BUDGET SERVICE NEEDS MONEY

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32998, 18 August 1972, Page 14

BUDGET SERVICE NEEDS MONEY

Concern at the lack of financial support from the Government and business houses—which benefit from the work of the Christchurch Household Budget and Advisory Service—was expressed at the annual meeting yesterday.

A committee of the Mayor (Mr N. G. Pickering), who is chairman of the service, Messrs K. F. Jones and G. C. Woodward, was set up to get financial support for the service.

The main objectives of the voluntary service, which was formed in June, 1968, are to liquidate the existing indebtedness of families and to educate them into efficient handling of income. Some $45,000 of debt has been discharged from people who have been helped by the service’s volunteer advisers.

The service was existing on a shoestring budget Mr Pickering said in his annual report. Two church social service councils had given $3OO to the service in response to a request that they consider granting $250 a year for the secretary’s honararium.

It was regrettable that the Government adamantly refused to give financial assistance to the service, the report said. "Is it not better to spend money on positive action (and educational work) than on hospital and prison expenses, and in chasing delinquent payers?” Three large departmental stores had been approached for assistance after the Government’s refusal. One rejected the request and the others had yet to reply. Because of the lack of finance a district scheme would be implemented by the service. The city would be divided into 15 areas with two or three senior counsel-

lors responsible for each. Mr Woodward, one of the service’s original advisers, said that Christchurch now needed from six to eight fulltime advisers.

At one stage in a street in his area about 40 per cent of the families had divorced parents, he said. “We’ve got a society that is literally falling apart; I don’t sleep some nights after I’ve finished my rounds,” he said.