RED CROSS FINANCES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3062, 25 April 1917, Page 6

RED CROSS FINANCES

" .-"* ■ SOME. REMARKABLE FIGURES. .cr: Some remarkable figures are printed in the report of the joint Finance Com- ; mittee of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John published ..recently in the News." By the end of the second year of its war ;■ activities (October 20, 1916) the total ' ■ funds received by the joint organisa- ;■: tion of the Red Gross had amounted •.f : s:--tO;-dB.4 3 977 i 227 J the income in 1916 show- ■'; ihg an increase of more than £1,000,000 .;.. •• on that of the preceding year. ■':, The totals were as follow:— ■ ■■'- '"Income. .Expenditure. >-' 1915.-: £1,912,995 £1,691,230 r ; 1916 3.064,232 1,815,353 ;: ; Surplus funds, Oct. 20,1916, £1,470,644 ,'(■ ; This surplus does not include the sum .-. of over £1,000,000 subscribed on "'Our Day," 1916. ; . , It is estimated by the committee that .-'; the. balance in hand is sufficient to meet ! expenses during the coming year. ■-'■[•■ "But," they add, "as no one can tell / ! us how long the war will last or how long j the present inflow of: public generosity ;.! will continue, or what may be the ';.-. amount of pur liabilities when peace is ;; declared (and when our revenue almost •'certainly will cease), reserves such as :-: n'e"carry to-day cannot be regarded as • ■ excessive. There is, moreover, every ••reason to suppose that when the wai is over and the financial obligations of Y the Joint Committee have been dis- ,'■■ charged there will remain a choice of institutions for the after-care of men ; broken '.n the war, to some of which ■ : : any balance we may hold could rightly and properly, be devoted." All the e-ridence points to admirable economy having been practised in ad- . ministration. By placing surplus moneys not immediately required in ';•: short-time securities such,as Treasury ' bills'it was found possible during 1916 not. only to arrange for continuous ".[ finance, but to obtain in interest a sum which, with tho deposit interest, ,:, amounted to £64,432,. or sufficient to . pay the whole \f the management ex- ... peiises at home and. a great part of the ;. administration expenses abroad. What a "push" at the front means to. the Red Cross is suggested by the statement that "the demands on our ' stores department in France during : the months, of. July,- August, Septem- '; her, and October, when the Battle of I ' the Sonime was in progress, was very' ■; heavy, the i«sTi<Js averaging over : £18,000 per month."