QUEEN CARNIVAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2647, 18 December 1915, Page 6

QUEEN CARNIVAL

THEJj BALANCE SHEET

PRESENTED LAST NIGHT

RESULT GRATIFYING HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT At a speoial meeting of tho executive of the New Zealand Patriotic Society last night, a 'balance-sheet was presented, together with, the report of the auditor (Mr. Ernest W. Hunt), and the report of the chief executive officers. The meeting wae presided over by Mr. H. G. Hill. Income and ,Expenditure, The income and expenditure account showed the total receipts to be i! 50,519 15s. 9d. The tofcil expenditure amounted to i&tliJG 6s. 3d., and this, coupled with a refund of £400 C xeferred to in tho report, left a balance of £72,023 9s, fid. to be transferred to tho accumulated fund.' Principal' sources of income' were':— Queen' Carnival competition, .£52,5-17. 4s. 9d.;' yolo - tickets; .£3109 10s. ■ Bd.; gate . money, £3803 ; 12s. 6d.; auction of aoll, d£lso lis.; motor-car raffle, J!1318 7s. 2d.; amounts 'paid direct to the Mayor, £14,393 10s. 3d.; executive' stalls, £1293'185. Bd.; and sundry "other items' of . less than ,£IOOO. On the expenditure side, ; the items included': Travelling expenses .(taxi hire, petrol, etc.), £441 Is. 4d.; sundry purchases,'; £608 lis. lid.; honorariums ' and gratuities (Professor Cardston £250, Captain M'Laglen' £70, and Town Hall and Park attendants £12 75.), £332 75.; advertising, printing, and stationery, ' etc., £2251 6s. Bd.; Coronation ceremony, £338 Cs. 5d.; and other smaller amounts. AUDITOR'S REMARKS. A DETAILED REPORT. The report of the auditor contained, inter alia, the following remarks: — "Receipts have been issued by the treasurer for all- amounts received by him, and ; it has been possible, by checking the counterfoil of these 'receipts,, to trace all amounts so' recorded into the . books of ; the society. Steps have also been taken to apply such additional Checks as were available, with a view to tracing the inward cash from its original source, but this in some cases has been found quite impossible. The accounts of the various ■ Queen committees, with one exception, havo been available for my inspection, an<L it has been possible'in many cases 1 to trace into the Carnival accounts the, amounts shown as having been paid Eter by the Queen committees. In certain instances, however; the Queen committee accounts have been indiiferently kept, and. ■ it has not been possible to reconcile them ' with the main Carnival account. It is clearly impossible to certify that all ■ money • collected 'has been duly recorded. ■ "With one exception, viz., the Tramway Committee (secretary, Mt. Noot), the accounts of the various Queen Carnival committees have been available for inspection. Host of these have been audited by ' independent auditors.' liT nearly every case the auditors have appended a qualified certificate, inasmuch, as they are unable to certify as to the accuracy of inward receipts, and it will be obvious that in many cases the inward receipts cannot 'be adequately vouched. In certain cases the accounts have been submitted unaudited.' As I am concerntd only with the main Carnival account I accept no responsibility. for the accuracy, of the Queen committees' statements. Tho 1 accounts'of several of . the Queen committees lhaVe been kept by persons who possses no special knowledge.of accounts, and the record is consequently not as satisfactory as it should be. In the case of 1 the Tramway Committee the sum of £1000 for scrip votes was paid by cheque drawn on the private account of the secretary of I the committee, Sir. Noot, who has not yet rendered any statement of account. "Queen Carnival vote books to tho value of £910 ss. 3d. have not been returned to the treasurer. It is quite clear that in eorne cases candidate committees sold vote books and. subsequently purchased ■ scrip with the proceeds, and this may to some extent account for the shortage. In other cases it has been found impossible to secure the return of either missing vote books or the cash equivalent. . "The reoords of 'gate money received' havo been most carefully prepared and certified. ..." "The amount of £14,393 10s. 3d., representing payments made direct to His Worship the Mayor, has not passed through the Carnival bank account, but I lhave had produoed to mo a certificate from the Mayor that the amount in question lias been received by him. Scrip votes to the value of £7025 lis. 3d. were issued on certificates issued by the Mayor against cash received by him. "The amount of £'1000, advanced by Mr. John M'Masters to the credit of the Trentham candidate in connection with the land raffle has , been refunded to that gentloman on the opinion of Mr. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., A fresh arrangement h'a3 been effected with "Mr. M'Masters, whereby all receipts of this land raffle have bean deleted from the present accounts ,and' paid .into a special land raffle account. which will be separately administered. The raffle is still in progress. . . . "I am informed that all disbursements made in connection with the Carnival have been passed and approved by the Carnival Committee, and were in many cases dealt nith in detail by the .finance committee before payment was made. In some', casesdefinito minutes appear in 6up- , port of this statement, and in other cases the minutes merely contain a reference to the effect that a number of accounts were passed for payment, without any definite ' amount being specified. Vouchers have been produced for all payments made. I am clearly not in a position to Judge as t6 the propriety of amounts expended, this being a matter for the Carnival . Committee. Full details are, however, clearly sot out in the accounts'as (submitted. ... "The accounts and • records of the Queen Carnival treasurer have been carefully and systematically kept," OFFICIAL REPORT. BY CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE. The official report presented and Tead by the chairman was as follows: —"During March, 1915, the executive of your society decided that the time was opportune for some function to be inaugurated, the proceeds to be devoted to the establishment of a fund for the benefit of New Zealand so?Siers and sailors who wore incapacitated whilst fighting for their Empire, and the relief of the ■ dependents of those wlio have, given their' lives for the Empire's cause. "Arrangements weTe therefore made, and the executive was strengthened by the addition of some of Wellington's best knoivh business men. 1 "The responsibility attaching to the carnival we had decided vpon was fully recognised l , and all reasonable precau- . tions were taken to protect the public. "A Einanco Committee, consisting of Messrs. L. 0. H. Tripp, S. Kirkcaldie, aiift" tho treasnrer was elected, they having the last word on all questions of finance. Every payment made in connection with the carnival was passed by the full executivo, subject to the final approval of tho Finance Committee. "You will remember that strong action .was taken through tho Wellington Press with regard to collecting boxes, and your desire to protect the public from unscrupulous people, who, unfortunately, come into the open at a time like this. Your society advised the public not to put money into any box that did not bear the society's seal on five sides. Your society ' also instructed the Queen Carnival Com--1 mitteo, to tho same effect. In spite , of L theso. precautions tho public continued to i patronise collectors iv'ho presented rccop- ' facTes such as jam tins, ctc. Unfortunatei ly, although' you had great responsibilities your society had 110 powor to enforce prei cautionary measures. Further than this your society decidcd early in the campaign to insist that all Queen Carnival ) Committees should present duly audited j balance-sheets, and arrangements wers made w'.th the various, professional aoD 'cmfntanls in Wellington to curry out the audit gratis. We would emphasise this 0 measure originated with your society, and 0 we are of opinion that every collecting 0 agoncv should insist upon the presenta- - tiou of audited balance-sheets. Wo thank fy thfe Eieß3.iot ita assistaUKe iflJiiA Jwhall,

and have ijo doubt that as it so strongly approves of tho measure it will not hesitate to publish audited statements of tho funds handled by it. "Tho idea of carnival caught on rapidly. . . . Tho arrangements made for checking and receiving moneys from all sourccs were most complete. A spccial staff comprised in the main of-gentlemen from the various banks in the City, who loyally gave their support in connection with the handling of receipts.

"To give some idea of the completeness of tho checking,' over .£I3CB gate money was taken at Newtown Park in two days, and after tickets and cash had been checked there was a discrepancy of £1 lCs., which was covered by the signatures of those who had received tho tickets. On many occasions the financial assistants worked with the treasurer and other officials well after midnight, while the National Bank made arrangements to open its- doors at any hour to receive deposits. Wo are much indebted to theso gentlemen and the management of the National Bank for tho excellent help given and tho courtesy extended at all times.

"Coming to the details.as shown by the balance-sheet, we find the total amount under 'expenditure' in slightly under (! per cent, of the total receipts, but we would point out that certain items appearing under 'expenditure' were really moneys spent for reproductive purposes. For instance, it was decidcd. to purchase a motor-car, the cost of which, plus the maintenance;. driving, and placing same in a good _ state of repair when we had finished with it, was ,£ll3 is. The car was raffled, the selling of tho greater portion of the tickets bs'iiig kindly taken charge of by Dr. Platts-Mills's Citizens' Committee, with tho result that they lianded to your society ,£1582 Is., so that the money expended on the car was a profitable investment.

"Again, it will bo noted that an amount of ;£lB4 2s. 7d. was spoilt oil decorations for the streets, Town Hall, and Newtown Park. Since the carnival closed we have lent these decorations, etc., to various societies all over New Zealand, finally, selling the balance to the Dunedin Patriotic Society, Taking amounts like these into consideration, the actual expenditure is not 5 per cent, of the amount received. "There are one or two items which throw further light upon the question of expenditure, and these are printing, stationery, and advertising, the total amount for these being close on .£2OOO, or slightly under half of the total expenditure. It must be remembered that the idea of running a Queen Carnival for wounJeu soldiers was first started by your' society, therefore the idea being new to the public, extra advertising expenses were necessary in order to attain the desided end. ... ■ .

"In conclusion, we quite recognise that many of our actions have been, and will bo, criticised, but ire feel our. reward is in the fact that the movement inaugurated by pour society has spread throughout New Zealand, with the result that a sum of nearly one million pounds will be available for the fund already mentioned.

"In comparing the Tesult of the Wellington Carnival with, others, we would point out, for the sake of comparison, that'while Wellington. received a g'.cd deal of help from friends outside the City, • the bulk of the money collected came from Greater Wellington and the districts closely allied with it while in the case of the Dunedin Carnival the result obtained there was from the efforts of the whole of Otago. ' Auckland's maguificent effort has been the result of the canvassing, and organising of the wlnlo of the province, so. that if tho amounts icl.lected in the /Wellington province by our friends in .the Wairarapa, Wan.-jD.mii, Palmerston, f nd other districts weiv added to''.tte amount of the results of.you; carnival, -'lie, total would, be an exceedingly gratifying! one to .all concerned. , "Our 1 thanks are doe in'the'first place to the ladies who came forward and allowed themselves to be nominated as candidates for the position of queen,. ..together with .their committees, and , all those who so largely contributed to the various candidates' success. ■ The staffs of the City Council, Town Hall, Park and Lighting Departments assisted the movement.in a manner worthy of the highest commendation, while the bands contributed in a very largo degree to the enjoy- . ment of the various entertainments and processions. The Post and Telegraph Department carried v.vcr 50,000 letters and circulars with a promptness which shows the efficiency of the -Department. "It is possible out of the 3000 odd workers we hail on various subcommittees and Queen Candidate Committees that we may have over looked someone who has rendered faithful service to the cause we all havo at heart. Will they please accept this assurance that we, as an executive, recognise to the full the part played by every man, "woman, and child in this great effort., . "The .£72,000 which has been collected and presented, not as a;charity, but as a thanks-offering to the men who will return wounded from the battlh-frbnt, and the dependents of those who have given their lives in. defence of those things we hold niost dear, is sufficient recompense for all the effort expended." Report Adopted. , In moving the adoption of the report the chairman said: "In presenting the report and balance-sheet of the Carnival 'recently held in Wellington, under the auspices of your society for the purpose of raising funds for wounded soldiers and the dependents of those who havo fallen in the war, I would point out that your executive officers have deemed it policy to embody the reports of the chairman, secretaries, 'and treasurer in one. I have much pleasure, therefore, on behalf of my colleagues and myself, in submitting the Teport, together with the audited by Mr. Ernest W. Hunt, F.P.A. N.Z., F.1.A.V., and his report thereon, to'whom the society is greatly indebted for the time and care which he has «iven ,to this necessarily important part of the 'operations." ' , , „ Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald seconded the mo. tion- for the adoption of the Teport, and in doin£ so paid tril>ut& to the work of the chief executive officers. It was •gratifying to find that, after'such an exhaustive inquiry, they had received a splendid report from the auditor. Mr. C. M. Luke and Mr. R. Hall madi some remarks in similar terms. The chairman, before putting the motion said that in response to any written inquiry the treasurer or 'auditor would be pleased to give details of any itemß lr the balance-sheet. In connection with the auditor's compliment to the accounts kept by the treasurer, the chairman had it from Mr. Hunt himself that these were the fewest words in which he corid-test"? to the magnificent work of Mr. M Intosh. The motion for the adoption of the port was then carried unanimously; On the motion of thft chairman, a resolution was carried expressing appreciation of tho assistance rendered by th H. N. M'Leod moved, and it was »grf>ed, that a ' resolution be placed on the minutes expressing appreciation oi the splendid work done by the chief executivo officers,' Messrs. H. G. Hill, Jos. Lewie. E. If. Colley, and James M. Intosh. STATEMENT BY DR. PLATTS MILLS. I>r. Elizabeth Platts-Mills, on being" referred to last night in regard to the auditor's remarks concerning Mr. f\oot, said tKht she stood as candidate illi tho competition for the Tramway Boys Committee. which: was the committee representing all tho tramway officials. After a few weeks, when everything was going, alone smoothly and well, tho Tramway Union suddenly stepped in uninvited. She desired to have nothing to do with any union in such a movement, and was anxious to withdraw. At the request of tho executive of tho socicty, however, she remained in on the understanding that she woa 'there in the interests of the original committee only. From first to last, she Icnpw nothing of the amounts handled by Mr. Noot or his union apart from the fact that an amount paid in by him to tho society was credited' to her candidature. ■