A PENSION SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2375, 3 February 1915, Page 7

A PENSION SCHEME

FOR WOUNDED SOLDIERS DISCUSSION BY PATRIOTIC COMMITTEE 'A proposal for tho setting aside of a fUAd to adequately provide tor any New iv«aland" soldiers injured In the war, or for the relatives of soldiers killed, was considered at a meeting of tho Mayor of Wellington's Patriotic Fund Committee held .yesterday- afternoon. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) presided, and the.subject was raised in a letter from the secretary of the committee' (Mr.. C. Ri Smith) as follows:— '' With regard to the fund administered by. the Patriotio Committee over .which you preside, I desire once again to express my very strong opinion that proper provision should be made, and made now. for the welfare of any -of the men who are going to the front and iave the misfortune to be wounded, or invalided, and also the dependents of those who lose their lives. While tho war is proceeding and patriotic feelings are running high, I feel quite sure. a Rood response would be made to any such , appeal, and I would suggest that if ten or ; a dozen citizens could be found who would contribute,.-say, £100 each, that'a.fund should be started and specially earmarked by your committee for this object. I sincerely .wish I could •offer to make one of the number to give £100, but that is beyond me at present; still, providing sucn a fund is started, and that donations to the. extent of £1000 are available, I would be pleased to contribute, at any rate, >.£6o.' I trust that the committee will give their earnest attention to this matter, as directly our men get into the fighting line, (which must be very shortly), wo shall have heavy claims to meet, and we should be making some adequate provision. In Christchurch they have funds to at least £16,000, which are lodged with the City Council and bearing interest. While these funds may not be specially earmarked, they are unquestionably being" held almost entirely in reserve for the men who are injured or fall in the fighting line, and their relatives, and dependents. In Dunedin they have £24,000, and a proposal is being considered to reserve £20,000 for the special object I mention; and in 'Auckland they have a balance in hand nf £39,619 —£31,000 of which is reservthe special purpose to which 1 refer. We, unfortunately, only have .£6OO or £700, and with the calls'likely to be made in connection with the camp work that will shortly be'reduced to nothing.. I 'feel that there is an urgent call on the iomniitfcee to take this matter up, and when once the position is known to our citizens I shall be very much surprised if some voluntary subscriptions of much larger amounts than I suggest are not forthcoming." . Speaking ,to the letter,, Mr. Smith eaid that anything that was to be done in the direction indicated by him should he done at once, and not left till the end of tho war. Of course the men 'would get a,pension, but it was recognised that that was not all that should be done for those incapacitated. They should riot haye to suffer any loss at all. '■ Views of the Mayor.

-The Mayor said that he shared vwy largely the feelings of Mr. Smith. There was ho doubt that when the National Fund was raised many donations from Wellington went to the Government Fund during tie session of Parliament, while in other centres the donations largely went to local patriotic funds. Jio thought that the Government should make a clear pronouncement as/ to,what they intended.to do with that money. There was no better use for it than , outlined. by Mr. Smith, and . he held that the National Fund should not be U6ed to pay' the necessary expenses in connection-with the oontingents. He did not want it to appear that the other centres, with large sums in hand, had donated that -in addition to large donations to the/National Fund. He moved, also, that the Prime Minister should be asked to provide a list showing where the donations had come from. He thought the letter should be left' over till next meeting. j Mr; W. Ferguson said that they should, first understand the Government pension scheme before going on with the matter. If the Government's proposals needed supplementing they eonld then, go ii'.to some 6cheme. It was decided that Mr. Smith should be thariked for his communication, and that it should be held over till the information required had been gained. . Mr. .Smith said that there was no reflection in the figures quoted in his letter; The Wellington people had given generously all round, and when the time came any further call, would be loyally met.

Permanent Band for Trentham. The secretary reported that a set of band instruments bad been purchased for the second reinforcements. The members of the force raised £50 towards the cost. Nothing had been done at present with regard to providing a permanent set of instruments for Trentham camp. The men in camp had a . band now, -which he understood they ivauld take with them. Probably they ■ tvould obtain tlie other set of instruments which they bad under oonsidera--tion. The Mayor said that the Mayors of Dbristchurch and Masterton had favaured the idea that the other towns should assist in providing for the cost \ of a set of instruments. Mr. Luke ?lso hoped men of the Expeditionary Forces would avail themselves of the social hall, which had been provided at the Wellington Naval Boating Club. Further, he said that Mrs. Bell was assisting to raise funds for the band already purchased by the men at - present in camp at Trentham. There would be no cost to the committee. Discussion was raised on the point whether, if a permanent band for the camp was secured, at an offered cost >of £110, the other reinforcements would want the public to provide private bands 'to be taken away. It was pointcd out that Major Potter, Camp Commandant,- favoured the purchase of a permanont band equipment to remain in camp. On the motion of the Mayor it was decided to purchase the set of instruments on offer, provided the other ■ centres contributed a fair proportion of the cost. Other Matters. Mr. Smith tendered his resignation as -secretary of the committee,_ but was asked to reconsider his decision. It was stated that Mr. Smith had carried out his duties-so thoroughly that his loss would bo keenly felt. The Camp Committee set'up would relieve him of a good deal of the labours that had been thrust upon him. On the general wish of the committee, Mr. Smith withdrew the resignation. in view of the altered conditions. A report was made by Mr. Ewan on the committee's visit to the camp. The question of fruit and vegetables had been arranged, and a satisfactory supply was now being maintained. As far as entertainment went, the men appeared to be very well looked after. The officers wore of opinion that nothing further could be done for them. Mr. J. M'lntosk supplemented what Mr; Ewan had said. Ho stated that they found that committees from various. centres were looking after fclio men from their districts, and the result was that there was a good deal of overlapping. He suggested that the committee set up should be called a "Camp Committee," to look after the welfare of tho men, and committees from other districts should deal with the' central "■onimittee, and not direct with the

camp. It would save a good deal of waste, and the committee would make it their business to keep in touch with all sections of tho men. They would also see that , where the Government should provide certain things, they did do so. That would save tho fund boing unduly used. The proposal had been mentioned to, and approved by, tho Christchurch, Duncdin, and InvercargLll committees. The only other ones to bo approached would be Auckland and Napier. . On the motion of the Hon. J. G. W. Aitken it was decided that the committee set up, consisting of the Mayor and Messrs. M'lutosh and Ewan, with power to add to their numbers, should be called the Camp Committee, and should look after the matters outlined. Tho Town Clerk reported that since last meeting the . sum of £30 16s. 6d. had been donated, and the expenditure had been .nil.