YEAR'S FIGURES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 84, 5 October 1940, Page 12

YEAR'S FIGURES

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

LOW ADMINISTRATION COST

BIG SUM HANDLED

Contributions from all sources received by the National Patriotic Fund Board in its first year of operation, as shown in the accounts submitted to the board's standing committee yesterday, totalled £743,996, and administration expenses were only £889 10s 5d—0.1 per cent, of the total amount received, or 2s for every £100. The administration expenses included the travelling expenses to England of the board's commissioner, LieutenantColonel F. Waite, and such other items as printing, stationery, postage, and telegrams.

Grants for the provision of amenities and comforts within New Zealand comprise the main items of expenditure. For this purpose the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society has had £11,500, the Salvation Army £13,669, V.M.C.A. £35,999, Church of England Military Affairs Committee £3000, and the Catholic War Service Fund £3695. Part of these sums was for the erection and equipping of recreation huts in the military camps. When the audited statements from the organisations concerned are received, these huts and equipment, which are the property of the board, will be incorporated in the board's accounts. The board took over the assets and liabilities of the Church of England Military Affairs Committee and the Catholic War Service Fund at the end of June, and when the audited statements are received the assets and liabilities of these organisations will also be incorporated in the board's accounts. PROVISION OF COMFORTS. The following are details of expenditure on comforts:—Convoys for troops, £871; troops in New-Zealand, £1812; troops overseas, £4129; First Echelon, £1692;. Second Echelon, £2364; Third Echelon, £1990; regimental funds, £895; sick and wounded, £5392; Air Force relations organisation, £1527 15s 9d. Grants overseas include the following:—Toe H, London, £500; Salvation Army, London, £622 10s; Y.W.C.A., London, £2501; Victoria League, London, £25; Red Cross organisations, £15,572; Lord Mayor of London's Relief of Distress Fund, £100,000. In addition, amounts have been remitted for contingency funds for the provision of comforts for the New Zealand Forces overseas. The amounts sent in this way are:—Egypt, £6735; England. £6225; sick and wounded; Egypt, '£6250; sick and wounded, England, £12,450. " ■ Other expenditure includes £1728 for military bands for the purchase of equipment, £97 for the library service for the troops, £561 for the Lady Galway Patriotic Guild, £176 for the Navy League, and £1300 for the purchase of the hostel for Papakura Camp, Auckland. Comforts in stock are valued at £1935. Investments comprise £60,000 on fixed deposit with the trading banks and £420,000 in Treasury bills, making a total of £480,000. Cash in hand amounts to £10 18s sd, and in the bank account there is. £15,454 6s 4d, so that the present 'state of the national funds is £495,465. Part of the amount remitted for the relief of distress in London will be repaid to the board as the result of the splendid response that has been made by the people of the Dominion. TOTAL EXPENDITURE. The total expenditure shown to date is £248,531 in round figures, but in this amount is included money that has been sent, overseas for contingency purposes and has not yet been spent. A large proportion of the expenditure is non-recurring, as, for example, the money that has been spent in the erec-, tion of recreation huts, the purchase of billiard tables, etc. Another point is that the accounts as presented did not include sundry creditors /and debtors or interest accrued but not due, which will have to be brought into the board's balance-sheet for the year.