FUNDS FOR BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 112, 5 February 1919, Page 5

FUNDS FOR BELGIUM

7 FINAL PAYMENT AUTHORISED

£31,312 PAID OVER

. The local Executive Committee of the Dominion Belgian Relief Fund (Wellington branch) has received from the War Funds Branch of the Internal Affairs :. .Department a memorandum 6tatimr that on June 14, 1917, the committee was ad- ' vised that the National Committee for ; Belief in Belgium had suspended ap- . peals to the public of the British Empire, as the United States Government -, ha'd assnnred all financial responsibility in connection «\th this work. The entry of the United States into the war prevented the funds held at that time from being satisfactorily administered, .and what'small measure of relief could fbe granted was undertaken by the representatives of the Spanish and Dutch Governments, The''National Committee for !Relief in Belgium has, owing to the cessation of hostilities, been \eiiablcd to again take up the administration of relief, and the Department will be prepared to receive and transmit free of charge, any moneys held. by the Committee for Belgian Relief. Following the receipt; of. that letterthe secretary of tltf Wellington branch air. R. W. Shellcrnss) wrote to the War !Funds Office in to the transfer ■of the balance of the funds in hand to Belgium, and received a reply stating •that, in Novembor last, the High Commissioner had. advised the Government that as Belgium was then being cleared of the enemy the. National Committee would resume operations. The High Commissioner at that tinio hold some .£50,000 in trust,, and the Government 'decided rthat the -wUole of this money should be landed over to the National Committee, and that the trustees of the various Belgian funds in the Dominion should be advised to. similarly transfer, their funds. On receipt of the letter the Secretary calted a winding-cp meet--1 ing, which wa? • held . in the Mayor's room yesterday morning. There were present the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke), Messrs. Guy ■ Johnston, lan Duncan, C. P. Skerrett,-and R.W. Shallcrass, (secretary). . The Mayor said that there was eveiry ■leasbn for congratulation on the generosity of the people who had contributed so ■well for tho relief of those who had suffered so'mrach in Belgium. On a previ- ■ ous occasion they had remitted a large isum of vmoney, as well'as clothes and •produce, from the Wellington, Hawke's . Bay, Taranaki, and Marlborough, dis,- . tricts. Since thin another effort had been made in the Wellington district only, and , the amount available was that set out in a statement made by the!treasurer, Mr.' }E..W. Shallcrass. The total raised, by contributione and interest was .£31,312 Bs. ;4d. Of that amount the following sums '.nad been paid:—Provincial quota? under ■Government scheme, 3s. Bd.; Bel;gian Children's Relief Fund, JG5032- ISs. Id.; insurance (since refunded), £! 9s. ■6d.; Wairarapa Committee, refund freights, paid per Tokomaru, i£sß 17s. 2d.; Belgian Refugee Fund, 15s. 2d. • : petty cash, .£lo.' AfteT these amounts •were paid there were the following bal•ances:—With. City Council, 45.. '.'■3d.; in Bank of New Zealand, .£9294 03.'.«d.; total, 4s. 9d. The financial statement was approved.

On the motion of Mr. C. P. Skerrett it Tvas Tesolved to hand over the balance . {less iIOO, for Belgian refugees' fares) to . the War Funds branch of. the Department of Internal Affairs for 'transmission to *he Belgian National Committee. . At the citio reception to TEo congress delegates, Dr. L,. Cockayne, president of the New Zealand Institute, in .aclmow.ledging the welcome, s.iid that the public, ■while expressing its appreciation of ap- > pEefl science, 'failed often to. recognise the value of pure ecjence and to see that •without pure science'there could be no > applied science at all. Commenting on the ..statement that the British-Empire no to present,had not done her scientific,duty. •Dγ. Cockayne expressed 'himself as strongly opposed to that view. No nation had done its scientific diiiy so worthily as the glorious: British Empire,., of ■which they were citizens. Certain naines of very great scientific, men , were household names. , Need he mention Sir Isaac Newton,, and in later times Michael Fara-<lay,--without i .whose". there could have ,l)een no frozen. meat • industry in New Zealand fo-day. Yet he did not see a single statue of Michael Faraday in this Dominion.- And what .of Charles Darwin, that great man who had , revolutionised the science of, life? '