PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 209, 29 May 1920, Page 8

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

THE POSITION IN WELLINGTON

A CONFERENCE PROPOSED

The present expenditure of the Wellington War llclief Association is nt the rate of about 30,000, and tiio funds in hand will be expended in two years. During Hid last three months'the association has dealt with 12?1 eases, and the number of letters and telegrams sent out has heen over 7000. The expenditure for the month of April was JEI-143. "When placing these figures before tho executive of the association .yesterday, the chairman (Mr. L. O. 11, Tripp) said that he had arranged for a conference «t representatives of patriotic societies in tho Wellington district, to be held at I'almerslon North oil Wednesday next. He was going to suggest that a definite proportion of the moneys still in hand sliculd be sot apart for permanently and totally disabled men and for men who might break down in the future us the result of war service. Ho desired also to secure a uniform method of handling the funds. The Wellington Association believed in dealing with each ease on its merits. Some other societies including the Taranaki one, were paying on tho pensions scale in accordance with the iiatnro of the disability. This did not work fairly. The loss of an arm, for example, meant loss of earning capacity in some coses and not in others. The Wellington district, added Mr. Tripp, contained, according to the available information, 10G9 returned soldiers who had war disability of over 20 per cent Many other cases would arise in the future. The Government on March 31 was paying over 22,000 temporary pensions, *'tud it was vca.-.onab-e to assume that many of these would eventually become permanent pensions J hero were 32G9 partially and totally disabled liicn receiving permanent niul of these 10G9 were m the military district, flic patriot e funds would be needed for a long tune to evuie.