BELGIUM-FUND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15488, 15 January 1916, Page 13

BELGIUM-FUND.

GOVERNMENT BACES DOWN. £2000 TO BE FORWARDED. Tho £2000 "incident" came to a satisfactory conclusion yesterday, when the secretary for the Belgium Relief Fui*d (Mr G. L. Donaldson) rcccivod the following telegram from Mr J. Hislop. of Internal Ariairs:— With reference to the sum of £2000 forwarded by your executive as a special contribution to the Belgium fund, the Minister directs me to inform you that in accordance with the suggestion contained in your previous telegram, he applied to Timaru and Asliburton Belgium Committees for information as to whether the contribution from those towns was intended as a special contribution, and not for tho purpose of maintaining Canterbury's monthly quota. He received advice' from both of them that the money was a special contribution, and in accordance witn a recommendation from the Department, dated !otli inst., that the mor.ev should be remitted, has now approved of this course. Tho money will therefore be forwarded as a special contribution to the High Commissioner for transmission to the Belgium Committee, and will bo entirely independent of Canterbury's monthly quota. To the foregoing message -Mr Donaldson replied as follows: — Your tslegrnm received. Please advise how much you require to make up December quota.—Donaldson. THE SOLICITOR'S LETTER. The following is the correspondence which was exchanged between the solicitor of the fund and the Department : J. Hislop, Est)., Undcr-Socrctary, Department Internal Affairs, Wellington. Dear Sir, —The Executive of the Poor of Great Britain, Ireland, and Belgium Fund (Incorporated) have instructed me, as honorary solicitor to the fund, to take immediate proceedings to recover from the Minister of Internal Affairs the sum of £Siv)oo paid to him on December Sth :n trust to remit the amount at "the earliest possible moment to the National Fund for relief in Belgium. I have before me tho whole of the correspondence that has passed between the 'executive and yourself upon the matter, and I have advised tho executive that the retention of tho money under the Minister's instructions is illegal. I feci bound to assume that the Minister's decision to retain this money has been arrived at without first seeking the advice of the Crown I/aw officers, and is attributable to a layman's want, of knowledge. 1 propose, therefore, to delay tho issue of the writ for forty-eight hours in order to afford the Minister an opportunity of conferring with his legal advisers. If the Minister persists in retaining my clients' moneys in this arbitraiy and illegal manner, I shall file and issue the writ after noon on Friday next, the 14th inst. I shall be obliged if you will instruct the Crown Solicitor in Christchurch to accept service of the writ, on tho Minister's behalf, or if you will inform me in what other mode it would be most convcnien t for the Minister to be served. —Yours faithfully.—(Signed) O. T. J. Alpers. Tho following reply was received: — O. T. J. Alpers, Eso., 104 street, Christchurch. Your letter of Utb inst., placed before mo on my return to Wellington from Rotorua this morning. Contents of same noted. Minister having satisfied himself ..that the contribution from Ashburton and Timaru was a special .contribution had already civon instructions that the two thousand pounds was to be cabled forthwith as a special contri-, liution from the Canterbury Executive. —Hislop,- Under-Secretary. ,