COUNTY PATRIOTIC FUND.

Shannon News, 31 May 1927, Page 4

COUNTY PATRIOTIC FUND.

Returned Soldiers’ Criticisms. NO CASE OF NEED REFUSED SAYS THE COMMITTEEAN ANIMATED DEBATETlie annual meeting of the Horowhenua County Patriotic Association was held at the Century Hall yesterday afternoon, when there were present Mr P. W. Goldsmith (in the chair), and Messrs. JY M.- Richards . (Ihakara), C. S. Keedwell (Levin), A. McLeavey (Ohau), W. G. Kilsby (Levin), L. Ho: well (Paraparaumu), E. G. Maclean (Paraparaumu), H. Denton, H. G, Maekay, H. Lancaster and W. G. Bishop (ESA.), and E P. Walkley (secreANNUAL REPORT. Mr Goldsmith read the following report on the work of the year: .»* The Balance Sheet for the year, together with the statement of receipts and expenditure, have been submitted, to the Auditor, Mr J. L. Arcus, P.IA.,‘ N.Z./ and ■ his certificates are now attached thereto. * , “It appears from these documents that the following particulars are of

“It may be noted from the foregoing', that the operations for the year have been on a smaller scale, than the ■ previous year except in the case of grants to soldiers and their dependants, which shows an increase of about £BO, the total paid out fot the year being £412 18s 3d under this head. ~ “It will further be seen that the Association is gradually, if slowly distributing its funds. To do this work by > wise and sympathetic assistance to those who.;need it, seems, the main purpose of the Association's existence. On bal- ( ance presented the accumulated funds have diminished during the year to the extent of about £350, and stand rat £4838 18s lid. “The cost of administration is about

£l2O per year. If viewed .from a percentage basis on the Association’s annual revenue, this sum for administration might sebm quite out of propor tiori. Members are, however, aware that the Secretary’s work is of a character demanding considerable time and much tact in dealing with many eases which have to be handled with great

judgment and care. This kind of work 1 does "not make much window display, and cannot be estimated on a purely £s d basis. “The Committee meetings held during the year have been fairly well at-tended;-the work has been carried on without any unusual happenings. BALANCE SHEET. Receipts.

The Chairman moved the adoption of the balance-sheet, which was seconded by Mr. - Maclean. Mr. Goldsmith' invited questions on the balancesheet and expressed pleasure at seeing new faces present, though they missed some of their members, notable Messrs A. I. Mackay (Paraparaumu) and Smith (Paekakarariki)'. INFORMATION SOUGHT. ■ Mr. Denton said he had come to the meeting to find out. something about, the Fund. He had been asked questions by returned soldiers that he could not answer. One was; How was the committee constituted? Did it go on from year to year. The Chairman: No, we are elected every year by the annual meeting. When the Fund was, raised there were throughout the district from Shannon to Paekakariki numbers of small patriotic societies! They all joined together and each had the privilege of putting members on the Committee. Levin, Otaki and Shannon each had three members . Levin had always tried to have > one member of the Returned Soldiers’ Assobiation as one of its three representatives. IF FUNDS ARE POOLED. Mr. Denton: I suppose‘you have no definite idea how long it is going on, and that eventually the money will be bulked with other Societies? What benefit do we get then? Some Societies will have very little perhaps to put. Jn .The Chairmaii: The present idea is for the larger Societies to absorb the smaller ones. - We'are not supposed to be in existence, but should be; attached either to Palmerston or Wellington be-

cause of the relatively higher cost of ' administration of smaller societies an J the more economical management of the larger societies. Mr. Denton: If we have £SOOO, why not dispose of the fund? Mr. Richards: And let the War Fund Council keep us! Mr. Denton: other societies are spending thoir money and we are .keeping ours. When they have spent all their funds, ours will go into the pool. I The Chairman: All will go out in a few years. If there are any needy cases then they must go to the War Funds Council. But as long as we have needy cases we.have to look after them. MONEY SHOULD BE SPENT. Mr. Denton: When the time for pooling comes, we may have £2OOO. Is that going to be swamped?, ‘ That' money has been raised by this district, and it should be spent here. The Chairman: At the Conference in Wellington they told me.that we ought not to be carrying on because we had •such a small fund. But although our. percentage of administration cost in £.S.D. is higher than in the larger dish tricts, we are getting much better service: . . Mr. Denton: The general idea is that the Fund is hanging on too long. The Chairman: You join this committee and you will see how it is going out. COST OF ADMINISTRATION TOO HIGH. Mr. Bishop: Quite a lot of soldiers believe the cost of administration is too. high. Mr. Keedwell: You forget .the interest. It more than pays for the administration. Mr Bishop: This money was collected for the soldiers. The War Council has I millions and the soldiers are not able to I get the money. What is the good of keeping it when there are soldiers who are hard up? Mr Bishop contendei that, the soldiers were getting very little benefit from the Horowhenua fund as it had only diminished by £I2OO and half of that had gone in administration. The soldiers were the people who ought to get the benefit. The Chairman: They are the people who are getting it. He pointed out that £412 had been voted to soldiers in the past year. . Mr Keedwell asked how the Fund could be administered cheaper.

Mr Bishop:, That should be investigated. THE CHAIRMAN’S CHALLENGE The Chairman: We have never turn ed down a genuine case of a soldier coming to ug for help. I give you that las a challenge. And it does not just concern Levin. We go from beyond Shannon to Paekakarikj. * Mr Bishop; We know what conies before our Executive and it does, not coincide with your statement. , The Chairman: Well, I give you that as a challenge. Bring me one genuine ease that has been .turned down.

Mr Bishop said they were concerned with the cost of administration, not whether it was sympathetic or,otherwise.

The Chairman: Do you say we should hand over the money to Wellington? That is “Good-bye” to it. Mr Bishop: The matter of administration should be seriously considered. Mr Richards: Ydu have very little knowledge of uhat the administration involves. .

Mr Bishop: We do know something. Mr Richards: Not enough, I think. Mr Bishop: I have the chairman’s statement that it is high. CONCRETE FACTS WANTED.

Mr McLeavey: The. Returned Soldiers should bring some concrete facts before us and .tell us how%e. can do the work, cheaper,-; We are not out to beat- thV soldier. The money, was collected for Sick and wounded men and . the benefit! are not for healthy men. We have been administering it to the best of our ability. I have not attended many meetings but I know that the members have always been out to do their best for the soldiers and at the meetings I have attended there has been a terrible lot of correspondence to deal with and a lot of investigation to be made. There are many, who try to impose on ou: generosity. . Mr Bishop: Question! I resent that. Mr, Richards: We have the namehere." .

Mr Bishop: If the Secretary will supply; our Executive we will be much obliged. Mr McLeavey said he felt- a certain charge was being made against the executive of the Association. He had given his time in helping to raise the Fund and in the work of administering it, ar others had done, and he also resented the statements • that were being made. INTEREST PAYS FOR ADMINISTRATION. Mr Keedwell said that fer ten years the members of the Patriotic Association had been giving their services absolutely without l remuneration of a.-y sort. Most of them were concerned in the raising of the money. He himself carried on the work before the Association was formed.. Very little interest l}ad been taken in the Association’s operations by people outside in later years. The point was now being made that the cost of administration was high. Somebody had to do the work, and those who had eiven their services free could not be expected to do u whole lot more work. If the critics had, any knowledge, they would realise the&ast amount of work put through, the correspondence dealt with, the letters written to other centres, the itv made and reports forwafdtd. Applications came from all over New Zealand op behalf of soldiers who enlisted here atd were now living elsewhere. Cases .here were enquired into on behalf of other societies. The Association‘had given assistance to its men in many parts of the Dominion. They applied to the Society where they happened to be and it was referred back to the Horowhenua Society. Th actual administration cost had always been much less than the interest derived from the investments, and the free grants to soldiers in need had always been in the vicinity of £4OO or £SOO a year. How could it be said that the soldiers were only getting £l5O year. LOCAL KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY. As to pooling the fund, continued Mr Keedwell,, the Association had felt that by having a fund loeally and having local men who had sufficient interest to

igive up their time to the .work, they got .more sympathetic administration than ■they would get if they pooled their money with Wellington or Palmerston. In the latter case the local interest was gone and the aim was, to conserve | fhe funds as much as possible. This ! was one of the smaller Funds and other societies’ funds ran to three or four times their figrures. They had held aloof from the pooling scheme, on the ground that this was a self-contained* district, and that the Association knew its needs. In the early stages of the Fund, the first few thousands that were raised went to Wellington, the idea being that Wellington would be*the centre. Later it was thought to be more satisfactory to control the Fund themselves Wellington, in consideration of the money s ant there, for some time/assisted cases from this district. The Horowhenua Fund never reached £7OOO and the-funds in other districts reached hundreds of thousands. He would challenge anyone to say that they had not made proper use of the Fund, or that they had not made an honest endeavour to assist men. They had assisted men who had not asked for it—they did not wait for that if they heard of cases of need. .. Mr Howell said he had a certain amount of sympathy for the critics, but though he had only been on the Executive twelve months, he found they were always willing to give the fullest investigation to cases that came under their notice. He was strongly opposed to amalgamation with any other Society. Mr Bishop: That has ,not been suggested to-day. , Mr Howell.- No, but it has been suggested througheut the district, wild it was one of the things that induced me to come, forward and try and block it. Mr Howell referred to the hearing district soldiers would get in foreign towns as compared with the sympathetic treatment they received from their own Association. The work of the Secretary 'could not .be measuied in money. Four times the salary did rot cover the work, which was tactfully and conscientiously done. If they were going to pool their fund with the big ones who was going to investigate the little cases' where a man wanted £1 or 30s. Statements were made that returned /men were not playing the game, but it was not only the returned soldiers. Thousands of others were not playing the game. FUND FOR SICK AND /WOUNDED. The secretary reminded the meeting that there were many satisfied beneficiaries under the Fund. Hundreds of people would be able to say that they liad been helped and had received sympathetic consideration and that consideration was still available to cases of need. He was .one of the promoters of the| Fund in Paraparaumu and had insisted that it should be.(ailed the Sick and Wounded Soldiers Fund. 1 ■ 3Jp*-it was not for them it could easily be distributed. He detailed tlie. work. The secretary was always available 1 for interviews with applicants which took up a lot of time./ Visits were made to different parts of the district. The correspondence was considerable and there was quite a lot of time occupied which the public knew nothing about as the . matter was .confidential. He was available always for the work and always dropped anything else to do the Association’s business. The,Fund Was solely for sick and wounded soldiers and the management committee Were the trustees, of it for that purpose. ‘ Mr Denton said there had been a good deal of misconception as to what the money was raised for. , The Secretary: It was solely for the sick and wounded soldiers.

The Chairman: So many of,the soldiers were discharged fit-and some trou ,kle conies along afterwards that is not held to be a war disability. That has been one trouble we have had, to contend with. There is no doubt whatever that the Fund was raised for the Sick and Wounded Soldiers and their dependents. Wheii it came to the question of investing the' 'fund, we lent half to soldiers Who "had. reasonably security as a-business proposition, and invested the other half. Other Societies invested all their money and. lent none to the soldiers. We may have to. lose a little because we have adopted that policy, but that is ’die case with every class of business in this world. Many men have been greatly benefitedjby the policy of the Association in lending money at a low rate of interest; We could run a concern ten times as big at. a much lower percentage for administration. So far as he could continued the chairman, thfe feeling of the people was that they should carry on for some time yet. If they decided to close up Wellington would be very glad to tike their Fund and administer it for them. Whether Wellington could administer it satisfactorily was another question. At the conference in Wellington, the only thing said to him was that they should amalgamate with a larger district because, they could .not administer the Fund so cheaply, but. he held that it was to the benefit of this district and the nien in it that there should be local administration. As to the ultimate distribution of thu Funds, he was convinced they would all go in a few years. Mr Denton: Are we going to get tin* benefit of our Fund. I The Chairman: You are getting it. We never turn down a case of need. Mr Denton agreed that this was so. ALL CLASSES OF SOLDIERS ' HELPED. ; Mr Mackay asked who was eligiblefor assistance. How would anyone who enlisted in Australia get on.! The chairman-said that for men from other districts applications were referred to the district, where they enlisted The War Eund Council assisted Australians. Tne Association had helped Imperial men. ■ The secretary said they gave the same sympathetic attention to every case wherever it came from. ■ The Committee had two cases-before it that day where they had obtained assistance for men who had not asked for it. They had given assistance in cases where the soldier’s own district declined to.assist.

The chairman said they got the records of the bad cases that had been referred to. But there were extra good cases—men who would not ask for anything, who would almost die before' asking. The Association had to find them out and that was the work of their

representatives in the various towns. THE SOLDIER FORGOTTEN. Mr Bishop agreed with Mr Denton that there had been a good deal of misconception tmongst soldiers as to the purposes of the Fund. He knew a number of soldiers thought it would be far better to distribute it than te have to pool it. What was the use of hoarding the money up? “We appreciated the time you gentlemen give to the work, but amongst the four or five of us returned men present we have given perhaps 12 years’ service and taken the risk of losing our lives. The soldier thinks that the general public does not realise what the soldier did for them. Thousands' of soldiers lost their lives, health and careers for the Empire. This Dominion might have peen a German colony but for them. The general public treats the soldier as if that fact was not in existence. The soldier felt that very keenly . ” Mr Bishop mentioned the promises made to soldiers tnd unfulfilled such as Lloyd George’s statement that England would be made, fit for heroes to live. in. When the soiditr who had 4 been wounded in the service’ of hid country wanted a few pounds he could not get- sufficient his’needs, and that made him more bitter still. The Fund was not meant to take the place of Government assistance, but to be supplementary to it. The Government was taking the wrong view. It had one million pounds ‘and the soldiers were dying off. When they were all dead probably the Government would still have a million left. It had been said that soldiers had tried td impose on the Fund, but it might well'be that the strain that they, went through had caused them to lose their mental balance. . No one could realise what it meant to go through an attack unless they, had been through it. Mr McLeayey asked whether it was suggested that this money should be equally distributed amongst the returned soldiers of this district. Mr Bishops No, but I do suggest that the soldiers should be liberally dealt with. It should not be a question whether they can pay it back- or not. .Why should not the soldiers get it rather than let ‘ it go into the consolidated fund. ! Mr McLeavey: Our idea is that there will be need of this fund in 15 years ’ time just as much as now. . The Chairman: After 10 years, there is no slackening in the demand.

QUICKER DISTRIBUTION. Mr Denton urged that the Fund should be distributed more quickly. Mr Maclean: Who to? Mr Denton: To those in need. I have heard soldiers say: “They won’t lend it to me unless I get'two guarantors.” The Chairman: That is the only thing we can do. Most of the Societies do nbt lend money at all. They give grants if they give anything., We have lent half our money to the soldiers thinking that it will be a help to them and in most cases it lias been. ‘ Mr Maclean said there was no question what the public gave the money for. It was for the sick and wounded men and to. the best of his judgment it had been used for that. The. money was going out faster to-day ,than ever. “As regards the soldier being forgotten,” he added, “we don’t all forget.” Mr Keedwell said that at one time it had been ascertained that, if the fund

were divided the returned soldiers in the district would get; 55 apiece. ; The report and balance sheet were then adopted, ELECTION OF ] EXECUTIVE.

;The election of thie executive was then proceeded with, - and resulted as follows, Mr Bishop declining nomination as'- an R.S.A. representative:— • ; Levin. - OJL D. Hamilton (President \R.S.A.), I’.W. Goldsmith, C. S. Keedwell. ,

Otaki—Messrs J./ P. Brandon and H. Nicolson. J Shannon.— E. Butt and J. T. Bovis.

Ihakara.—Messr s J. M. Richards and S. A. Broadbelt. ,

Koputaroa.—Mr W. E. Kilsby. Ohau.—Messrs- A. and J. McLeavey. Manakau. —Messrs C. Nees and T, Clifford. ;

Te Horo—Mir G. P. Catley. C. C. Higginson and F. G. Frazer.

x Paraparaum to.—Messrs R. G. Maclean and L. HowcVl.. \ Paekakarik.i.—Mr_ A. I. Maclcay and T.. S. Smith./

Chairman.— Mir- ' P. W. Goldsmith (reelected). : /' Mr Kilsby, in proposing Mr Goldsmith for the Presidency, said he had carried out the duties very well and had a full Tinowipdge ; of tlie position of the Society. = Upon his election, Mi Goldsmith thanked, the members for their renewed confidence.

A hearty vote Of thanks was passed to Mr L. Arcus for his services as auditor, freely given without remuneration over a period of years. DISCUSSION WOULD DO GOOD. Mr Denton said the returned soldiers had not come to the meeting in an antagonistic spirit, but personally he had come to find out a little about the Fund.

The Chairman: We are very pleased to see you. The discussion will do 110 harm; it will do - good. At one time we had the Century, half, full at ,our meetings, but the attendance has dwindled.

Mr Keedwell proposed a , hearty vote of thanks to the' secretary for great amount ; of work he had done. Only those in touch with, it knew what was involved and how thoroughly and conscientiously it was carried out.

The chairman seconded the vote whibh was carried, as was one to the Press for assistance.

Afternoon tea was provided for the delegates by Mrs P. W. Goldsmith and was much appreciated.

interest: 1926-27 1925-26 £ £ Accumulated, . ■ .... 4838 5192 Securities Public Trust, etc. 2500 2500 Soldiers’ loans .... 2259 2445 New loans to soldiers . .... 105 305 Refunds soldiers’ loans .. 291 44l Interest received ... 171 215 Grants to soldiers and dependants. •••••• *12 331 Cost of administration .. 122 120

£ s d Balance 31/3/26 57 18 '8 llefuncl soldiers ’ loans .... 291 19 v2 Transfer frbm P.O.S.B. .... 130 0 0 Interest P.O.S.B. account . 5 19 10 Interest on investments 165 17 7 Grants refunded from other ; OQ o o Societies i ' ‘ V £699 15 3 ' Expenditure. £ s d Grants to"-soldiers 412 18 3 Grants on a/c other Societies 30 .0 0 Loans to soldiers ; 105- 0 0 Interest P.O.S.Bi a/c. .... 5 19 10 Administration — 100 0 0 Secretary salary ........ Telephone, stamps, adver tising,. travelling expenses stationery, ’ cheque books 22 4 3 Bank fee Balance B.N.2. 17} 12 11 -\ £699 15 3 - Liabilities. Accumulated funds £ s d 4838 18 .11 £4838 18 il Assets. £ s d P.O.S.B Account 62 5 6 Inscribed stock ........... 1000 0 0 Public Trust 1500 0 0 Loans to soldiers ........ 2259 0 0 Balance B.N.Z. .......... 17 12 11 £4838 18 11