SONS OF SEAMEN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20078, 26 October 1939, Page 2

SONS OF SEAMEN

FLOCK HOUSE FUND TRUSTS ANNUAL REPORT LIMITED EXPENDITURE SETTLEMENT PROGRESS (Spncial to tho Herald.) ! I,' WELLINGTON, this day. Having expended £163,578 on the purposes for which contributions were made during the Great War, the New Zealand Sheepowners’ Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund now stands at £143,164 in investments and cash balances. • The fund has still a great deal of Work to do in settling finally the prpspects' of many of the young men and women brought to New Zealand under the Flock House scheme, and the trustees now look forward to continuing the work of the trust among the sons and daughters of seamen victims of the present conflict.

The position of the fund was reviewed at the annual meeting of contributors, held yesterday in Wellington, when it was reported that to date £93,544 had been spent" on immigration, training, after-care and settlement of dependents of the trust; and £70,034 in cash grants to beneficiaries.

During the past two years, the expenditure from, the fund had been small, limited to grants totalling £6238 to disabled sailors and to dependents of sailors who suffered incapacitation or death as a result of service during the war; and £5142 expended in the care and settlement of boy and girl dependents.

Disposal of Training Centre

The disposal of the Flock House property, which for many years served as the centre of the operations of the trust, yielded £65,416 net for transfer to the general fund. Valuation expenses amounted to £lßl6, and £595 was set aside from the proceeds as a proportion of administration expenses.

Girls’ Flock House, at Awapuni, has been disposed of likewise, all the portions of the sub-division made of this property with the exception of three one-acre sections and the four-acre portion surrounding the hostel buildings having been sold. The trustees have made a gift of the hostel buildiilgs and the four acres to the Women’s Division of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, a gift which they feel will be supported by all contributors to the fund, in acknowledgment of tlie invaluable help given by that organisation throughout , the whole period during which the ftmd was active in training daughters of British seamen for life Iff New Zealand. Permanent Pension Scheme

Portions of the fund are being used to extend assistance to survivors of the ujar-time mercantile marine in Britain, where a committee is assisting the trustees by investigating applications and making recommendations. Aji grants are remitted direct to beneficiaries from New Zealand, and it is proposed to expend £IOO,OOO on permanent pensions for cases overseas as soon as the conditions allow for the transfer of capital overseas.

'The trustees have kept in close touch with the old trainees of FI ,ck House, and a great number of the latter, continue to correspond with the organisation, looking upon the trustees ■ aii their foster-fathers. All are now mature men and women, many of them with homes of their own, and with families growing up. The trustees have been happy to render assistance for the permanent settlement of those who by character and ability continue to merit this aid.

During the last year all the young men on the Panetapu settlement, in •he. Waikato, have been placed in possession of the freehold of their farms, and a number are now in a very satisfactory financial position.