PROVINCIAL WAR FUNDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16035, 29 September 1915, Page 4

PROVINCIAL WAR FUNDS

UNIFICATION MOVEMENT.

SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS.

SUMS ALREADY COLLECTED. Interesting figures relative to the appeal to Auckland people to raise a fund of £250,000 for patriotic purposes were given by the Mayor, Mr. J. H. Gunson, yesterday in addressing the General Committee of the Auckland Provincial Patriotic and War Relief Association.

The Mayor said that since the amalgamation of the patriotic funds in July important steps had been made towards the unification of the whole of the patriotic interests of the province. Favourable replies had been received from the provincial centres in regard to the association's proposals, and there was every prospect of the object aimed at being accomplished. Mr. Gunson stated that in order to show just what a fund of £250,000 represented he had had a table prepared showing the population of the various districts, which would become administering centres under unification proposals, tVe amount they should contribute on a population basis, the amount they had actually contributed, and the amount to which they were indebted on this allocation. The table referred to by the Mayor is as follows. The figures in parentheses represent the thousands of population, to the nearest thousand, whilst in the money columns the amounts are given to the nearest pound :—■ Alloca- SubCentre, tion. scribed. Indebted. £ £ £ Auckland (162)... 173,163 83,286 89,877 Whansarei (21) ... 20.712 2.326 18,386 Darjtaville (9) ... 8.978 473 8,505 Hamilton (13) ... 13.227 2.669 10.558 Cambridge (12) ... 11,703 632 11,071 X© Aroha ) Waihi ) (26) ... 25.575 2,652 22.923 Paexoa ) Thames ) Xauxansa (4) ... 4.342 94 4.248 Whakatane 12) ... 1.700 935 765 Oootiki (4) ... 4.153 554 3.599 Hotorua (5) ... 5.046 164 4,882 X© Kuiti 16J ... 6,401 884 . 5,517 Totals (264) ...£275,000 £94.668 £180.331 Whakatane's Creditable Record. The Mayor explained that the figures were not inflexible, and were subject to revision. It was intended that when the Platform Committee visited the various centres any little differences which may have arisen could be remedied* and the negotiations concluded. He himself would accompany the Platform Committee, together with Mr. J. Y. Warren, formerly secretary of the association. In considering the figures, he pointed out that Whakatane had done well in contributing to the fund at the rate of 10s per head-! of population. The total amount due I from the respective centres had been set! down at £275,000, in order that by the I time the money had been subscribed an ,' allowance could be made for current expenditure, leaving a fund of £250,000 net. j Another phase of the position, continued i the /Mayor, was presented by the question : " What does tlie association want j with £250,000, and what is it going to j do with such a sum!" He had prepared j two tables showing what it was possible' to dp with the money, providing it was acquired, and on that point he had no' doubt. For a wealthy district like Auckland, and for such a purpose, the sum was not large. j Voices : Hear, hear. Disposal of the Fund. The first table dealt with by the speaker presumed that the fund would be ex- ( haustecL in 1936, that the principal of ! £250,000 was continually invested with increments at an interest rate of 4£ per | cent., and that an. equal amount per i annum was, disbursed. Calculations showed that this would allow of an annual payment from the fund of £18.650. "This shows," he commented, " that the amount we aim at is not excessive. We are only at the beginning of our work of looking after the returned men and their dependants. In the course of time, we shall have several hundreds of soldiers back in our midst, to whom we must make regular grants out of this fund, not by way of charity, but as something which is due to them from the people of the Auckland Province." (Applause.) Proceeding, the Mayor remarked tha*the fault of the table to which he had referred lay in the- fact that working conditions would not allow qf an equal annual disbursement. Another table he had prepared more closely represented conditions as they would be actually found. Taking the same principal of £250.000, and investing it with increments at 4i per cent., paying out from the fund so that trie capital would be exhausted in 1936, the following - position arose For the first five years £25,000 a year could be paid from the fund, for the second five years £20,000, for the third five years £15,000, for the next two years £10,000, for the second to last year £5000, and then for the last year £4674.

Country Go-operation with City. The Mayor continued that it was absolutely necessary to the success of the Patriotic and War Relief Association that the provincial centres should co-operate with the city. Under the new scheme there would be 14 administering centres in the province, and these would keep in touch with the executive, drawing on the main funds for the amount they disbursed. Before quoting further figures in reference to the contributions from the city and from the province, he pointed out that no invidious comparison was intended. The figures relating to country contributions represented not the amount raised in each district for patriotic purposes, but the amount paid by them into the Auckland fund. It should be remembered that in the case of at least one Auckland centre the patriotic contributions had been made direct to Wellington, and that in the case of other centres the local patriotic bodies possessed substantial balances. The Mayor went on- to say that the total amount collected to July 2 by the Auckland Provincial Patriotic and War Relief Association was £94,668 2s 9d, of which the administering centre of Auckland, with an estimated population of 162,317, had contributed £83,286, representing a donation of 10s 3d per head of population. The total population of the country administering centres was 101,387, and they had contributed to the fund at the rate of 2s 3d per head, making a donation of £11,382.

Provincial Administration Preferred. The Mayor concluded his address by a reference to the War Funds Bill, a measure which, he said, was, as amended, a useful piece of legislation. It was entirely permissive in character, and it would furnish machinery whereby at some future date the Auckland funds could be administered by the National Council. In the meantime the Auckland scheme in regard to patriotic funds remained a provincial one, and in his opinion that course was in the best interests of the fund of the Patriotic and War Relief Association.