WILL LAST YEAR ONLY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 93, 16 October 1940, Page 8

WILL LAST YEAR ONLY

If the war continues at the present pace, the £1,000,000 fund, when raised, will not last much longer than the end of next year, declared Mr. J. Abel, hon. Dominion organiser for the appeal, when speaking at the Travel Club yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Abel said the objects of the fund were the entertainment of New Zealand troops overseas and in New Zealand, provision for assisting airraid victims in Britain or other parts of the Empire, and, finally, the rehabilitation of returned soldiers. To provide £10 each for comforts for men overseas would absorb £500,000, and besides that there was the matter of providing comforts for the men here.

Mr. G. A. Hayden, secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board, spoke about Waiouru Camp. The huts erected by the board at the camp were used by the V.M.C.A. and various church organisations for work on behalf of the troops. The Government had put up some fine buildings, including a picture theatre, recreation hall, and a canteen. The church organisations were acting as agents of the board, but were not erecting buildings for the Government.

The Hon. Vincent Ward, M.L.C., explained the constitution and functions of the patriotic councils. Wellington Province contained 20 per cent, of the population of New Zealand, hence its quota of the £1,000,000 was £200,000. "The Government did wisely in forming these regulations," said Mr. Ward. "They mean that the people's money, collected by the eleven fund boards, is administered by the people for soldiers and their dependants, and overhead expenses can be kept at a minimum, both in collecting and spending."