The Press. MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 1900. THE PREMIER AND THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10733, 13 August 1900, Page 4

The Press. MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 1900. THE PREMIER AND THE PATRIOTIC FUNDS.

Our readers mil have noted •with some interest the correspondence between the Commander of the Forces and the Secretary of the Koyal Commission of the Patriotic Fund in London, -which the Premier laid on the table of the House on Friday last. The Commander of the Forces sent Home an application for assistance to be granted to the widow of a New Zealand trooper. The Patriotic Fund Commissioners, in reply, suggested that) the widow, if in urgent need of assistance, might get a grant from the funds retained in the colony They, however, enclosed a form to be filled tip in case the application was again referred to them, and, in addition, sent half a dozen blank forms, in case "any further cases of widows resident in New Zealand" might come under the .notice of Colonel PolePenton. Mr. Seddon's comment on this communication is: —"We sent over £30,000 to the Old Country; this is the reply to the first application for assistance." Now, we not concerned to defend the action of the Patriotic Fund CoinmLssioners in this matter. Their conduct certainly does not err on the side of lack of caution in dispensing the funds under their control, or over-confi-dence in the New Zealand Government. We should, however, like to know under what circumstances the application was sent to the Patriotic Fund Commissioners, and what Mr. Seddon really considers to be the duty of his Government in regard to New Zealand sufferers by the war. Our readers will remamber that the Patriotic Fund was started in New Zealand before any Contingent was sent from this colony to South Africa. After we had- our own sons fighting at the front, after this colony had sent very liberal contributions to England, and when the Lord Mayor's Fund appeared to be gorged with money, "The Press" urged very strongly on the local Patriotic Fund Committee that no more money should be sent to England, but that the balance should be retained for the benefit of our own. wounded and destitute troopers and the necessitous relatives of those who died or were disabled during the campaign. We certainly do not approve, however, of the Government of this colony going whining to the Patriotic Fund Commissioners in London to get some of the money back again. Mr. Seddon has more than once declared in pompous tones that those New Zealanders who suffer by this war—the widows, the orphans, the wounded troopers—shall be the nation's care, that the Government will Mβ to their waaU.

We have observed little sign as yet of any attempt to carry this promise into effect, except an effort on his part to commandeer the voluntary contributions towards the Patriotic and War Funds in New Zealand, and this present application to the Commissioners in London on behalf of a widow in New Zealand. Do the New Zealand Government really consider that they have discharged their duty to this poor woman, having made this application 9 Have they taken no steps to provide for her themselves, and, if not, why not? If they are averse from using their own funds for this purpose, what about the "Daily Mail" Fund? Months ago the fact was published in the newspapers that the "Daily Mail" had paid £500 into the Public Account of New Zealand for the benefit of New Zealand sufferers by the war, but we have never heard yet of any instance in which the money has been applied to tlie purpose indicated. Could not the necessities of the widowed "Mrs B." have been relieved from this source? Or was the application in question more or less of a bogus application—an application sent in at the Premier's instigation to "draw" the Patriotic Fund Commissioners, so that Mr. Seddon might have his fling at their supposed parsimony and roundabout methods? If so, we can only say that such proceedings are unworthy of the dignity of any Government, and that Mr. Seddon to suit his own purposes has dragged our selfrespect in the mire. The truth is that we are very much dissatisfied and disappointed with the attitude Mr. Seddon seems to have assumed in regard to the New Zaaland sufferers by the war. He has shown no disposition to be liberal, unless at somebody else's expense. His Avhole object seems to be to save his "surplus," in order that it may be expended in increasing the salaries of Ministers, in increasing their number, in increasing the payment of members of Parliament, and in increasing their numbers also. Wβ can understand his anxiety to get a Bill through Parliament to commandeer the voluntary subscriptions collected in New Zealand, and we believe that those who subscribed that money will be only too glad to see our wounded troopers, or New Zealand families reduced in circumstances through the war, getting the benefit of the money. We object most strongly, however, to the Government of this colony trying to shuffle out of its own responsibilities in this matter, and exposing itself to rebuffs from the Patriotic Fund Commissioners in.London. It is really time that Parliament pinned Mr. Seddon down to a definite statement cts to what the Government propose to do about the sufferers from the war.