1 Friar St. Thurles. 2.6.1916. Dear Miss Gavan Duffy, Seeing that you are one
of the secretaries of the Irish National
Aid Association, I am taking the
liberty of writing to you. I shall be most happy
to do any thing I can to help the
association. Owing to my employment
in the Excise I am not at liberty
to openly canvass for subscriptions;
but any clerical work or collecting
among my friends I shall be very
ready to undertake. If you will 2 send me fifty weekly subscription
books, I think I shall be able to
"place" all or most of them. I regard
the weekly subscription idea as the
most likely to bring in the necessary
money, & it will also do good
from a national point of view. There is a suggestion I
would like to make which may not have
been put forward already. It is
unlikely that the Gaelic Athletic
Association will have to contribute
any thing to the Entertainments Tax.
If that is so, I think it would be
an easy matter to get the Central
Council of the G.A.A. to adopt the tax
scheme in favour of your Aid
Association. This is how the thing is
worked for the Revenue In the
large central offices such as Dublin &
Limerick there are rolls of tickets of 1000
each for sale. The proprietors of theatres
ste pay 1000 pennies for each roll
(where the tax is 1d) & sell each
ticket for 7d. Of course there are other
rolls of 2d tickets for admission
tickets exceeding 6.d. This scheme could
easily be adapted to suit your Ass'n.
You could buy have the tickets manufactured
& the various county committees of
the G.A.A. by order of the Central Council
would have to buy them from you, paying
1d. or 2d for each ticket (1d. not exceeding
6d. & 2d. otherwise). You could afford
to give the paper free & still make a lot
of money. A very poor year would
amount to at least £1200. 3 The time is rife now I think for a simultaneous
collection some Sunday all over Ireland
with an annual collection on every St.
Patrick's Day in the future. Reverting to the G.A.A. idea,
I know some of the leading G.A.A. officials. I often heard my brother (Thomas)
speaking of you. My second brother who
managed the Irish Theatre for Ed. Martyn
is a present in Knutsford. He is
unmarried. My brother's widow &
children come down here tomorrow
to stay with me for a time. Your's sincerely, Joseph MacDonagh Miss L. Gavan Duffy,
10 Exchequer St.