ADMINISTRATION OF RELIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20792, 7 February 1931, Page 16

ADMINISTRATION OF RELIEF.

Sir, —Following the Murchison earthquake there was, rightly or wrongly, much dissatisfaction expressed about the manner in which the relief fund was dispensed. Not only by the force of longstanding custom, in which its officers are steeped, due to political .environment, but caution often amounting to stagnation being one of the demands of the country. Government cannot be direct in its administration. Seldom can it be said that any Government action, local or national, is as efficient as would be the same administration were its members acting in a private capacity. The fault is more the system than the officers concerned and the system is' the requirement of the public. This brings us to the matter of deliberately placing earthquake relief funds under the control of Government officers and State administration. Is it wise to do so? Personally, I always regretted that the mayors of municipalities in the Dominion so applied our Murchison relief funds, and I hope- that such action will not be taken with the Hawke's Bay relief funds. Doing so imposes the indispensable condition that cumbersome administration will follow. There assuredly are a thousand trustwo?thy men in the immediate districts stricken, from among whom the most qualified committee to administer such funds could be selected, and who would enjoy the confidence of all contributors to the funds. They should not be politicians, who unwittingly "watch votes." W.R.M.