PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23812, 4 December 1942, Page 6

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Sir,—The letter by “Disillusioned" about patriotic funds makes one think that a public inquiry into the affairs of the Patriotic Board is well overdue. “Disillusioned’s” statement about salaries from £4 to £6 a week paid to secretaries in one hut alone indicates one direction of inquiry. The £IOOO a year he quotes, approximately, as paid to secretaries in one camp alone means that much less in real comforts for our men overseas in the firing line. What about the other camps, I wonder. I note, too, one patriotic gentleman down south is advocating a tax to swell the fund. In the meantime, a brighter spotlight on the detailed expenditure of the Patriotic Fund is indicated or the goose may cease to law, as it were. The public will freely buy comforts, but not highly-paid secretaries.—Yours, GtC " DISGUSTED. November 20, 1942. [Commenting on this letter the secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board (Mr G. A. Hayden) said: “The majority of Y.M.C.A. huts, together with other institutes, have only one secretary. In the larger camps it is essential to have more than one. The work of these institutional secretaries commences at 7.30 in the morning, and often does not finish until 11 o’clock at night, or later. Their work goes on seven days a week. They have charge of a refreshment buffet, serving cups of tea and cocoa, biscuits, soft drinks, and cigarettes. In addition, they have to arrange programmes of activities, concerts, 16 mm. pictures, games, tournaments, and other entertainments, and render service to the troops in a variety of ways. ‘Disgusted’ has possibly not seen the work carried on by these men in the camps.”]