WAR RELIEF

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2804, 23 June 1916, Page 7

WAR RELIEF

• MEETING OP THE ADVISORY BOARD

INTERESTING POINTS

: n,t o£ }\f u ?i**y Board of ~ the Federation of. New-Zealand Patriotic) ~ Associations was-held in the ■No 1 Committee Room'of the Town Hall yesterday. There wero present the Hon. J-. 1 - -Paul (ohairman), Messrs.'L.O. H. ■Tripp .(Wellington),; Hope Gibbons (Wa- ., nganui), John■ Gilkison (Southland), J. ■ £• Ilo ljS? 11 (Canterbury), V. Larner. and :. Geo. Elliott (Auckknd)i J. .- : Grimwood Y (Westland), W.-,W. Snodgrass (Nelson), and J. B. Wilson (Taranaki). ■'.'■'• ■■-. iThej.firet business taken, was the' ap- ... pointment of ,a, hon. secretary' to the ..' board.: This.came,in the form of the /following letter from-Mr. C. P. Skerrett, /ohairman of the New Zealand Sports ■-. /Protection•■League:— Y..' •"It has.been reported that your board will require the services of a secretary. As the .above league .has no ,available ■•;. funds; with which to make donations to

patriotic societies,-I.desire on its:behalf to offer you the services of our general Y. - secretary, Mr: &. W. Shallcrass, and also '~. ■ the; assistance, of his typiste, for thepur.vpose of-undertaking the secretarial work in. connection with your board. I am ; sure that Mr.: Shallcrass w ju be-very glad to give his'best efforts to promote .' the 'objeots whioh you';have in,-view." . ' ..;,'This .generous; action, (which:, really amounts to the-payment of a.secretary's '.'/salary, ..was.: muck; applauded by the .' ',- chairman, and delegates; the offer was ::, accepted'gladlyi :,a'nd, Mr.. R.. W.'Shall- . ..crass, who was ..present,'at once, took up his-duties; !':'.•.■.'.■'■, .:,'''/'.'. '."!''..-..'; .'■.'■'■' '■.■•.:■':..■ ■• '■:':' ; .Y : Interest 'on' Deposits/ ■';/..y,; . Y, : lt was.reported'that a letter had been .forwarded, to.the 'Finance Minister ,(Sir * Joseph, Ward): asking :himr to; favonmbly; ";consider, the. advisability: of allowing a . - uniform, rate of 4 per cent' on -aU\patriotio funds.deposited.in the p.O.'Savings ''.-.- Bank.-- The Minister ...replied '■: that'.'.be' '■'.would agree'. to';. jthe ..suggestion..on : . 'the .'• condition. ; that,. the' ; ! funds remain-: -,'-•;■■ ed:-;' at :,'fixed Y deposit;. . /for',- .a , : period of .five:years. In the -'.event l -of. it -,;; : .being necessary; .to 'withdraw, 'any part. ~of the' funds before the'end of flie five ' years,'the, slim'/withdrawn.would'..bear, • -interest, at'the.ra'to of 3 per cent, up -to 'the end of tho'ihonth preceding:'the date .of its withdrawal.. . _;,:;; Y/? ,_'.Geheral was expressed ■'-.- in regard to.-;these '.terms,-, and 'the .secre--tary was' instructed' to ascertain :6n:.what :... terms'the Public Trust 'Office .would ac- .'; cept-euoh deposits. ': \- ''.';"'""''■ '.; ;..'■ The/Remitted Funds/1; ,/-;It wits resolved that;tli'e Minister. of .-'.; Defence :(Hon.,-'James- Allen),'should; be .;-,;' asked to furnish a qiiarterly ptat'eiriont to the board showing/how the .£3ooo.per. .-■", month :dbnated by.'.the":'.Waif-Relief .SpeieV; ties for thebenefit of soldiers abroad/was -.disposed of; at' Borne. 1 ;';'-'.: . , : . „ ■;';•"' ;'"/::; Officers' Kits. :>/ . Y"'- : ,On 'the' debatable- subject .'of'.' „ tils, -Mr; Hope, Gibbons (Wauganiiij -.•.■■' stated that the list- the Do- .•'; 'fence'.had"published' 'was not' procurable, vat the, prices -named,'; and,. furthermore; , .."-all the articles',.thereihiwere hot nrocur--'.ablo at the Dcfonco Stores. 'Oho"officer -"• bad" informed-: him'that, he had taken , :the list/to'the^Dfefeiice'Stores.'and-had ".'•.. there.been-toid. that ; fhat -was. e/idently, . tbe list, the Minister, thought" an' officer - iehould ; have, :but- they could not' Supply ~;•-. all fhe .articles in-that list. .'Other offi- .'; e'ersptwo captains "whom he hfld.travelled ■'• ( ' with—had stated that they had to- have ■•' j-good.' clothes,;-:, otherwise: v they, would be ."ragged:',by their.:superior officers for -not keeping,up -to the.inark'; then,, when fiomelomcers' l dressed-well, tbe others felt Y that it'-'was -incumbent to dress up to '.''.: ..the best standard;-: '-.• Y' ~ .-• ~ ' Mr. ; .'Larner (Auckland) said that the .Defence,Minister' : forgpt that.'the officers, .-.had to dress■ decently, .as they, had to spend five or-six-months in or about the City. On the other hand, the Miuister .... /only, seemed'.' to. 'have-in mind;,the 'kit .-,an,,officer .would.be,.allowed*,tb take'to -'; the : front YY ' V '..''■-,- '," -.// 'Y : "..Y ' ...: r Mr.- George Elliott .'said, that ,<he ! ;Mm-, ~' isterVha'd/spent day's- and. days ;• writing Ehoavcs of letters on the point.'.whereas he could 'have, settled the whole matter by going to the stores, laying down what ~an-officers'.lnt.shquldi be,, fixing prices-, ..-". and seeing that';everything was.;kcpt. in ' .stock..,; ,:■:.';":":,.,-''-'. >',' -..;'- '■'.. '". • Different members testified as-to what \. ■; their;societies- did in the way of -supple-. •'- menting. officers' allowances for their .Ykit."--;..- ;.t:';Y;':.Y:.'::/':Y.:,:- : Miv Hope-Gibbons, suggested thattbey .-'.-. should set up a sub-committee,to go up to the Defence Stores'here; with the Minister's ;list,:'ahd"see if:;the ."irticles,could be obtained, ahd/-if..soYat; what "prices. ■•■.V Tho' suggestion: "was/ not taken ,up. ;':, ;.--;/;//: 'Soldiers and the;Land/' ■•'.'■' [. ■•_;■ Y Mr.: J % J.Dpugall (Christchurc'h) moved: '.that the Government be asked to amend :. , ;the".:Discharged,Sdldiers'r Settlement: Act, ;to make ita'provisions.'.applicable'-ftb.-'dis- . charged.soldiers,who may take up land ! -privately., ;At: ,present,...the.'-.•provisions'' only referred to saldiorn,; who take up .Government land. ;■■:The.provisions-.uuder that: Act .were, very generous,.but there was.not so much Government land avail-.-.able, especially, in settled/districts," and , .he thought .the powers should ho, extend.ed'to discharged soldiers taking lip other - than. Government;land. .'■'■'-'-.. ,-.;Y Mr. Dougallalso pointe'd:out that' the Discharged Soldiers': Settlement Act onlyapplied to a man: who had served beyond : ,New;_Zealand. It. was decided to.Tecoinmend to -the Governmeht'. that the Act ■ , should be further amended to cover soldiere: who ..have /.been. or ''may- bo' inca- . pacitated while in camp: or discharged .;owing-to-accident or illness.. ■■■ ' ;: .The same delegate proposed the- estab- • , lishment of a moratorium so as to eive absolute protection to soldiers in respect ... of, property -owned.; by. them-upon which money 13 '.owing, .unless, a Judge of the ; bupreme Court shall otherwise direct ; This was seconded by: Mr. Elliott and -carried. ;.; .:" --,-: ; ,;■■'•• Motor 'Ambulario'e.For.: Franca,'-'/ Wrf i" 1^ 1 ? 000 ' A6 «w>ation asking the board to back a request for their appeal hK^" 0110 . 80016 * 166 to provide-a motor : l"w„rf i "'^.T rl » MM he thought ' ' cietv \ir m a^ p l thß -Cross So-: '.-";, Ctfmforts for 'Returning Men,:;' :. matter of .providing comforts' for tie:wounded returning; from England to New Zealand, was considered. After -makins, inquiries '.Jlr-Yi-ripp reported that it might ,not be advisable, now to ' ' ° n ' ro °P for wounded . that w(fuld be returning , m those ships/ as the vessels no, v - probably: proceed to England, and, it .would' beioheaner to procure the comforts there S as a doubt as to which body, or fund should attend to such matters. Mrs. Lukohn/I stated that a little, work of that kind had been done at Wellington, but there was no organised effort. She had suegested that the 18x1: Cross Society take it in hand, and advised a consultation with Mr. W. H; - Moorhouso, The matter was left to tlie consideration of Jar. Tripp and the chairman. Relief to Outsiders. / Y The Wellington War Relief Association Wrote respecting the frequency of the claims made for assistance by men from outside districts, and the difficulty of get ting answers to messages forwarded to the society that is immediately interest, ed. Mr. Tripp outlined the case for the local association, and made it clear that .Wellington more than any other centre was Buffering from , applications - from outside men.. Mr. Larner said that he did not think anything much could be done of a satisfactory character until they got tho dis. t™t rolls, but/if Wellington was" to •bill Auckland with the amount expend, ed on their men, a chetruo would be forthcoming. It was finally left to Mr. Tnpp to communicate with all the principal societies on tho point.