WAR DISTRESS FUND

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2247, 5 September 1914, Page 8

WAR DISTRESS FUND

LOCAL CONTROL AT SIXES AND SEVENS. ■'-, . . The general public have been given the inipressibn that tho War Distress Fund, now mounting up to substantial proportions, was to be administered-by ■thp committee recently fanned by the Mayor (Mr.. J. P. Luke), who called to his aid the chairman of the Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and representatives of the Labour organisations. It was given out that this committee was to use the machinery of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for the purpose of. ascertaining tho merits of each case as they came before the committee, and that certain ladies representing several social organisations iwere to work as "a guild of service" with the committee in order to concentrate the funds into one channel and to prevent anything in the nature of overlapping. This does, not appear to be altogether the case if conclusions are to be drawn from a meeting called by the chairman of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board (the ; Key. W. A. Evans), and held jn committee in the No. 1 committee room of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon. Those invited to attend were representatives of the TwoGarment Society, Ladies' Christian Association, St. John's Church Social Service Guild, Kent Terrace Church Society and Service Guild, St. Mark's Church Social Service Guild, Methodists' Union Social Service Guild, Union Social Service G-uild, Salvation Army, St. John Ambulance Nursing Guild, Women's Christian Temperance Union, Society for.the Protection of Women and Children, Y.W.C.A., Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, A.0.D., A.0.F., Victoria League, Society for the Protection of the Health of Women and Children, Moral and Physical Health Society, : Women Teachers' Association, Victoria College Students' Christian Association, Union of Women Workers, and the New Zealand Natives' Associa-' tion. . . ■;■ ' With ench a formidable array of bodies, the majority of which < were: represented, it was hoped- that ■something, tangible would result, but atthe conclusion of the meeting a Dominion representative was informed that ithe re-' suit was practically negative- and;,.'th'e secretary (Mr. Truebridge)'.in handing out the final resolution stated , that : he was unable to gather where they were, and what the resolution actually was ■intended to convey. . The.resolution in question, adopted on the motion of Archdeacon Harper, seconded by Mrs , ; J. P. Luke, was as follows:—"That this meeting resolves that a special committee be set up to administer a special fund for , the relief of war distress, and that this committee is then to have a special fund to be administered from the Town Hall, or other independent centre under Section 53 of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Institutions Act'" ...I "iWas tho.commiijtee.sot up?," asked the. reporter.. •""■"■'"■.. ~",..'"■■ ' "Noi" replied"the secretary. : "Is it intended that this committee shall talce the place of the one set ud by the Mayor?".. ■■■■''' :■■ -■ ' - "I can't say." ■ . "Well, does it mean that the committee .will handle the money already subscribed to the local distress fund or is a new fund to be started?" V "I really don't know, and I'm not sure that anyoiio else does," said the secretary. , One who 1 was present stated that the meeting was all "at sixes and sevens " and he did not think that any more would- be heard about it. Hon. A. L. Herdman attended at the outset of the meeting, and stated that the Government would do all in its power to help in. the relief of dis-tress-He approved : of the idea thatthe best method of alleviating distress was to fiud employment : for those-in •need of it. , '• .. ■

A NEW SUGGESTION.

COLONIAL BLANKETS FOR THE . DISTRESSED. The winter is coming on at Home, aart it is a severe winter in Northern Lrance,-Belgium, and the United Kingdom; the men, of the Expeditionary nfTo'i ,V 1? "*, u llkely t0 Set a taste of real co d weather, are being equipped accordingly. A movement is m To t m Christehurch to send 100,000 pairs of blankets_to Europe for the -distressedof the.United Kingdom and Belgium a movement which has the support of ttf \tmiF\- lf b6en suggested nf 1^^ 11 H?** d< > something of the land'for tho distressed ml ruined folk of tho North of Frante whose homes and hearths have been ravaged by the hoof of the ruthles" Teuton invaders. Winter is always more .or less of. a struggle to such people-what it will bo th,» year tfo most vmd imagination cannot .attempt to depict. ~ . The Wanganui County Council has reseived sixty replies relative to its sucgestion that Parliament should pass a validating measure allowing local bodies to contribute a certain percentage of their incomes to the. British rehef lurid. Of these thirty-four are favourable. Eleven local bodies replied stating that they would take no action s cight reported that they had held the matter over for consideration, and five reported having already contributed. ' The Napier South' Town Board last night voted £50 to the Napier Distress Fund. THE MAYOR'S FUND. £ B. d. Amount previously acknowledged 1500 12 11 Mrs. T..0. Fox 0 10 0 ■£1501 2 11 The naval affair off Heliogoland recalls to mind tho tribute of a German naval officer to the British seaman. "It is declared," wroto Captain Von Pustau in the "Tagliche Rundschau," "that our men are , better trained, or even more courageous, than tbo British. This assumption is entirely without foundation; on tho contrary, everyone who has'seen British seamen at work knows that they represent the very best stock and typo of their race, and will have remarked that, under the influence of glorious traditions handed down from a period of continued bril'iant triumphs, these men have acquired a boundless selfconfidence, an independent bearing, and a recklessness approaching brutalityall of them characteristics' which may very often bring' decisive victory in naval warfare, as surely as tho best military discipline and training." An excellent war map of particular interest to New Zealanders on account of tho victory achieved by the advance guard of tho Expeditionary Force in taking Siimoa is now on sale by all booksellers.- Its eizo is about 36 by 2-1 inches, and it is printed in six colours, and shows all the British and German possessions in tho Pacilic. A notification, appears elsewhere.