since gratitude to Your Excellency and to the public of America for the assistance to Britain and allied democratic countries culminating in the “Lend-and-Lease” Act. 5 ” Representative Gathering Speakers at the meeting included the chief secretary of the Salvation Army in New Zealand, LieutenantColonel W. A. Ebbs. Representatives of various sections of the community were present, including the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom in New Zealand, Sir Harry Batterbee, the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, the American Consul, Mr R. English, and the High Commissioner for Canada, Dr. W. A. Riddell. Mr Fraser said Britain and America were united in their determination to stamp out the tyrannies of Nazism and Fascism, and in whatever men could do to further this, and none would do more than those who had gone overseas from New Zealand. “It is to express our appreciation and gratitude to the American people and their President that we are meeting here this afternoon,” he concluded, “and that same spirit which has fired the British people since they were faced with the most cruel tyranny that ever blackened mankind is the spirit that is emanating from the great democracy of the United States. Shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, both democracies will go forward to the final triumph of freedom, liberty and democracy.”