A SPLENDID RESPONSE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 206, 31 July 1937, Page 8

A SPLENDID RESPONSE.

The establishment of permanent children’s health camps was the form of memorial to the late King George Y chosen by the Government. A moving appeal to the public for contributions tc the fund was made, by the Prime Minister prior to his departure for London in March, and now on his return to the Dominion Mr Savage is able to thank them for a splendid response. To date not less than £86,000 has been subscribed to an objective of £50,000. As the Prime Minister says the result is one of which all may feel justly proud. All sections of the community have shared in this achievement. Most of the money has come from direct giving by hundreds oi thousands of individuals, and the children, to whom no appeal was made to help, have throughout the length and breadth of the country given freely towards a grand objective. In this matter the Government received the unstinted support and help of the country as a whole, for it was recognised that no more fitting memorial could have been devised. In this district there are numbers of young men and women who remember with thankfulness the camps' conducted annually at Turakina by Dr. Elizabeth Gunn, for there they learnt the value of correct diet, breathing, plenty of sleep and fresh air, instruction which was to make them healthy and strong. Similar results have been achieved wherever the voluntary health camp scheme lias been in operation, and its permanence will piove of inestimable benefit to the rising generation, especially in the cities where many children are reared without the gift of health which is their right. It is worthy of note that in Britain part of the King - George Memorial Fund is being appropriated towards the provision of playing areas for the young, in whom His late Majesty took the greatest interest.