NEARLY £200,000

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21688, 5 July 1932, Page 8

NEARLY £200,000

THE CANTEEN FUNDS REDUCED INTEREST THE FUTURE POSITION. An important statement setting out the position of the canteen and regimental funds, in which every returned soldier has an interest, has been prepared by the Canteen and Regimental Trust Board. The total amount at present held by the board is £197,851 19s 9d, and it is anticipated that the total at January 31 next will be £194,500. Should the proposal of the Returned Soldiers’ Association that £20,000 be released for the relief of distress, be adopted, however, the position of the fund will be altered. The statement points out that, as disclosed in the balance sheet for the year ended February 1 last, the expenditure for the year exceeded the interest earned by £5132 2s 2d, meaning a reduction of capital funds by that amount. As a result of the recent legislation (interest reductions) the board’s income from investments is reduced from £10,760' to £9755 for the current year, so that the commitments for relief purposes will mean a further reduction of capital this year with a corresponding decrease in interest next and subsequent years. At June 16. 1932, the position of the funds was: — Investments £198,635 0 0 Cash in bank .. .. 216 19 9 Total 198,851 19 9 Monthly grant due to R-.S.A. .. . . .. 1,000 0 0 Net total £197,851 19 9 FUTURE OF FUNDS. The statement proceeds: “To provide for the commitments to the Returned Soldiers’ Association for relieving unemployment distress between June 16 and January 31 next it will be necessary to utilise two small investments maturing between these dates in addition to all interest coming in up to January 31. After allowing for the progressive receipts and disbursements the position of the funds at January 31, 1933, will be approximately as follows: Investments .. £192,948 Cash at bank (approx.) .. 1,552 Total ./ £194,500 “No allowance is made in this/figure for any unforeseen expenditure, or for a commitment of £3OOO which _ the board may be called upon to meet in assisting to put the Disabled Soldiers’ Civil Reestablishment Act into operation, “ The anticipated bank balance on January 31 next as shown above, together with interest falling due for the ensuing six months to July 31, 1933, will just cover the grants for unemployment at the present rate of £IOOO per month up to that date, leaving the capital funds then at £192,948, and it will be necessary again to draw on capital to meet the payments for the following six months to January 31, 1934, when the funds will probably be down to £190,000 or less, but it will be understood, of course, that any additional calls on the fund which the board may decide to meet will further reduce this amount. “ It will thus be seen that the decreasing capital correspondingly reduces the annual income from interest and makes the diminution of the funds more rapid. BOARD’S EXPENDITURE. “ It might be mentioned here that in pursuance of its policy of preserving the funds for use after other funds become exhausted, the board arranged its investments over various periods to comply with the policy, and if any unduly large call were made on the funds now it would probably be difficult under present financial conditions to realise on investments to meet it. “As it may be of interest I recapitulate below the amounts expended by the board in relief purposes, etc., up to date: Unemployment relief .... £32,685 0 0 Trentham Scholarship Fund —for education of children of deceased and dis- _ abled soldiers 12,479 10 0 Compassionate grants to cases which could not be dealt with by other funds 467 2 1 Compassionate grants to returned soldiers suffering in Hawke’s Bay earthquake ...... 940 0 0 Assistance in putting Disabled Soldiers Civil Re- i establishment Act into operation .. .. . 2,000 0 0 Total.. £48,571 12 1 “There appears to be an impression in the minds of some returned soldiers that the Canteen Funds can be applied as a source of permanent relief in the manner of a permanent pension, but when it is realised that the total fund averages little more than 30s per member of the force, it will be seen that the fund can only extend a measure of reliet over a short period in each case in the same manner as is being done by the district Patriotic and War Relief Funds; and as the latter funds are fast becoming exhausted, the board’s anxiety is to have a fund capable of taking up the running when that time arrives in the near future.”