R.S.A.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18264, 24 December 1924, Page 6

R.S.A.

| MEETING? OF EXECUTIVE. A meeting; of the executive of the Chrktcmirch Returned Solders' Association was held on Monday evening, Colonel n. Stewart presiding. Considerable time was spent over the discuseion of the proposal irom tho National War Funds Council ior the lease of the Heturned Soldiers' Club. It was decided that the proposal agreed to by the executive should be submitted to a special general meeting of members to be held during January. Advice was received from, headquarters in Wellington that Sir Francis Bell was prepared to recommend to the Minister of Finance that the :>ayment of clothing allowances to amputees should date from trie passing of the Act, and not from the date of 1 application, as at present. It -was stated that if the recommendation could not bo agreed to, the Association would press for an amendment to tho Act in order to obtain this concession. With regard to the question of reopening the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act, in so far as it applies to loans for building purposes, it was reported that the Minister of Lands had expressed himself as being in favour of ths retention of the charged Soldiers' Settlement Fund fox as long as it appeared necessary, and had expressed the hope that, with the present high prices for primary products, it should be possible, perhaps next year, to resume advances for houses. It wa» decided to continue to bring pressure to bear upon the Government in order to achieve this object. Several pension cases were reported as having been brought to a successful issue, and it was also stated that the Association was in communication with the British Ministry of Pensions with a view to improving conditions under which Imperial soldiers resident in New Zealand are granted pensions. , A letter was received from his Excellency Sir Charle3 Fergusson thanking the Association for the welcome which it had extended to him on his arrival in tho Dominion. It was decided that members of the executive should visit the returned soldiers at the Sunnyside Mental Hospital this afternoon conveying suitablo Christmas gifts. The secretary reported that during the last month thirty-live men had been found employment by" the Association. A letter was received from the Public Service Commissioner in Wellington stating that ho hoped to be in a. position to place three partly disabled men whose names had been submitted to him in light employment.