WAR RELIEF ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 47, 19 November 1917, Page 6

WAR RELIEF ASSOCIATION

Sir,—lt is a fact that w;heu reviewing tho work done and the great amount left nndone by the Wellington War Keliet Associatiou, the local papers, yours included, give quite detailed literary sketches of undeserving cases. 44" liiitted there are cool impostures; which are aptly called Oliver Twist cages, and no doubt this influences the cold, hard eye, which I for one havo met at that loving institution. I say this without malice, for it cost me an effort to put my sensitive feelings aside, and mount the stairs; and the atmosphere is very cold up there after the trouble. One is left roosting on the sound leg—there is a scarcity of seats-for quite an indefinite time, then, when a statement 15 it is just as likely to lio on the table tut you call again, say about three weeks ! time. Mine is probably in the ' K'astepaper basket long ago. *1 really had to scratch along without thorn-there was nothing else for it. Without giving you any harassing ttetails, I jvill conclude by' saying that there is also a tendency to lie* ever-careful, which, perhaps, is also logical, for tho funds At'anyrate, no more third degree methods for me, my nerves won't stand the strain.—l Wi M" NOT A GROUSER, OR EVER WILL BE. [Answering the points raised in the above letter, Mr. Leach, of the Wellington War Relief Association, said that 110 application for naaisiance was ever under any clrcUß>s^ put in the waste-paper basket, and no application, was received that was pot placed before the committee at fte Mrt meeting-even those which were, on the face of them, not the kind that tlio association could, lend an ear to. many cases, particularly urgent ' ones, bo facts -were placed before the Emeigency Committee, which met .every day. In Other cases, less urgent perhaps, had necessarily to be made in order that the committee should have all the i formation possible to guide them in the decisions,' and in order to safeguard tM funds, which the public had subscvibed. Mr. Leach showed his hooks lndicati g where dozens of cases had boon to the cftmmittee on the day they hat been received. In urgent cases, where women were concerned, he often occasion to ring up Mrs. J. B MEwan to attend to the matter, and bhe had power to grant financial relief toat'l then when she saw it was really needed As to the seating accommodation, tnero were half a dozen "hairs in the anteroom,' and it was seldom they were all occupied. There might be rare occasions when there were more people■ mi - ing than there were chairs for, bu it wa? only a temporary matter that was scarcely worth mentioning. ould writer'of the letter peruse the correspondence received by the assoCl ? twl KJj" turning heartfelt thanks for the kindness and consideration shown tlie -writers, his viaws on the attitude of the metAm of the- executive of the association (and necessarily of the staff) might undergo a change.]