PATRIOTIC FUND

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 9, 5 October 1940, Page 16

PATRIOTIC FUND

£713,996 Received In First Year £248,531 SPENT Administration Costs 2/-

In £lOO

A feature of the accounts for the first complete year of operation presented to the standing committee of the National Patriotic Fund Board at its. meeting in Wellington yesterday was the low cost of administration. During the year the board received from all sources contributions amounting to £743,996, and the cost of administering those funds was £BB9/10/5. Included in this sum were the travelling expenses to England of the board s overseas commissioner, Lieut.Colonel F. Waite, and such other items as printing, stationery, postage and telegrams. The administration expenses work out at .1 per cent, of the total amount received, or 2/- for every £lOO of the contributions handled.

The main items of expenditure relate to grants for the provision of amenities and comforts within New Zealand. The Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society has had for this purpose £11,500, the Salvation Army £13,009, the Y.M.C., £35,999, the Church of England Military Affairs Committee £3OOO, and the Catholic War Service Fund £3695. Part of the monej's in these accounts was for the erection and equipping of recreation huts in the military camps. When the audited statements from these organizations are received the value of the huts and equipment, which are the property of the board, will be incorporated in the board’s accounts. The board took over the assets and liabilities of the Church of England Military Affairs Committee and the Catholic War Service Fund at the end of June, and when these audited statements are received the assets and liabilities of these organizations will also be incorporated in the board’s accounts. Details of Expenditure.

The following are details of expenditure on comforts: Convoys for troops, £871; troops in New Zealand, £1812; troops overseas, £4129; first echelon, £1692; second echelon, £2364; third echelon, £1990; regimental funds, £895; sick and wounded, £5392; Air Force Relations , organization, £1527 15/9. Grants overseas include the following: Toe H, London, £500; Salvation Army, London, £622/10/-; Y.W.C.A., London, £2501; Victoria League, London, £25; Red Cross organizations, £15,572; Lord Mayor of London’s Relief of Distress Fund, £lOO,OOO. In addition, amounts have, been remitted for contingency funds for the provision of comforts for the New Zealand Forces overseas. The amounts sent in this way are: Egypt, £6735; England, £6225; sick and wounded, Egypt, £6250; sick and wounded, England. £12,450.

Other expenditure includes £1728 for the purchase of equipment for military bands, £97 for the library service for the troops, £561 for the Lady Galway Patriotic Guild, £176 for the Navy League, and £l3OO for the purchase of the hostel for Uapakura camp, Auckland.

£495,465 in fund. Comforts in stock are valued at £1935. Investments comprise £60,000 on fixed deposit with tiie trading banks and £420,000 in Treasury bills, making a total of £480,000. Cash in hand

amounts to £lO/18/5, and in the bank account there is £15,454/6/4, so that the present state of the national fund is £495,465. Part of the amount remitted for the relief of distress in London will be repaid to the board as the result of the splendid response that has been made by the people of the Dominion. The total expenditure shown to date is £248,531 in round figures, but-in this amount is included money that has been sent overseas for contingency purposes and has not yet been spent. A large., proportion of the expenditure is non-recurring, as, for example, the money that has been spent in the erection of recreation huts, and the purchase of billiard tables. The accounts as presented did not include sundry creditors and sundry debtors, or interest accrued, but not due, which will have to be brought into the board’s balance-sheet for the year.