PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 August 1940, Page 9

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

JOINT STATEMENT MADE CO-ORDINATION IN DOMINION’S EFFORT. ST JOHN AND RED CROSS ACTIVITIES. (To the Editor.) Sir. —Regarding the Joint Council of the Order of St John and New Zealand Red Cross Society: Sick and Wounded Appeal; National Patriotic Fund Board: As there is throughout the Dominion a definite misunderstanding regarding the work and the co-ordination of the above bodies, the following statement is issued on behalf of the National Patriotic Fund Board and the Joint Council of the Order of St John and New Zealand Red Cross Society, with a view to. clarifying the position, and space is sought in your valued paper to that end. The Joint Council has been appointed by the National Patriotic Fund Board as the authorised collector for the Sick and Wounded Fund all moneys collected being paid to the National Patriotic Fund Board. The Joint Council has also been appointed the only authorised expending agent of the Sick and Wounded Fund: that is to say the Joint Council actually carries ou the work of the board in connection with the sick and wounded. The National Patriotic Fund Board, in the early days of the war, decided that moneys should be raised in the order in which they would be expended. Consequently they authorised first the Fighting Services Appeal (for the comforts of troops overseas), which was held in May, and second the Sick and Wounded Appeal which has recently been completed. Arrangements have now been made between the National Patriotic Fund Board and the provincial patriotic councils that no further national appeals will be made by indepehdent bodies, and all future appeals will be made by the provincial patriotic councils. The next appeal will be that of the provincial patriotic councils for rehabilitation, or the care of the men upon their return. The wonderful response made by the people of New Zealand to the appeal for the Sick and Wounded has been inspiring. The original amount aimed at —£250,000—has been doubly subscribed, and, as far as can be foreseen, sufficient moneys are now in hand for this phase of the work.

The various committees and subcommittees of the Joint Council of the Order of St John and New Zealand Red Cross Society will be provided with funds from which to carry out. their war work, on application being made to their centre. The work should, however, only be done as is requested from time to time by the headquarters of the Joint Council, which is supplied with the information of what actual work is required by requests from overseas, and by requests from the Dir-ector-General of Medical Services. It will be realised that making goods in excess of the actual requirements, plus a reasonable reserve, is at the present time a waste of good material.

The National Patriotic Fund Board and the Joint Council of the Order of St John and New Zealand Red Cross Society desire to record their sincere thanks to the various committees throughout the whole of New Zealand who have worked so wholeheartedly for the success of the appeal, and to request them not to disband but to make their services available to their local patriotic committees throughout the Dominion. The ordinary work of the Order of St John and also of the New Zealand Red Cross Society will carry on as in peace-time, but branches of both organisations, when advertising functions are to state clearly and definitely that they are for their peace-time activities, and not for the Sick and Wounded Fund. As pointed out above, the appeal for the latter fund is completed, and any further moneys that may be required will be the subject of announcement in due course by the National Patriotic Fund Board. ALEXANDER GILLIES, Chairman, Joint Council of the Order of St John and N.Z. Red Cross Society. J. ABEL, Hon Organiser and Dominion Treasurer of the Joint Council of the Order of St John and N.Z. Red Cross Society. GEO. A. HAYDEN. Secretary, National Patriotic Fund Board.