CHRISTMAS GIFTS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 7, 6 December 1926, Page 2

CHRISTMAS GIFTS.

APPEAL FOR LEPER STATION. SPLENDID RESPONSE MADE. WELLINGTON, Dec. 3. Sir Maui Pomare, Minister in charge of the Cook Islands, expresses his grateful acknowledgments to all who assisted in the response made by the people of New Zealand and Rarotonga to the appeal he made for Christmas comforts for the patients at the Makogai leper station. This response has been generous in the extreme. There is no doubt that the recent visit of two of the French nursing sisters to New Zealand helped greatly to stimulate interest and sympathy in the welfare of the patients and made the public realise the extraordinarily fine work which the sisters of the French Catholic Mission are carying out on the remote tropical island of Makogai. As the result of the appeal made by the Minister, at the suggestion of the Government of Fiji,, approximately £SO in cash has been received, of which a portion has come from the Cook Islands. The Catholic community of New. Zealand has subscribed about £4O, which has been sent through Dean Ilegnault. In addition, Christmas gifts of all kinds and appropriate to patients of all ages have been sent in great quantities through the Cook Islands Department and Dean Regnault. These gifts will be transported free to the. leper island and will bo received there in good time for distribution on Christmas Day.