WRANGLING OVER THE MONEY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1200, 1 March 1895, Page 36

WRANGLING OVER THE MONEY.

Dtjnedin, February 25. At a meeting of the Wairarapa Relief Fund Committee, the Mayor, who presided, stated that the real objection to the scheme proposed by the committee came from Wellington. He commented strongly on the action of Wellington. This was a case of charity, he said, and no selfishness should be shown. The Wellington committee had not secured all the money in Wellington, a large amount having been sent from the West Coast. The treasurer reported claims to be : Widows, with 21 children, 6; orphans, 5; widowed mothers, 5; rescued members of the crew, 31; rescued passengers, 5. The 36 rescued crew and passengers had been disposed of at an outlay of .£lßl 15s ; weekly allowances had been made to four adults and 15 children, and special sums granted in other cases. The balance in hand would be £661 4s 3d. This was only sufficient to provide for two widows and 11 children receiving relief here. It was decided to forward a letter to the Wellington committee in the following terms : " We gather from your remarks that the Wellington committee have resolved that instead of making a grant from the subscriptions in their hands to the Dunedin committee to meet the heavy claims made at this port, where many of the claimants reside, they prefer and are willing to administer relief from Wellington to all cases that cannot be overtaken by the funds at our disposal. We have no objection to this course, as our only object all along has been to see the necessary relief granted to the destitute sufferers from the disaster. Nevertheless, we are of opinion that the scheme proposed by us is more equitable than yours, viz., that the i total claims and outlay be met by the various committees by contri-

buttons pro rata to the amounts entrusted to them, and any balance be retained at each of the four centres to found a permanent fund to meet cases arising from similar disasters in future. Your committee's peculiar attitude seems to mean that Wellington requires Auckland and Dunedin (where the claims have mostly been made) to exhaust their funds first, and then Wellington will step ia, provide for the balance required, and retain any surplus in her own hands that may remain. This, of course, is a delicate matter that strictly concerns the subscribers in the North and South Islands who forwarded their contributions to the Wellington committee. We now forward you a statement of our finances after satisfying the numerous claims up to date, showing that we have only enough left to make permanent provision for two widows and eleven children named. We therefore send you claims: sisting of four children, 12, 10, 8 and 6 years, 25s per week to February already disbursed. 2. Mrs Mabel McLean, Melbourne, recommended .£1 per week for four years, and 10s for three years through a charity organisation society, have not paid anything yet. 3. Mrs Lewis Wynyard, Tasmania, widow with two orphan grandchildren, paid her .£2O. '4. Mrs Talbot, Aromana, widow of steerage left with three children, sent her £lO temporary relief through charity organisation society, Melbourne. 5. Mrs Merrill, Melbourne, widow of a trimmer on the Wairarapa, left with one child, totally unprovided for; done nothing, waiting for further information. 6. Mary Ann Pratt, Melbourne, mother of Edward Pratt, r one of the crew ; fresh claim ; nothing done yet. 7. Mrs . Simpson, Caithness (Scotland), £lO ivjready sent , believe an annual contribu-

tion of this amount will be sufficient; an old_ woman. 8. Mrs McMillan, Waikouaiti, £25 given ; all we understood was required at the time. 9. Mrs J. A. Holmes, London ; further information wanted ; nothing yet done. Attached to the various claims you will find all correspondence respecting them from persons themselves or others on their behalf, and I now commit all into your hands with the hope that you will at once place yourself in communication with those interested, and see the cases of the sufferers are speedily and equitably dealt with. Some exception was taken to the terms ot the letter, but it was finally passed.