Money For Russia Goes Astray

Chronicle (Levin), 16 July 1948, Page 3

Money For Russia Goes Astray

Press Association)

'(Per

AUUKEAJNE, July 15. Having f ailed to account for £1600 which its former secretary, Mr. W. Ashton, was instruete'd to send to the iSoviet Legation for aid Vo Russia, the Auckland Trades uouncil has. decided to proceed with tlie andit of its book3 on the assunxption .that the money kas disappeared. This- Was stated by the. secretary, Mr. H. S. Callugher, at the molithly meeting. tcfaight when he informed d'elegates of . the result of an inquiry to the So.viet Legation in Wellington. 1. Mr. Callagher said . the council had written to. the Legation . asking for ihformation about any moneys paid to the i Legation by the council. • The letter was sent on May 21 but no reply was ; received. The secretary of the Federa- j tion of Labour, Mr. K. Baxter, then sent a letter to the Legation explaini'ng ! the ' ' set-up ' ' of the trades council and j federation and appealiug to the Lega- j tion to give the council information so ' that it could put the books in order. According to the letter from Mr. Baxter he received a telephone call from a woman ofiicer of the Soviet Legation on June 14. She said that no moneys had been paid to the Legation. Asked for a reply in writing, she said the telephone call was the oflicial reply. I After it had been moved and seconaed that Mr. Baxter 's letter be received, I a delegate said tlie .Legation- had. paid j Ihe council scant courtesy. It had re j ceivcd no reply and had come right up' ] against an "iron curtain. " j Raising a point of order, Mr. W. P. j Kelleher said the matter had previously been discussed in committee. As it concerned the Legation of another country it should continue to be taken in committee. The chairman, Mr. J. Freeman, said j Mr. Kelleher was a member of the ' executive and had been present when ' it was decided the lettisr should be read to the meeting. The "iron curtain"! had been lifted. He did not know i whether Mr. Kelleher had had discus- I sions with others since.Mr. Kelleher denied- that he had had ! discussions with others and said he resented the inference. . Mr. F. D. Muller moved an amendment that the letter be received and discussed in committee. Beconding the amendm'ent, Mr, T. G. Potter said the Soviet Legation was no dilferent from the Legation of any other country. All were verv eharry in giving replies. His union was still waiting fur a reply from the United. States Legation. A dolegate said he had always been opposed to the press '"being admitted. Tliose who had been the prime movers in1 allowing the press to attend, were now irying to go into Oommittee. ' A woinan delegafe said she understOod it was publi'c money tlvat was in volved. The council should therefore not go into ■ committee. The- amendment Was defeated by 66 votes to 4-8 and the' letter' was received. "This thing hapjAmed tliree months ago but we haVe h/td no report from the executive vet," said Mr. A. L. Moiiteitlx. Was the iron curtain on the executive, too? The vice-president, Mr. J. T. Jennings, said the council's resolution on, the. matter was to ivrite to'. the,.Lbgu;fion and subinit a report following the' auditor's report. ' ' Immediatelv on receipt of the letter from Mr." Baxter, I told the. auditor that quite obviously the wkole of the money liad.gone astray," said Mr. Callagher. "I asked liim to bring down a report on that basis. " The auditor had told hira it would be ponsiblc to have a report for that night 's meeting, continued Mr. Callagher. but he had found later that there was so inuch researcli to be done that he could not do it in time. Tlie auditor had now promised to concentrate on the matter. It was a long job going over a couple of years. It was decided to move to the next business and await the auditor's report. After the meeting Mr. Freeman explained that the £1600 in question was money collected in ' ' The Sheepskins for Russia" campaign. Because of shipping difficulties the sheepskiiss could not be sent to Russia. Then the

secretary was authorised to forward the money to the Soviet Legation to help recons.truct bombed-out areas. .