£l600 MISSING

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25548, 16 July 1948, Page 9

£l600 MISSING

fund raised for RUSSIA DISCUSSION BY AUCKLAND TRADES COUNCIL AucklanH S Tv°i 1 fo £ aid to R ussia, the to proceed^?)?’ Coun '. ll has decided HL ?f oceeQ w ‘th an audit of its books tormed^deteg’*^’ whin hl in! | §srsiK.EV.writUi? a t Ua S ler i Sai . d the council had to u le gation asking for inthU’lefff, 1 ? ab ° ut . any moneys paid to the legation by the council. The letter was sent on May 21, but no renlv FXr»r eiVe l r l he socretary of the of Labour (Mr K. Baxter) nlain>?, e <?th a .! et ! er l.° the legation ex?il .“}' up L of the trade countu i »• federation and appealing L° J?®, 1 egatl °n to give the council lnin order” S ° that 11 could Dut its books According to a letter from Mr Baxter ‘otophone call from a woman officer of the Soviet Legation ? n , J une 14. She said that no moneys had been paid to the legation. Asked tS.,t.«L eply ,i n writing, she said the A??^ n u u l! J 'Y as the official reply. J., 11 , nad been moved and sec- } i Mr ® axter ’s totter be rethB delegat ® said the legation had Paid the council scant courtesy It ri/ht r un ei^ a d ir, n ? rei i? y and had y come * ignt up against an iron curtain.” n=>).,„ Questi °n of Publicity k-JiuJu lng a . P° J nt of order, Mr W P £ said5 aid the matter had previousconcerned s< H ssed m committee as it “£ntrv d Ti th u togation of another tak?n vA should continue to be la ~® n ln committee. Mr KellM!l man (Mr J ’ Fre eman) said executive aid £ memb «r of the executive and had been present when read aS t<? e th ded th * at the letter should be the meeting. The “Iron rnr 3it i» 3 others since. rf.'™ Ke,!e her denied that he had had sent^H S rt,1 s - W J th others and said he resenjed the inference. Ki P\ Muller moved an amendment that the letter be received and discussed in committee 'oceivea ana Pottlr n «M S a jnendment, Mr T. G. t** said the Soviet Legation was no different from the legation of anv other country. All wereT very chary waiting l fr>I e = lleS ' i His « union was States S Legltiom ePly fr ° m the United onno!ori e »S t ?i. Said he , had a, ways been opposed to the press’s being admitted. aPn^na h ?u “ een the pnme movers in allowing the press to attend were now trying to go into committee .tnAd H man de to gate said she underfnvnivia public money that was involved. The council should therefore not go into committee. „ ?? e amendment was defeated by 66 votes to 48, and the letter was received. “This thing happened three months 'Y 6 bav ® had no report from 2h ? fK eX ?S utl Y£ y< £r” said Mr A - L - Montexth. Was the Iron Curtain” on the executive, too? Auditor’s Report Awaited n J*?® vice-president (Mr J. T. Jennings) said the councils resolution on the matter was to write to the legation and submit a report after the auditor’s report. “Immediately on receipt of the letter from Mr Baxter I told the auditor that quite obviously the whole of the money had*gone astray,” said Mr Callagher. I asked him to bring down a report on that basis.” The auditor had told him it would be possible to have a report for that night s meeting, continued Mr Callagher. He had found later that there was so much research to be done that he could not do it in the time. The auditor had now promised to concentrate on the matter. It was a long job, going over a couple of years. It was decided to await the auditor’s report. After the meeting Mr Freeman explained that £l6OO in question was money collected in the ‘‘Sheepskins for Russia” campaign. Because of shipping difficulties the sheepskins could not be sent to Russia then. The secretary was authorised to forward the money to the Soviet Legation to help reconstruct bombed-out areas.