Oct. 2.
The appeal issued by the War Efforts Sub-Committee of the B.R.A. for Britons to dis-ose of their old jewellery, old gold, platinum or silver articles in order to swell the Woluntary War Contribution Fund is one which is worthy of support. It has received an excellent start by the gift of a gold watch and chain to the value of $1,000. The aim of the movement should be clear to all. There is hardly a British man or woman in Shanghai, or for that matter throughout China, who has not in his or her possession articles of jewellery for which they have no further use. Either because of changing fashions, or damage. they have been discarded, and for the greater part merely serve to clutter up a woman's jewel box, or a man's dressing table drawer. Much of it, especially when damaged, has comparatively little separate value, but when all these oddments are brought together in the mass they very often represent considerable sums. How] often do men lose a cuff-link? At a safe guess there are very few who are not) possessed of a single link without the mate, or a number of them. Their gold content may not be great, but if hundreds of odd links are accumulated their value may be very considerable.
A single earring is not of much use or! value by itself, but the stone in it and the metal of which it is fashioned can help to, swell the collection. There are undoubtedly hundreds of brooches, preserved perhaps for sentimental reasons, but never used because the modes have changed. They may repay, remaking, but that Fequires the expenditure of money which should be going to the war funds, and the proper thing to do in the circumstances is to send those odd picees of Jewellery to the places where it will do most good, namely to Messrs. Alexander Clark Ca,, Lid, or Messrs, Boyes, Bassett Ltd., people who will best know its value and. how to dispose of it to the greatest benefit of the fund. It needs to be emphasized that what is being asked for is not the sacrifice of jewellery in actual use, but all that which never sees the light of day from year to year, and which has accumulated simply be~ cause the owner has had no method of getting rid of it, short of consigning it to the dustbin.
Then there is the question of silver, much of which is rarely used and can be comfortably dispensed with. In the matter of collecting a lot of comparatively useless impedimenta the average human is very much like the magpie, and if most people sat down for tone moment and considered how much of] what they possess could be disposed of without the slightest inconvenience they would be surprised at what they could do without. Take for example the question of cigarette cases. Few men are without more than they nettially need, and lying about unused serve no real purpose. They also could be got rid of without any substantial loss whatever, for obviously if a man has not used a particular ease for a yee 0 it is by no means a necessary but merely a superfluity. These are the things which the War Efforts Sub-Committee of the BRA. ask Britons to con~ tribute to the Voluntary War Contribution Fund, and it is hoped and believed that their appeal will not go unheeded.
The success of the Voluntary War Contribution Fund, which has now been demonstrated over more than two months, should not be permitted to induce a spirit of complacency. Britons in China have done excellent ly, but as new methods of assisting the British Government in the purchase of aeroplanes are devised it is hoped that they: will receive just as enthusiastic support as. was given in response to the Ambassador's appeal. The splendid prowess of British airmen against the enemy, the manner in which they have repeatedly fought off his attacks and inflicted serious damage upon him, the excellent way in which the people of Britain stand up under the air-raids.cannot but inspire Britons the world over to redouble their efforts to support them in every way possible. No sacrifice in thei behalf can possibly be too great. But this particular appeal asks for no sacrifice. Its maters merely desire that Britons should assist the good cause by divesting themselves articles comparatively value~ but when brought together fu the mass representing real value, money which can go (o help provide another machine to swell the total engaged in defeating the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.