ASSISTANCE FOR SERVICEMEN

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 9

ASSISTANCE FOR SERVICEMEN

PATRIOTIC COUNCIL’S

DISCUSSION

USE OF CANTEEN FUNDS SUGGESTED A request from the New Zealand Patriotic Fund Board that provincial patriotic councils should provide welfare assistance to all returned servicemen from the First and Second World Wars, was debated for nearly an tyour by members of the Canterbury Provincial Patriotic Council. Several members of the council said they considered that the provincial councils should not have to carry the responsibility of providing all the assistance when there were other organisations, such as the Canteen Funds Board, that could contribute. It was decided to advise the New Zealand board “that this council considers the two canteen funds should be brought into line before provincial patriotic councils take over the responsibility for all welfare assistance.” The motion was carried unanimously. Opening this discussion, Mr T. H. Wood said that in the past expenditure had been paid for by the provincial councils and refunded out of the national board’s funds. Up to the present the Canterbury council had been spending about £3OOO a year on servicemen of the First World War. “The national board says it will set up an annual fund of £250,000, and that will be a pool to draw on •when our funds are exhausted,” he said. “If we take this on, all our calculations will be upset, and the fund will be exhausted if we go on spending at our present rate. At that point, we will have to go to the board and say our funds are exhausted, and please can we have some more. I think it is desirable that we control our own funds.” Money in Canteen Fund The canteen fund, administered by a separate board, contained about £900,000 which had been collected from servicemen as profits from canteens and the like, but it was not known to what extent that fund was to be used for servicemen, Mr Wood said. “I think we should know what happens to the capital of that fund, he said. “Before we are called on to take the responsibility, we should make certain that provision cannot be made out of that canteen fund. As far as I can see, there is no difference in how these moneys should be used. Both of them belong to servicemen. I cannot see why one should carry the burden and the other not.” Mr Wood moved that the council should advise the national board of its views and the motion was seconded by Sir Ernest Andrews. Mr D. Barrett said there was an impression in Canterbury that the men of the First World War had been cast aside by the Canterbury council. ‘The Returned Services’ Association wanted to know what would be done for these men until the position was clarified. “We say that the money subscribed by the people of New Zealand belongs specifically to the servicemen,” he said. “If there is a need, then spend, and I am sure that if we run short the public will subscribe as it has done in the past.” Mr E. C. Bathurst said the council had always accepted responsibility for men of the First World War. Welfare of 1914-18 Soldiers Mr G. A. Harris said the national board had agreed to accept responsibility for welfare assistance to men of the First World War. He thought £lBO,OOO had been handed over for this purpose, but the money had all been spent. He considered the decision that had been reached by the national board was not in the best interests of the provincial councils, said Mr Harris. There should have been a roundtable discussion about the whole position. Instead, the board had just requested councils to take over responsibility. “The:re are funds still held in the country on behalf of men of the 1914-18 war, and some of that money should be unloosed to those men,” he said. Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon said that, as a member of the national board, he had recommended, when a decision was reached, that the board should see whether the canteen funds could not be used. “All the funds are treated as patriotic funds, and we are bound under legislation to treat all servicemen alike,” he said. He read to the meeting opinions of other provincial councils. Mr Mac Gibbon said the canteen funds were supplying two-fifths of the capital expenditure for assistance to homes and two-fifths of the maintenance costs of homes. Patriotic funds, however, were the source of three-fifths of the assistance to homes, three-fifths of th 6 maintenance costs of them, and 100 per cent, for welfare The council’s financial statement showed that for the year ended September 30, 1953. a total of £8233 2s Is was granted to servicemen of the First and Second World Wars and of K Force. Of this amount, servicemen of the Second World War received £4633 10s 6d, of the First World War £3524 0s 7d, and of K Force, £75 Ils. The balance at the end of September was £126,530 3s 4d, £1776 9s 2d lower than for the balance at the same time in 1952.