WHAT HERITAGE IS DOING

Chronicle (Levin), 5 November 1946, Page 4

WHAT HERITAGE IS DOING

TALK TO LEVIN ROTARIANS "That, by a service of guidance, advice and aid, the children oi those who have given their lives m the service of the nation's cause may become healthy, happy New Zealanders, capable of leading fuil and useful lives." This symbolised the objects of Heritage Incorporated, said Mr. Duncan F. Bauchop, a member of the executive of the Wellington branch of the movement, in an address he gave to the Levin Rotary Club yesterday. The genesis qf the movement was in Australia, continued Mr. Bauchop, where just after World War I the very fine organisation known as Legacy had been started. Heritage was born in New Zealand as a result of the last war, and was the counter-part of Legacy. Its ideal was to make available to the children of servicemen who had given their lives for their country a service of advice and guidance such as would have been provided by their father, and to assist in all matters pertaining to education, development and advancement in life of such children, and to render such other services as might be thought desirable in the interests of the children of all servicemen. 'There were 14 branches in New Zealand, said the speaker, and it was not proposed to multiply them as it was found that with their sub-branches they could give the necessary coverage. Heritage dealt with both boys and girls, and in some cases the serviceman father need rfot be deceased. If children were left without a serviceman father's presence through divorce or other causes, the help of Heritage could be extended if it was required. All these cases were considered on their merits.

Citing some typical cases of financial assistance given', Mr. Bauchop said that the wife of a serviceman who had paid the supreme sacrifice had written stating that before the war her husband had taken out two small endowment insurance policies for his children, the cost of which was five shillings weekly, but that sne was unable to continue payjnent of^ the premiums. Heritage had taken over that responsibility. For a child with a deformity Heritage had paid specialist fees for treatment which the widowed mother could not alford. Where a child had shown special aptitude for music, art, etc., it had provided fees for tuition, which would have been beyond the mother. In another case a boy had wanted £30 worth of tools to commence an apprenticeship. She had asked for a loan to enable the tools to be purchased, and Heritage had supplied it. Then there were such things as repairs to houses. Heritage's work did not end on the financial side. There were many women who did not want financial assistance, _ but who sought advice on, a son's career and many other subjects. Heritage provided this. The scope of what it could do was not limited, but very wide. It would undertake anything which a good father would have done had he been alive. There was practically no age limit. It had three girls between 19 and 23 years who had been left in poor circumstances as a result of their father's death in the war, and it was helping to see them through their professional careers. A number of questions were answered by the speaker at the conclusion, and a hearty. vote or thank's was carried by accfamation.