EXTRAVAGANT EXPENSES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2581, 1 October 1915, Page 6

EXTRAVAGANT EXPENSES

Thk balance-sheet issued by the Patriotic Society in connection with the assanlt*at-arms at Newtown Park a week or two ago affords evidence of a somewhat reckless prodigality in the matter of . expenditure which the society will find it difficult to justify. Tho figures so far available indicate a loss oh the venture of £39, but as other accounts are still outstanding the total deficiency is likely to be still greater. It is not the actual loss, however, that calls for comment, but the expenditure on tils entertainment, which, as 'our readers are aware,> was arranged "vVit-h the object' of raising funds for patriotic purposes. The total receipts amounted to £.125 9s. 10d., and the expenditure totalled £364 10s. 4d. Included in the expenditure _ was £83 for advertising and printing, £70 as a fee to Capt. M'L/AGLEn, who was the organiser of the programme and chief performer, £70 lGs. for motor-car hire and sundry lesser amounts. Tlic point which will strilcc most people is the lavish manner in which the cost was piled up for a one-day entertainment. It is an extraordinary thing aud certainly calls for explanation that the expenditure of £76 IGs, on motor-car hire should have been necessary. Who used so many motorcars and why ! The foe to Capt. M'Laglen also seems a heavy charge for a patriotic entertainment. The reason for the financial failure of the entertainment is attributed to the weather being somewhat unfavourable, but even if thin excuse is

valid there still remains the fact that at' the rate of expenditure incurred it would have required an attendance of something like '8000 people at one shilling per head to cover expenses alone before a penny of profit was made. Surely for an entertainment of this nature where owing to the large -amount- of free or low-priced assistance given, it is customary to keep expenses down to a minimum it is an'evidence of very lax management when an attendance of nearly 8000 people is required t-o cover the cost of a one-day affair. The Patriotic Society would be well advised to inquire as to who was responsible for the extravagant manner in whit'll this entertainment was managed. There is no more certain method of discouraging public patronage of well-meant _ efforts to raise money for patriotic purposes than the squandering of the funds in extravagant mis-management.