CINEMA'S WAR CONTRIBUTION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16397, 17 December 1918, Page 9

CINEMA'S WAR CONTRIBUTION.

BIG AMOUNT FDlt THE KING'S FUND.

Mr John Hodge, fclio British ilinwter of Pensions, struck' a rich vein Criterion Restaurant on October ord, when he attended a luncheon organised bv" the Cinematograph irado BenmoIcnfc. Fund. Ho had boon invited to meet representatives of cinema theatros from all parts of the United Kingdcmi, in order to receive a chequo for ictfoU, the result of the gymkhana promoted by the Cinematograph trade recently at Stamford Bridgo on. behalf of the King's Fund for tho Disabled. In -addition to tho contribution as a Jl r ® s l of tho gymkhana, it "was stated that £4060 had been guaranteed to American friends. A cheque for £1000 was also given by Mr Adolph Zukor, preeident of the Players Lasky Corporation of Now York. After these gifts had i been announced, present corns' inenced to give individual contnbutions, and every, table was a source or ■ revenue, promises to assist the .king s l Fund ran into hundreds of pounds, and ' when thev had reached a. total or ; about £28S0, ono of the guests gave a • donation, carrying it to £3000. There remained assets for and the sale by auction of photographic souvenirs of the gymkhana and a menu card, bearing the autographs of a number or tho guests present, carried to,total to over £13,000. , Mr Hodge, in returning thanks, remarked that in formor wars our heroes were- shamefully treated. W hen Parliament set up an Advisory Committee to the Ponsioca Minister he called the Committee together, ahel put before them the conditions as to the pensions of the men who had been disabled in previous wars. Ho was happy to say that thoso old veterans -were to bo treated exactly as tho men who suffered in the present war. He did not believe the last word had been said with regard to pensions. Every week they discovered somo case of hardship. The public did not desire that there should be any such cases, and he would fight on for the _ purpose of seeing that every man.was justly dealt with. He was indebted to tho cinema trade for tho handsome presented on that occasion. Ho had just been reading a speech made by Mr J. M. Hogge, M.P.. who spoke about the Kings Fupj being a charity. It was nothing of the kind. "What tho King's Fund was doing was to fill a gap .between the State duty and what a grateful poople were prepared to do for the men. He hoped it would be realised that ,wliat was given was a freewill offering of grateful poople to the "boys ' who had done so much for them. Mr Hogge made an attack upon the King. It he had been in Berlin," Mr Hodge exclaimpd, "he would have been dead before noon. He would have been shot becauso of the nature of his attack. I itant to say this—that his Majesty, in <• giving to tho fund tho Silver TVoddmc present of £53,000 given to him and the Queen by the City of .London, did a generous and magnificent act; and there was also the handsome personal donation of £25,000." could not- do too much to mark their appreciation of the greatness of the work that the men had done, and he was indebted to tho cinema trade for the effort that thoy had made. _ Lord Burnham, in proposing The Cinematograph Trade," remarked that there were 3400 theatres in the United Kingdom, employing nearly a hundred thousand men and women. In the industry there was a capital of between seventeen and eighteen millions, and it was estimated that half the population «f the kingdom visited a cinema theatre once overv week. Mr T. P. O'Connor, in reply, referred to the important propaganda work performed by means of tho cinematograph during the war, and said ho trusted the day was not far distant when every historic erent would find a record in the cinema, so that future generations would be able to understand -«thG life and achievements of to-day. Vast as the development of tho cinema had been in the last few years, it wee still in its infancy, and it would more and more take its part in the social, political, and educational life of the countij.