MEMORIAL FUND

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 July 1939, Page 17

MEMORIAL FUND

NEW ZEALAND NURSES

The annual report of the New Zealand Nurses* Memorial Fund states that the main object of this fund is the relief of trained nurses in distress occasioned by sickness, old age, accident, or other misfortune. All nurses on the New Zealand State register are eligible for relief from the fund, also all maternity nurses who are eligible for membership of the New Zealand Nurses* Association. The annual income derived from the accumulated capital is applied to the granting of relief to such deserving cases of the nursing profession as may have been rendered incapable of following their occupation by age, sickness, or infirmity.

The report states that the administration of the fund during the past year proceeded as smoothly and un ostentatiously as usual, and the number of claims for assistance was not decreasing. The number of annuitants had risen from 35 to 40. Income from investments was higher by £137 as a result of the increase of capital by legacies. As on previous occasions, contributions amounting to £220 from various bodies of nurses had bridged, the gap between the annual income and the outgoings. If it were not for the nurses' contributions the fund would have to restrict its grants.

The public contributed £198, as against £83 in the previous year.

Additions to capital in the shape of legacies were received from the. estates of the late Miss Geraldine Broad (Wellington), Miss H. M. La Fontaine (Auckland). Mr. W. E. Bid-. will (Masterton). and Mr. A. Moritzen (Dunedin).

"It has been suggested," proceeds the report, "that the Social Security benefits now available will render the fund unnecessary, but the committee is of the opinion that there will be need to supplement the pensions of the old and frail, and to meet those deserving cases not provided for by the Social Security Act."

Owing to the resignation of Lady Hosking, Miss Beck, and the death of Mr. C. W Rattray, it will be necessary to elect members to fill their places on the committee.