WAR FUNDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 February 1916, Page 4

WAR FUNDS.

ATTITUDE OP THE GOVERNMENT. ' POSITION OF PATRIOTIC COMMITTEES By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Nigh(. An Impression seems to have got about that the Government wants to get possession of patriotic funds and "use them for Government purposes," said the Prime Minister to-night. "L»t me say that the Government has no such intention, though I am bound to also say that I think the Minister for Internal Affairs was justified in giving the Auckland Committee an opportunity of assisting in the equipment of the soldiers Convalescent Home at Rotorna, in their own district. The Auckland Committee declined to do 80 and on that point there ia nothing more to bo said. It is the duty of the Government to see that such funds arc ustd for the purpose for which they are collected, that is, for assisting the sick and wounded soldiers and their dependents or the dependents of those who have fallen. "So louir #J> Win different. associations ":s their funds in accordance with the Act of last session, and the desire nt contributors without parsimony on the one aide or waste on the other, there will i? r.r, interference on the part of the Government. The Government will do its full duty to the soldiers out of the public funds from its own control, but there is no reason why the Gov»rniuepl and the j.titriotic associations fhould not work together each in its own way for the benefit of the Empire's defender?."