FOXTON PATRIOTIC SOCIETY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2122, 1 May 1920, Page 3

FOXTON PATRIOTIC SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Foxton Patriotic Society was held on Thursday night. There were -only seven members present, and the Rev'. W. Paine, president of the Society, occupied the chair. The annual report and balance sheet was adopted. The report was as follows; —“Your Committee has much pleasure in presenting the Annual Report for the twelve months just ended. During the year no effort has been made to raise further monies for the Lund. The work of your Commit tee has been the administration of the funds and the careful consideration of the many and varied applications submitted to it. "We are glad to report, as will be seen from the list of donations, the receipt of the sum oT*£s3B Ids 3d from the Ladies’Patriotic Guild and the Foxton Girls’ Guild. Finance; The year shifted with funds in hand

of £3,073 Is !)d, and ended with £3,17!) 17s JOd, of which £2OO is on deposit at I lie Post Office, £2,000 on fixed deposit at Bank of New Zealand, while the current account at the Bank stands at £47!) 17s lOd. Patriotic Shop: During tho_ past: year the Patriotic Shop was disposed of. Donations: The donations amount, to £539 15s 3d, ot which amount the Foxton Ladies’ Patriotic Guild contributed £177, and, the Foxton Girls’ Guild £3Ol 10s 3d. Assistance to Returned Soldiers: The amount granted to Returned Soldiers during the year was £1,230 12s Id, made up of mufti allowances to soldiers amounting to £245 1-1 s Od,

grant* to incapacitated soldier*, including dependants, £d4l ,17* Hd, and loans £343 Os 3d. Thanks: lour Committee wish to thank the ‘‘Mann wain Hera id” for reporting meetings and inserting .subscription lists, and to all those who have assisted the Society in any way. Secretarial: Your Committee has to report that during the year Mr A. J. Keilow, who Ims acted as Secretary to the Society since its inception with hut a brief interlude, resigned his office on account of being transferred to Fed ding. . IVe welcome in his place Mr Trueman, a returned soldier.” The balance-sheet disclosed that the year commenced with a balance in hand of £3,073 Is !)d, and that the receipts wore as follows; I'oxton Ladies’ Patriotic Guild £177, Foxton Girls’ Guild £3Ol 10s 3d,

patriotic boxes Bs, proceeds*, lecture

by Dr. -Adams 11s. sale of patriotic shop £lO, interest on money mi deposit £o(i, repayment of loans £i (>

10s Od, refunds from kindred societies £32 5s 3d, sundries Is, Minima Committee, for St. Dunslau’s Home, £7 2s (Id, making a grand (olai of

£-1 431 lbs od. The expenditure was

as follows; Regimental Funds £(i 13s 4d, Si. Uunslan’s Home, per Mouioa Committee, £7 2s Del, mufti allowances £245 14s 0(1, grants to returned soldiers and dependents £638 4s 3d, loans to soldiers £313 Os 3d, medicine, board, lodging, eie., £3 13s 7d, ear hire £l. 10s od, printing and advertising £5 7sdd, cheque book £3, stationery 10s (id, interest on overdraft 2* (id, making a total of £1,254 18s 2d, leaving a balance to credit of £3,17!) 1/s 10c. 01 Inis amount £2OO is in the Post Office Savings Bank, £2,500 is on fixed deposit with the Bank of. New Zealand,

and the balance, £47!) l<s 10d, is lo the credit of the Society s current account with ilie Lank ol New /calami. Mr Cl. Huntley said the. public would no doubt be surprised to find that during' the past twelve mouths over £1,200 had been disbursed by the Society in assisting returned soldiers and dependents. It seemed to be the general impression that, the Society had been very niggardly m the distribution of the funds, but the balance-sheet disclosed that this was not so. The Chairman said lie thought that in the past 1 lie Society had not made their business public enough, with the result that the public generally did not know what was going on. Continuing, Mr Paine said members of the Society,,in common with (hose of other societies in (ho Dominion, were concerned as lo the method of disbursing the funds held, and in this connection a conference of delegates from the various Societies in the 'Wellington Province would probably be convened shortly to endeavour to formulate a scheme so that ail the societies would work on a uniform scale. No doubt the estimated amount that would bo required for relief purposes during the next twenty years could bo arrived at by in aelurial calculation, and after this amount bad been set aside the balance in hand could be distributed on the basis arrived at by the conference, lie fell that the Foxton Society would not require all the money that was in hand for eases of need among Hie sick and wounded, but the difficulty was the method of distribution of the balance. The money had been raised for a special purpose, for sick and

wounded soldiers and their dependents, and must be expended aecordingly. It was hoped, however, that the proposed conference would formulate a workable scheme. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Rev. W. Raine; Committee, Mesdaraes F. Robinson and R. MeMltrray, and Messrs W. E. Barber, J. Burr, J. Chrystall, A. G. Huntley, and R. McMurray. Three representatives are to be appointed to the Committee, by the Montoa people, and twq by the district returned soldiers. An application by a returned soldier for a loan of £SO for the purpose of carrying out improvements in and around his private house was granted, interest to be at the rate

of 24 per cent, and the principal to be repaid, as offered, at the rate of £2 per month. <