CANTEEN FUNDS

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11454, 26 February 1923, Page 7

CANTEEN FUNDS

£BSOO YEARLY INTEREST HOW IT SHOULD BE USED IN SOLDIERS’ INTERESTS. HELPING DISABLED MEN. \ The chairman (General Sir Andrew Russell) at the Dominion conference of delegates of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association in Wellington reported that Colonel Avery and Mr A. R. Bell (the latter as more’.particularly representative of the rank and file) had been appointed to the Canteen Funds Board. He added that the canteen funds had been invested and were producing an income of £BSOO a year. It was necessary to conserve the corpus of the fund, but lie thought that the interest should be treated as a liquid asset. TRAINING EX-SOLDIERS. Mr W. Perry urged that some of the interest should, be devoted to the training of ex-soldiers for oallings in which they could earn a living, particularly as the Government was not now training men. He moved: “That this executive recommends to the Canteen Funds Board and the War Funds Council that, in view of the impossibility of many disabled men resuming their former occupations, and of the necessity of providing permanent employment for these men, vocational training classes be established in the four centres for the purpose of training such men and providing sustenance allowance while they are being trained; the cost of maintaining such classes to be provided out of the interest earned by the canteen and war funds ; and that such ourther interest as may in the opinion of the hoard, he required be applied to assisting cases of distress amongst returned soldiers and tlieir dependents.” Colonel Macdonald supported the motion. Mr Harper stated that the returned soldiers had already had the opportunity of vocational training, and many had not taken advantage of it. He thought that the patriotio funds should he used for this purpose before the canteen funds. Mr Leadley opposed the motion, but said- that he would support a .proposal to use the interest on the funds for the relief of distress. Mr Smith suggested that a capable man should he appointed to select men for the work they were fitted for, according to their disabilities; and urged that the interest on the funds should he used for constructive purposes. “THE WORST OASES.” The worst cases, stated Mr Long, were the men suffering from physical disabilities not recognised by the Pensions Board, and the families of these men had no means of subsistence while the men were in hospital. On the motion of Mr Smith, it was unanimously resolved to recommend the Canteen Funds Board to.take expert opinion as to the advisability of getting a list of disabled soldiers willing to work in specified occupations suitable to their disability for a specified number of years; that, after a .see rtaining the particulars, a fully qualified organiser should he appointed to carry the scheme into effect; and that, if necessary, action should 1 be taken in conjunction with the War Funds Council. Mr Bell opposed the disturbance of the corpus of the canteen funds for ten years to come, but supported Mr Smith’s motion as to the use to he made of the interest. Tin chairman raised no objection to Mr Smith’s motion, hut maintained that the Canteen Board was not a management hoard; and he could not support any proposal to deal with the corpus of the fund. Colonel Macdonald held that one of the function S: of the Canteen Fund Board should he to deal with the funds in the interests of the soldiers to whom the funds belonged.