WAR RELIEF

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 18, 16 October 1920, Page 9

WAR RELIEF

POSITION OF THE FUNDS

SOCIETIES TO HELP EACH OTHER PATRIOTIC BODIES CONFER An important conference of delegates from all tho patristic war relief societies of New Zealand was opened in the Accountants' Chambers vesterday morning, Mr. L. O. H. TrifoV-cMrfliaß of the Advisory Board, presiding. The conference opened with an,addresß by tho Hon. G. J. Anderson (Minister of Internal Affairs*, who expressed decided views on the necessity of all societies ionserving their funds, for tho benefit of those who may suffer in the future as the result of their war service. The exi perienco of' tho South African War, he said, showed that-some men suffered wrmanently, and the experience after the fate, war was that Boldjers, who appeared to Be perfectly sound in health, wore findfctg fHat the stress of hard campaigning In,the trenches had undermined and impaired their health, and they had to come to the societies for relief. This ri'ight. continue through their lives, and, therefore, it .was extremely important to ' conserve the funds given eo generously and freely by a, warm-hearted neonle in the heat of the war for the purpose ofhelping returned Boldiers in their disablement. Some districts, like the West Coast, had sent a large numbor of men away and wero not wealthy enough to provide a,B much for relief of their men as tho richer districts. Rich and Poor Districts. There was no need to consider where aloldier had come from: all that mattered .was his olaim through the disabilities suffered through the war. The richer districts should do their share to help in sieh cases. On thiß account the Minhter said he welcomed. the remits before tho conference in the direction of conserving the funds of the societies Some small societies which had raised comparativei* large sums when tho war ended had apparently no further use for their funds, and he hoped tho conference would support the Department in urging that these funds should be placed in a central fund to assist those districts which had only small sums at their disposal. There were still some eighty of these societies, in existence, and the idea was that th*.? • should either put their money Into the provincial fund of their nrovince, or into a central national fund. The Minister would be guided largely hr the wißhos of the societies in tltis malter, but the Department would not tolerate the dlsßipiv tion of funds whfclt had taken place in Fjime cases in the pa*?t. -'ome societies had paufont large .sums of money to the Metiers of their districts, and conserved only a "small amount for future emergencies. Tho interact of soldiers. no< only in the district, hut throughout New Zealand, were concerned. The MTnlßter quoted instances of tno expenditure of patriotic funds, as at Christchurch and Auckland, on building homes for soldierß. This had been done by. the Defence Department without coni suiting the Department of Internal Affairs. ■'■"We do not think it wir.e," said tile . Minister," "for these patriotic funds to bv psed in any case where the project is n reasonably just claim on the Defence libpartment." if anything was dono outside the law, the members of the societies as trustees, he himself as Minister, and «, the Department would be )esponslble to the donors of such funds. They should all co-operate in the conserving of the funds without interfering „ lth' kgltinuvN claims, so that they misht be able to hcln the soldier in the future who might fall ■ by the way. Surplus Funds. < After reading an Jfl'teresting statement 'showing the position of war funds, tno Minister referred to the constitution of the National War Funds Council, whien he did not expect be a great success unless the, personnel was ultered. It-was ««Srable to increase the .nembership and have, representatives df the different war fund societies throughout the country. a> well as the four Mayors of the four chief centreß. as under tie present B.wteia. They would then have men more conversant with, tne working of the societies, whose advice would bo extremely valuable on the administration of provincial war fundß.

There was also si large .nm amounting 'to £M,&15, of which £5-5.203 was invested in the Old Country for the assistance of Allied'nations, the Belgians, and for other 'ourposen. It seemed to ftim this money Wight well bo transferred back to New Zealand and added to the National War Fund hero. There appeared to he no call for it in Hijgland, and none had better claim on It than our f.wn soldiers. Be Intended to take steps to have it transferred to Sew Zealand and utilised.

In conclusion, the Minister again emphasised the need for the conservation of funds of societies, which Lad no further use for them, by transference to the National or Provincial War Bounds as a Teßervoir to supplement the relief work of the societies which were -financially weaker. If they were not prepared to transfer their funds to a central fund, they should wind up their affairs, and transfer them to the provincial funds. They Bhould not f.pend the money on war Memorials, buildings, or any purpose outside that for which the money was ongllially contributed—that is, for the personal benefit of soldiers who need relief. Memorials should be built at tho publio expense, and building's were • usually a legitimate claim on the State. In answer to- a .delegate from Marlborough, who said that the Patriotic Society there had decided to wind up within 'five years and distribute its funds of £24,000 or £25,000. the Minister said hn had power to ator, that sort of thing, which ho regarded, as dissipating the money. He understood the Department had already given instructions to ston it. In moving a hearty vote of thanks to -tho Minister, the chairman faid that his was ono of the most pleasing speeches he had ever listened to. The motion was carried with Acclamation. , .Mr. Pollard explained the nositlon in Blenheim, where ho, desiring .to conserve the funds (they had some £24,005, was hopelessly out-voted. He asked if the Minister had tho power to prevent such funds being distributed. . The Minister said he believed he had the .power, and was proinc to use it. Ho would deal with Marlborough and'other-societies who were not disposed to conserve their funds. The Chairman's Remarks.

: The chairman said this was tho ilrst cc-nference of tho kind since the armistice. He traced what had been done by tho societies, and said he was satisfied that their work would cave to no on for rnanv years to come. That view was held by most of, them, and in particular bv tho ladies who visited the soldiers in the Hospitals and homes. They had roughly raised' JEI.COO.OCO, but on looking into the annual expenditure it would be seen that yiey had spent more last year than during tho whole of the .preceding term. •There were some 4000 men suffering from 25 per cent, disability, which included tho tuberculosis cases. One man in every three who returned to New Zealand had been, erven a pension. That waß very striking. What happened in the South African War? Only one in every 100 ;re"ived a pension, which Oiowed the effect of this last war. Many cf .he men were dlscSarged "Fit A" only to break' down later, and unless they had funds to deal with such cases, they would not be doing their duty to such men. No Government could deal with such cases as expeditiously as they could. TTie largest proportion «f the men in the Trentham Military .Hospital to-day were those who 'had broken down as the result of their war service He had not been able to get the numbers, ?,. ut . he believed he was right in saving that 90 per cent, of the men at Trc'ntliam were cases of breakdown. From time to time ho had been struck with the nluck and determination of the men generally to help themselves. .Many of them said that they old not want money, lut expressed .themsejves as grateful for the existence of an organisation which could help them If flfey wanted it. He was sorry to. sav that some of-the smaller societies had the idea, that us'" the war was over they wished to dist ;buto their fnnds-among well and other Ka n . He did not 'hink they had the power to do eo. A letter was read from ono such society commending a case to tho Wellington Society, as they had SDent all their funds, which showed how ill-advised such societies rad been. Ho had been at pains to discover the position oi the funds established in connection with the South African War. There had been three such funds—ono had been exhausted in February, 1911, one in 1915, and one as ute as June 28, "916. Mr. J. A. Nash. M.P.:.Wo were forced to wind up by the Government, becauso they wanted to take the aoney. Conservation of Funds. The chairman said that may have been bo, but if claims had been received for 14 or 15 years after the Boer War, did it not show what responsibilities were being placed utjon them? In the future it would be almost imposslblo to collect more money. He moved tho first resolution standing in the name of trie Wellington War Relief Association, namely:-' "That after providing for nrescnt claims of the totally and partially disabled men and their depondantß. the conference urges every Hocicty to conserve its funds for the Benefit of future claims, particularly those who break down from to time as the remit of their war Borvice. and their dcrendants. this conference being of oninion that just claims will be made on the war - relief and patriotic funds for many years." Mr. J. J. Dougall (Phristchurch) seconded the motion. Mr. Kirkwood, who generally supported Che motion, laid thM. tho term "conservation of funds" raqtrbred definite lntor-

pretation. He maintained, however, that if the Minister was going to oppose the I>iyinent of £200 or £300 to returned soldierj, lie would be on vj.ry dangerous ground. , Mr. Scantlcbury (Inangahua) Btatjd that the conservation of funds did not concern their society, as their funds were at bo low an ebb that if they did not net some assistance tliev v oulcl nave to go out of business, yet they had sent many men from Reefton and elßewhere, including me members of Uie Tunnelling Corpß. Asked for a delluition of conservation, Mr. Tripp said that he took it to mean that every case that cropped up would bo treated on its nieitits, but the balance would be conserved as carefully as possible Ho agreed that it -would uo unwise to tio up large sums of money for 25 years or so. The Wellington Association had by resolution ,Bot aside a. third of its fund for disabled men and their dependants, and this had been invested with the Public Trustee at 41 per cent, for a period, but, on giving notice, that money could bo withdrawn. Mr. Dougall' said that the Canterbury 'Society had decided that no money should be given to a fit man, and by so acting they had been able to -conserve their funds for the permanently and partiallydisabled soldiers. Mr. H. J. P. Aldrich said that at the last conference of the Returned Soldiers' Association a resolution was passed endorsing a. policy of conserving funds for permanently and partially-disabled men. Mr. K. E. Prentice (Wairarapa) stated that the overdraft of their fund stood at £53.000. The Wairarapa Society had adopted a policy of lending lump sums to soldiers-tbat was the way they wero conserving their funds. The motion was adopted unanimously.

Help One Another. The chairman moved: "That if at any time any society has more funds than are sumciont to provide for all claims on its particular district, iff is the duty of that society to help other societies where' the latter lia-vo insufficient funds to meet the claims in their particular district. , Mr Tripp, in advocating that wealthy societies should held poor ones, said there was progressive Marlborough, with £600 for every man, woman, and child iu the district, while luangahua, had nothing at all. Why should not wealthy Marlborough help Inaugahua? Mr V ./ Lamer (Auckland) said that he did not think that it would be: necessarv to oall on the funds of societies until the sum of £30,000 held by the War Funds Council was used up. that fund was exhausted such a remit would b The Southland, South Canterbury. anJ Gisborno Sooietlos opposed the motion, which was withdrawn. War Funds Counoir.

The chairman moved :-"That the personnel of the War Funds Council should be altered, and that tho council should include representatives of the war relief ana patriotic societies who have been actively engaged in the administration of war relief funds, and also a representative of tho Eeturned Soldiers' Association and other bodies who have been adminstwine war funds, and whose war funds may be transferred to the council. The mover explained that the War Funds Council was a body which had not. had much experience in the actual administration of w?r relief funds, and he believed it could bo made to serve the purposes of a national fund, which he had advocated un vearß ago. The War Funds Council had over £30,000 in hand. There was ako a sum of £56,000 in London which the Minister had mentioned, and there were other amounts from the l-^- A ;; .Sanation Army, -and .Bed »«\,»N& would doubtless be -paid m when the onects for which they were J'aued ceased to exist Another thing to be considered wa money which might be left for the benefit of disabled soldiers by foplein their wills. What he desired to do waß to alter tho personnel of the f council so as to permit of persons with » close knowledge of the administration of such funds becoming members. At present it consisted of the Minister the Mayors o -the four centres, Sir .John Roberts, -of Duuedin. and others, none of whom ha-d practical everyday experience of the administration of war relief. ,f« e ™* * change made, he was sure the body was one that the Public would have confidence ?n It would be the body, too, to whom any society would have the right to apply for assistance when its funds be T KaTheartily supported the motion He thought that it was only due to he tieonle who had done the woik ""»»« S strenuous years of the war and later, to have representation on the wy. The Hon. J. Grimmond, M.Tj.C., also arrnroved the idea, and saw . m it the means of ultimately consolidating. all the paSically subscribed moneys in one carried —ously Tho chairman moved, and it w.ia re solved' "That it should be tho duty of the War Funds Council to conserve ,1b innd| so as to be n a position to help any soldier or his dependants in any part ot New Zealand if at any time it ?hould so happen that the local war relief or patriotic "ociety's funds have become dc"onlh'e motionof Mr. J. J- Dougall (Canterbury) to following resolutions were ""That'no society make an emergency grant other than - to permanently and seriously incapacitated men without first. obtaS instructions from the (™iotv on whose account the grant is SroSoVto be made If a wdeg.m»toj Grants to those not coming within tno above definition, such society shal accept re "nonsibill y for the amount disbursed unless .exceptional circumstances are P ™ThaYall quotas shall bo based on the funds in the hands of the various societies ars-howr, by the last quarterly returns forwarded to the Department of Tnteraal Affairs. Owing to the depleted state of some funds, tho quota allocated on the basis of population is now obviously inequitable."

Roll of Returned Soldiers, The following motion from the Taihape Society was approved :-"That with a view to enabling all Patriotic societies to ascerSin the number of. and keep m touch with, the men for whom they are le sponsible tho Advisory Board inquire into tho advisability of taking Bteps to have nomnUed a- roll to include both returned soldiers and the dependants of deceased sold ers. Such roll to bo scheduled accormie to patriotic districts, and the cost of % rep S ?ation to be borne by the individual societies pro rata.