EARTHQUAKE RELIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20793, 9 February 1931, Page 10

EARTHQUAKE RELIEF.

The first necessity and the first impulse following the Hawke's Bay disaster -which destroyed the possessions of so many thousands and rendered them homeless is to give and to collect means of offering them relief. Hard on its heels comes the need for oi'ganisation to assure that what is being contributed with such generous promptitude should be applied to the purposes in view as promptly and as generously. The Prime Minister has announced the organisation he will set up to deal with what must be a complicated and probably will be a prolonged task. It is the same kind of committee, constituted very similarly, as that which handled the Murchison fund. That administration was not very satisfactory, simply because the constitution of the committee was wrong. It may be desirable to have a representative committee, with the personnel announced by the Prime Minister, to decide general questions of policy, but there is abundant experience to prove that the larger the committee actually in control, the poorer the results. A business committee of four or five business men in whom the country has confidence should be appointed and given full authority to proceed with the distribution of relief. A small, compact, capable and efficient body should grapple with the details of administration, aiming at smooth and speedy working with a complete elimination of red tape. To repeat, the outward flow of assistance must be as prompt and as unchecked as the inward stream of contributions is proving. With such practical safeguards against exploitation as a small committee could easily establish, the objective should be to utilise the whole fund, leaving no surplus when the list of claims has been disposed of finally. That is what everyone wants to see, and the organisation best calculated to achieve it is what the Prime Minister should establish without delay.