The Daily News. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1922. CONSERVING WAR RELIEF FUNDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1922. CONSERVING WAR RELIEF FUNDS.

The most important matter connected ith the recent annual meeting oi' the Taranaki Provincial War Relief Association was that of conserving all available funds for the benefit of returned Taranaki men who may break down in years to come, as a result of previous active service. The subject is one that we have on more than one occasion considered it our duty to impress upon the association the imperative necessity for looking ahead and making provision for these eases, not a few of which are bound to crop up and require relief. While there can be no doubt that it was the duty of the association to justly meet and provide, according to the money that could be reasonably utilised for the purpose, all claims by the permanently injured men, it must not be forgotten that the Government has instituted a scheme of pensions which should in great measure deal fairly with those eases. At the same time it is obvious that those who, in spite of war disabilities, have heroically battled on in civil life and earned a living, at times by sheer force of will, rather than live upon public funds which were subscribed as much for their benefit as for those who have been relieved by the ssociation, are entitled to feel assured that when they break down, as inevitably some of them will, there will be a share of the funds available for their relief. Surely these men have a moral claim on the war funds that cannot be disregarded. and it would be a blot on the administration of such funds if all the money were exhausted without provision being left for the men who really are the most deserving of all. It is, therefore, satisfactory to know that the Government has not lost sight of this phase of war relief, and that the Department of Internal Affairs has intervened and issued an instruction that no further grants are to be made under the P.D.S. scheme until the matter has been investigated. That, in spite of protests and interviews, the Minister has not receded from this policy is much to his credit. The Taranaki War Relief Association, and especially its chairman, has been obsessed with the one object—that of disposing of the funds by grants to men having disabilities of forty per cent and over, and has declined to conserve its funds for men who break down in the future. It is to be noped that the Department will firmly adhere to its attitude in this matter. The annual report of the association reviews the question at [much length, and it appears that the association has offered, ‘ without prejudice,” to transfer a sum equivalent to a third of its remaining funds to a separate fund for the relief of necessitous sick and wounded ex-soldiers who do not qualify under the association s permanently disabled scheme, j Whether the offer is acceptable or ‘ not is for the department to de- j termine, but there is no question I that such a fund should be created I and added to by further subscriptions. The main ground for satisfaction is that the association has at last been brought to the duty of recognising claims that may, and certainly will, arise in the future. In all other respects the I association has done excellent j service, and those who have given' their time and labor to the very important and humane work ear-, ried out are certainly deserving of the applause and commendation of the community. In adopting the policy of concentrating on 1 P.D.S. eases, the executive, no | doubt, acted according to the 1 most worthy ideal that presented itself. That they were mistaken in their conception of the full ob-

jects for which the fund was created by a generous public was an error of judgment, and it is, therefore, a matter for satisfaction that the error has been recognised by the Government before it is too late to be rectified. The matter may now rightly be left to be safeguarded by the department, and the need for that coarse must be apparent to all who real- ! ise the justice of the claims of the men who, after striving their utmost to maintain their independence, find themselves at the end of their tether.