RED CROSS FUNDS.

HOBSON COUNTY'S PORTION. ADMINISTRATION DISPUTE. COMMITTEE SEEKS RETENTION. ERECTION OF MEMORIAL GATES. The future of £3789 collected by the Hobson County Red Cross Committee just prior to the armistice in November, 1918, was in dispute in the Supreme Court yesterday when application was made before Mr. Justice Stringer for an order directing the method of administration of the fund. Mr. S. L. Paterson appeared for the Attorney-General, Mr. Terry for the Hobson County Red Cross Committee, Mr. R. Cocker and Mr. Weir for the Auckland Centre of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John, and Mr. Perry, of Wellington, for the National War Funds Council.

Mr. Paterson said the Attofney-General took a neutral part in the proceedings. The Auckland Centre of the New Zealand branch of the British Red Cross Society inaugurated an extension of an appeal throughout the Auckland district in 1918. A committee was appointed to organise in the Hobson County. The campaign conducted from Dargaville resulted in the aggregation of £5562. After paying £2OOO to the Auckland Centre, the Hobson County Committee acted on a resolution of the subscribers and withheld the balance. It was contended that with the termination of the war the purpose of the fund was defeated. " Defying the Law.' It was then suggested the money should be handed to the National War Funds Council, which was empowered to assist disabled soldiers in all spheres. The National War Funds Council had been prepared to accept the money and give consideration to any suggestion for its distribution which might satisfy the Hobson County Committee. By refusing to relinquish the fund, the Hobson County Committee had defied the law and was liable to a fine of £IOO, in addition to a penalty of £5 for every day since the refusal. His Honor: You did not take those proceedings. Mr. Paterson: It is not the policy of the Red Cross to be oppressive. After five years this matter has been brought from the arena into the forum, to the great relief of those concerned. Mr. Terry said the actions of the Hobson Red Cross Committee had been lafgely controlled by the resolutions of subscribers. At & meeting on February 3, 1919, it was resolved to retain the money and evolve' some scheme for its local use. His Honor:. A scheme largely for the ornamentation of the public park. Mr. Terry: For memorial gates. His Honor: Are we not concerned more with the living than the doad ? Aid on Field of Battle. Alfred Ernest Harding, of Dargaville, said that in August, 1918, C. F. Bickford, organiser for tho Auckland District Red Cross Campaign, sought his assistance in the prosecution of the appeal. Witness thought the district's contributions had already been heavy and advised Bickford that he did not think a campaign in Dargaville would meet with an extensive response. It was resolved to organise an appeal and Bickford addressed a large public meeting at Dargaville. It was urged that the fund, was for the specific aid of the wounded on the field of battle.

As some enthusiasm was apparent, a committee was appointed to canvass the district. Witness was present at numerous meetings and fully 90 per cent, of the subscriptions were received on the popular understanding that the money was for use on active service. Witness' personal subscription was £SOO. The sudden end of the war necessitated a re-, consideration of the application of. the fund and after £2OOO had been paid over to the Auckland Centre of the Red Cross Society the subscribers instructed the local committee to retain the balance of the money. In witness' opinion the appeal would have failed if it had not been made for the particular assistance of wounded soldiers.

Cross-examined by Mr. Cocker, witness said he knew the activities of the British Red Cross were versatile, but the dominant feeling of the subscribers was that the money was not for general use, such as for the conduct of convalescent homes. A number of promises to the fund had been diverted and the money had been used to establish a memorial park. - In reply to Mr. Perry witness said the contributors had not agreed to the general application of the fund in the event of the unexpected end of the war. Use. lor Comity Soldiers. His Honor, remarked that if the money had been handed, to the National War Funds Council, a recommendation could have been made to the effect that it should be expended for the aid of returned soldiers of the county. Mr. Perry said the Otamatea Red Cross Committee! had at first taken the same stand as the Hobson Committee but eventually passed the money to the National War Funds Council with the intention that the soldiers of the district should roceive first consideration in its expenditure. To Mr. Paterson, witness said he knew increasing demands were being made on the funds of the Red Cross for the relief of disabled soldiers. Mr. Paterson: Do you not think the most fitting tribute to the dead would te to devote the money to the assistance tf the living and maimed soldiers ?—Witness: That is a matter of opinion. Samuel C. Col more-Williams, of Dargaville, said he was appointed local secretary of the fund. He corroborated the evidence of Mr. Harding. In reply to His Honor he said he agreed that he would have no objection if the National War Funds Council had taken the money and administered it for the specific relief of returned soldiers in the Hobson district. However, no guarantee of that intention had bfeen offered.

Mr. Paterson said that in October, 1922, the Minister of Internal Affairs offered to ensure that the suggestions of the Hobson County Committee would receive sympathetic consideration if the fund was transferred. To His Honor, witness said the original promises totalled £9400. In addition to the £5562 actually paid, over £I2OO had been diverted toward the memorial park. No Reason for Special Privilege. Mr. Cocker submitted the Hobson County Committee had been subject to the Auckland Centre. Of the 25 committees which had been organised, only the Hobson and Otamatea committees had objected to handing the money to thr Auckland Centre. In all about £150.000 had been raised, and there was no reason why the Hobson County Committee should be privileged to divert the money. There was no antagonism to the National War Funds Council/ but the money should be distributed through the Auckland Centre. Sir James Gunson, chairman of the Auckland Centre of the British Red Cross and Order of St. John, said the money collected in the campaign was remitted to Great Britain for general Bed Cross purposes. After the cessation of hostilities the fund was administered in New Zealand for the returned sick, wounded, and incapacitated. Bickford had correctly represented the objects of the fund. The National War Funds Council had never interfered in the distribution of the collections. The Evelyn Firth Home had been established at a cost of £II,BOO and it was an annual charge on the fund to the extent of £2OOO. The committee's total expenditure for the relief of suffering ex-soldiers was about £6OOO a year.,.

Mr. Cocker produced two affidavits m which contributors to the Hobson County fund said they considered the money would be applied to general Red Cross purposes and distributed through the Auckland Centre. L. H. Tripp, chairman bf the Red Cross Advisory Board and member of the National War Funds Council, produced a report compiled last June, in which it was estimated the post-war relief funds in New Zealand would be exhausted in about 10 years. The 29 incorporated war relief organisations had assets of £731,000. The National War Funds Council had control of an additional £113,000. There were recurring instances of ex-soldiers breaking down in health to-day as a result of war suffering. The National War Funds Council fully expected that just claims would be made for the next 40 years. In many cases it was difficult to establish that the un' expected disabilities were due to war injury. The war relief organisations would later be faced with the necessity for establishing homes for veterans. If funds were not required for Red Cross purposes it was the duty of the National War Funds Council to attend to their distribution. The Hobson County fund could be administered by the council through a local committee.

Mr. Perry said the War Funds Council had no objection to the fund being handed to the Auckland Centre of the Red Cross Society. The council, however, opposed the suggestion that the money should be used for memorial gates to a park at Bargaville. A memorial did not come within the objects of the Red Cross Society and the fund was admittedly subscribed for the relief of suffering. It was an afterthought of the . subscribers to use the money for a memorial and thus save a further canvass of the county. Mr. Cocker said there was no open competition for the fund. If it was awarded to the Auckland Centre a special trust would ensure that it would be used to the best advantage. Mr. Terrv contended the subscribers had responded to the appeal under the inducement that there was a shortage of relief organisation on active service. The termination of the war entitled the Hobson County Committee to use its own money for local purposes. The district was not now in a .position to provide a war memorial, and a portion should be reserved for this need. His Honor said that when the armistice was declared the Hobson County Committee had considerable funds in hand. The other Red Cross funds had been pooled for general beirefits and the Hobson County was entitled to share in these and would have an unfair advantage by retaining money for "local distribution. Mr. Terry said £2OOO had already been donated, aftd the Hobson County Committe was prepared to give another £IOOO to the National War Funds Council. Mr. Paterson said the Attorney-General approved of a portion of the money being used for a war memorial and the balance devoted to general Red Cross relief. His Honor reserved his decision.