WAR RELIEF

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2646, 17 December 1915, Page 4

WAR RELIEF

ASSOCIATION UNDER WEIGH SCAIE OF RELIEF ? ' Jlessrs. W.. Ferguson, (chairman), James Macintosh, S. Kirkcaldie, J. Hutcheson, A. It. Atkinson. L. 0. H. Tripp, F. W. Manton, James M'lntosh, J. Lewis, L. 11. A. Itearden, E. J. Colley, C. M. Luke, and G. Shirtcliffe wero I present at a meeting of tho War Belief Association of Wellington, held ill tils ■ Mayor's Room yesterday afternoon. The chairman reported that he aiid. Mr. 'Tripp had called upon the Minister of Defence in regard to Mrs. Boden's rc-quest for funds, with which to; establish .'a soldiers' hostel in Wellington. The. Minis tor, who was extremely busy, ■ had : informed them, .that he had the matter in hand,-and was making inquiries. r Until they hoard further from the Minister, they could do : nothing ' ' further in the matter. _ . In; the matter of financial arrangements, it was proposed to open aii Ordinary and an imprest account at the National Bank. The chairman proposed that all cheques should be signed by. the-two trustees and tho secretary". Mr. Tripp pointed out that the Act. provided: for cheques drawn on the oi;--Jinary account to bo signed by the treasurer - land'countersigned, by ' a : trustee. : That...could....bo'.:,arranged:.by. naking the secretary "the "treasurer as 1 ivell. , ■ !> '" It was decided that cheques be signed by one trustee'' and the treasurer. Cheques drawn on the imprest aacount are to he signed by any two members of the committee and countersigned by the "secretary.".' .; 1 It! .was-reported that there were vary-, ing amounts current and on deposit" at several of the banks in the name of trustees, wliich would require to bo transferred to the. trustees of-the association, before they could be operated upon.. On the [suggestion-of Mr. .Tripp, it was decided to .leave : ;the\ chairman to arrange with' Mr. :Luko 'and the Hon. J. G.'W. 'Aitken:;(thq trustees) to make tho necessary ' transfers. • Committees Set lip. ■ • The chairman said he thought ,it .would. be necessary to set up two committeee: in the tirst place a Finance 'Jommitteo to arrange with the trustees what investments the funds should be put into. - He suggested that it should be a :'strong''.:.:committeo. of gentlemen used Jto finance matters, -and not too large;' and-that Messrs. Luke and Ait-' . -ken should be, included',6h.Vit..;; Then there.should Relief Committee?!*) deal with ' the various':.cases ttf'jbe ,iii- .. vestigfited and dccided upon after.the fixed scale- of relief has been arranged. Mr. Hutcheson proposed that Messrs. James Macintosh, Sidney. .Kirkcaldie, G. Shirtcliffe,:. 0: M: Luke,'- and the chairman should form tho Finance Committee. /.This was seconded and'agreed to on the voices. It was also decided, on tho suggesgostibn of Mr. Kirkcaldie, that all the members of the executive, oilier than thoS6, on the Finance Committee, be members-of the Relief Committee.. v The Scale of Relief.' , \ 'As -to the rates of relief,. Mr. Ferguson said that tho Auckland people had gone very carefully into the matter, and.had compiled a scale of which he had a. copy, but until they had copies typed out for each' member to. study, bo did not' think -they could do anything in that;connection until the nextjmeeting. > ;He was of opinion that they-should consider adopting the samescale as Auckland. . I Mr. Luke:. I was hoping that therewould he a uniform scale for the whole of the Dominion. _ Mr. Shirtcliffe' wished to, know on what- the Auckland people , had gone in fixing their scale. Were they doing it well or were they "cutting their coat according to their cloth." Mr. Ferguson said, he was, under the impression that tSiey had fixed on what they considered a necessary supplementation of the pension. Hero they, may fix upon a, certain scale and find it necessary in a few months to alter it. 3lr. Shirtcliffe _ said that there was absohitely no telling what the demands would be, but he suggested that they should start prudently, in order to avoid, if possible, the necessity for reducing the scale later on. The chairman; On the other hand we must not. give less than elsewhere. A New Point. _ Mr. J. Hutcheson Taiscd a new and important }x>int in regard to the position of officers and crews of transport p.nd- hospital ships, as possibly being among the auxiliary forces which may have a claim on the funds, of the association. With regard to .such'men tho position was a difficult one', as • tney were liable to leave them in the lurch at any time, yet they were just as likely to lose life or limb whilst on service. As far as he knew they were not- provided' for under the Pensions Act, and if that wero so neither the firemen, 1 crew, the officers, nor the mas- . ter would get a. red cent, if they were all blown up. They ought, he continued, to sign on until'the termination of the war or be placed under some quasi-naval laiv to give them a 6tatus. However, ho thought it was quite "within the province of the association- to take,the position of those men into consideration. Broadly, he lmd taken it that as they wero not eligible for pen- •' sious, they would not be eligible for the association to deal with. Tho chairman said that was not the view ho took, and if it came to a vote "I would vote that assistance be given in Bttch cases/"- • \"oices: "And 1 I too!" • Speaking as a citizen, Mr. Hutcheson said that it should not bo left in the present haphazard position. He would suggest that the Minister of Marine be waited upon in order to ascertain how these men are engaged-and to what laware they amenable. At present if Seamen sign on iu New Zealand tliey can leave the ship by giving twenty-four hours' notice. He did not say that ■would happen, hut it,was possible. On ■tlioi other hand/ when they took risks they should be treated like a soldier or a sailor. _ , . ! r It was decided that Messrs. Hutcheson and Tripp' go into the matter'concerning the position of officers aiid men on Government -transports and.hospital 6liips, and report', to the iiext^E'Ceting. Appointing a Secretary. The executive went into committee" to consider the matter of appointing a secretary, on which Messrs. Tripp and Ferguson had boen asked! to report.. On resuming, the chairman stated that it had been decided to advertise for ' a secretary at once, applications to close at noon on Tuesday next. A meeting of the executive will be held at 4 p.m. the next day (Wednesday) to consider the applications and act. It was also decided that 'Messrs. Harcourt and Co. he asked to submit suitable offices for the carrying out of the work of tho association. . New times! New methods! When yon travol now (rail or sea, check baggage through us. We collect, check on, deliver. No bettor method. Saves all bothor; safeguards against loss.- Costs no more. Tho N.Z. Express Co., Ltd., 87-91 Customhouse Quay.—Advt. The Philadelphia Board of Education has decided to supervise the food which -.hildren eat in school, and 25 "}d." uinch counters will bo opened in the ■poorer distjiota. as a beginning."