WAR RELIEF FUNDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 October 1920, Page 7

WAR RELIEF FUNDS.

POSITION IN TARANAKI. A RE-ASSURING STATEMENT. A re-assuring statement of the finin-. cial position o.t tin Taranaki Provincial ■ War Relief Assot.-ai-'.un, was made by the : chairman (Mr. "W. ;•'. Kirkwood) at yes- ' terday's meeting ol the executive of ih;> '• Association. The other members present i wtre Messrs. ,]. F. Stevenson, E. II ■ Young, P. Tosiand, W. J. Chano*, F. W, i Atkinson, C. A. 1/ircorne and F.'Mills. \ The chairman stated that since hutmeeting ho had gone through the fllw o* | ftll applicants under the permanently ih- ! abled soldiers' scheme, with the secrt:tary, and he was now convinced tiia*, provided the recommendations of till'; finance Committee were adopted a",d I adhered to the Association won d be able: to ultimately pay all claims in full. The chairman road the report of the Finance Committee, as follows: Wound-: ei 1 soldiers' fund as at September 30, £12,580 0s Cd; commitments under permanently disabled soldiers' scheme as at September 30 (including cases wh'ch have been finalised but not yet paid), £5021 7s, and other cases estimated at £11,115, £16,130. Vi application was made to the bank to increase the overdraft from £13,710 the present limit, to £20,000, but the application was not successful* The committee recommends that no further appeal be male to the public to raise extra funds at this stage. Permanently disabled soldiers' Eeheine: The committee recommends 1 that the 40 to 100 per cent, eases be paid in full before any payment is made in cases where the irreducible permanent disability is below 40 per cent.; that an on account payment of 50 per cent. be paid in the 40 to 100 per cent, cases as and when funds come to hand, and that an on account payment of 50 per cent, in connection with 40 per cent, to 100 per cent, cases be made in all cases completed as at September 30, 1920. Grants to fit men: That grants and assistance to fit men be now discontinued. Local branch imprest accounts: That these be now closed, and the balance in hand bo remitted to the head office of the Association.

WORST CASES FIRST.

In moving that the recommendations of the Finance Committee be adopt .-d, Mr. Kirkwood stated that his investigation had revealed that one in every four on an average, was not sustained; this meant at least a reduction in finalised eases of 25 per cent., and in a number of individual cases on a money vilue it -,vould be more. The position "is that they had estimated claims amounting to £16,000 with assets valued at £12,000; thus with a reduction in the estimates of 25 per cent., they could meet all commitments', he hoped, including 20 per cent, to 40 per cent, cases. However as they had not been able to make satisfactory arrangements with the bank for an increase of overdraft, it was recommended that a payment of 50 per cent, on account, be made to finalised 40 per cent, to 100 per cent, cases, and that those cases be paid in full before any payment was made to 20 per cent, to 40 per cent, cases. The final payments would be ma<le in 1923, the last year in which the securities mature. The present financial position of the Association is stated by the chairman to be as fololws:—War Loan certificate* mature as follows: 1921.—Aug. 22, £1250; September 8, £5000; September IS £750; total, £7OOO. 1922: March 15, £1250; March 22, £1750; April 2, £0250; August 31, £4O; October ?, £1250; total, £14,540. Small amounts, £800: grand total, £15,340. Soldiers' loan repayments:—ll)2o, £1000; 1921, £3400; 1922, £3500; 1923, £2l>G4; total, £25,304. Stratfor.l Borough debentures, March 1, 192?, £1900; less soldiers' loan re-payments before due date, £805; total, £26,489. Eank overdraft, £13,000; reserve doubtful loans, £210; trust account, £SO; icserve Russell Square fund, £4l; reserve contingent overdraft, Hawera, £SI; total, £13,382. Assets over liabilities £13,117. To this could be added about £6OO, being accrued interest.

OARE NEEDED. •'The bank limit of overdraft," added the chairman, "is £13,700. We are i;i a position to pay 50 per cent, on finalised eases as at September 30 last, of 40 per cent, to 100 per cent, casea Finalised cases amount to £SOOO altogether, while cases estimated at £11,009 remain to be finally dealt with. The £II,OOO estimate for cases to be finally dealt with is represented by 136 cases, averaging 40 per cent. The £SOOO estimated cases, now finalised, averaged out under 40 per cent, money value, so that a reduction qf 25 per cent, is not over high, on the full estimated cases of £IO,OOO. The bank overdraft, including interest will be wiped out by October, 1922. \ow, while our financial position is much better than appeared at our list meeting, we have to seriously realise that it behoves us to be careful; it is better now to err on the side of being over-cautious than in any way extravagant. To make the position "quite safe we must rigidly adhere to the recommendation of the Finance Committee. and by so doing we may in 1923 have a small reserve, but we cannot at all build on this.

"Now, perhaps, I should say a few words on the general administration of the funds by pur Association," continued Mr. Kirkwood. "First and foremost I hold that the funds were entrusted to us to pay to returned men and their dependents most in need of it. In the initial stages the disbursements were en a small scale, the necessity for disbuiv,;'pr.fiits except in small amounts, not arising. Later when the men began to come back in considerable numbers our payments increased to a fairly large amount and when over a year ago we started G>ir permanently 'discharged soldiers' scheme it was apparent that we would pa/ out in the aggregate the greater part of our funds. Up to April last it appeared that the bulk of the 40 per font, to 100 per cent, cases were in, and in this it must he acknowledged that we were deceived for the reason that after advertising the scheme for six months that the bulk of the cases would necessarily be in; we could not get reliable data from Government departments as to the actual number of cases we should have to provide for. After widely advertising our permanently discharged soldiers' scheme, it was reasonable to suppose that we had then in the bilk of applications. That is just how the position arose, but 1 wish to make it clear that in my opinion such a position could not be averted once we had fixed the maximum grant to be paid to the permanently disabled soldiers. The fact of the claims not being disclosed early would not prevent payment provided we had the funds to pay; the only question would be one of priority.

that.is, date of receipt of claim, finalising, and 40 per cent, to 100 per cent, cases leceiving precedence." _.., THE DISCUSSION, Mr. Atkinson seconded the motion for the adoption of the Finance Committee's report.

! Implying to Mr. Tosiand, .'.he chairj man said that the 130 casus estimated ! t,-i Ho dealt with would be paid out as ■ .«<v><! as they were completed. ; Sir. Chaney asked if hospital eom- : .''«- would be continued. , The chairman said he thought they . rrould have to cut out these and al-'o ; finalise all monthly payments to do- ; pendants. j Mr. Stevenson said it was gratifying ■ to find aftei going into the financial ; position thoroughly that there was ; Mif?:<>ienr, funds to meet all claims. ; Mr. Chaney said i|t was necessary that : £- r « r.r £lO should be Ic.'t in the hands I of t!'o branches to meet Incidental exj ??c=e-. j .-Mr. Tosiand moved that the Financo ; Committee's report ha amended by prol vid.ng that a sum of £lO ha allotted to | the Stratford, Hawera and New Plyj mouth branches, and £5 to the smaller • blanches to provide for incidental office •■expenses.

This was seconded bv Mr. Chaney and carried. " ,i*Jf|K '.the amended report of tlio Finance Committee was then adopted. Regarding the question of finalising the monthly payments and allowances to patients now in hospitals, the chairman said that to meet all claims under the permanently disabled soldiers' scheme, they must rigidly adhere to tha recommendations of the Finance Committee. The payments to dependants amounted to £IOB a year. Mr. Stevenson said they had come tn the winding up stage, and must consider stopping the payments to dependants. Mr. Atkinson moved that the grants ti dependants be made in full for a further three months, and that half the amount be granted for three months ifter that, when all payments -would cease. This would carry the payments into the end of April. This was seconded by Mr. Tosiand and carried. ■ Replying ,to Mr. Larcora, the secretary stated that payments to permanently disabled men in hosiptals were deducted from the amount of the final grant made. 3he chairman said he did not think there was any need to continue the payments to men in hospitals, except i« special cases, as the money was of greater value to the men when they came out of hospital. A motion to this effect was moved by Mr. Stevenson and carried.