PATRIOTIC SOCIETY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19743, 16 September 1927, Page 14

PATRIOTIC SOCIETY.

QUARTER'S RELIEF WORK.

MANY CLAIMS CONSIDERED. GRANTING OF ASSISTANCE. The executive of the Auckland Provincial Patriotic and War Relief Association met yesterday, Mr. V. J. Larner presiding. The Dominion Council of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association forwarded a resolution expressing appreciation of the sympathetic manner in which the patriotic funds were being administered and of the self-sacrificing work of those citizens throughout New Zealand who were voluntarily giving their time to the administration of the funds. A letter from the War Funds Council stated it had been decided to allocate £SOOO among patriotic associations for the assistance of fit returned soldiers who were necessitous cases. It was stated the Auckland Association had already received £250, which was being used in finding work for men and in making grants, and another £750 was expected. Review of the Finances. The finance committee reported that at the end of May the total funds of the association amounted to £139,973. Since that date £2572 had been received in interest on investments, £4 in donations, and £509 in refunds from southern patriotic societies, making a total of £143.058. The expenditure since the end of May amounted to £5236, leaving a balance on hand at the end of August of £137,822.

The report of the Permanently Disabled Soldiers' Board covering the last quarter stated that 15 applications had been considered. Six were granted assistance, four were declined, and five were deferred. The amount voted to the six successful applicants was £935. Since the inception of the scheme, 515 men had been voted assistance amounting to £104.690, an average of £203 a man. All these men were suffering permanent war disability to the extent of 40 per cent, and upwards.

The report; of the Claims Board for the past quarter stated that 1652 applications for assistance had been considered, 325 applicants appearing before the board, and 1327 applications being dealt with by correspondence. Assistance amounting to £3647 was granted to 1220 applicants, the remaining 432 applications being declined. The applications received during the September quarters for the past five years were as follows: —l 923, 407; 1927, 1652. Tiding Over Unemployment.

In addition to the cash assistance of £3647 granted during the quarter approximately 100 soldiers had been provided with temporary work at Point Chevalier Park for which they received £538 in wages from the Auckland City Council, half of this being paid by the association.

"There is no doubt the large increase in the number of applications is due chiefly to the unusual amount of unemployment prevailing in New Zealand and this is felt by returned men, particularly those suffering from some form of disability," the report stated. "Consequently, many of them have been compelled to seek assistance." The board was continuing its policy of assisting soldiers suffering from disability who had -been refused war pensions, but who had appealed to the War Pensions Appeal Board to have their cases deter mined, and it was very gratifying to know that in the majority of these cases the appellants had been successful in obtaining a pension. The Veterans' Home.

The report of the Veterans' Home committee stated that at present there were 24 veterans in the home and their health, considering their age, was very good. The superintendent of the City Fire Brigade had kindly agreed to super vise the installation of a fire-alarm sys tem at the home on behalf of the association. The question of laying a large water-main along the Drive toward the Veterans' Home had been referred to the superintendent of the fire brigade for his opinion.

A letter was received from the Mayoress" War Memorial Library League thanking the association for a "donation of £l5O.

The Takapuna Ex-Servicemen's Club also wrote thanking the association for its continued kindly interest.