R.S.A. CONTROL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24449, 7 November 1940, Page 2

R.S.A. CONTROL

AUCKLAND COMPLAINTS ANSWER BY HEADQUARTERS (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON. Nov. 6. The following statement has been issued by the headquarters of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association in reply to the statements made by Mr J. W. Kendall, president of the Auckland R.S.A.. which were published on Friday:— “Headquarters does not receive twopence for every peppy sold. The levy that is made has been endorsed by every annual conference of the N.Z.R.S.A. for many years. Auckland delegates assenting. Headquarters did request the Government not to deduct national security from the pay of the N.Z.E.F. and territorials, as these men were giving up their occupations for long periods to defend their country, generally at a rate of pay loss than thev could earn in civil life. The men of class 2. National Military Reserve are in a different position, being still engaged in civil occupations and parading in their spare time, and, in addition when enrolled they did not expect any pay at all. Consequently in their case headquarters did refuse Auckland’s request to urge the Government not to make the deduction.

Grant to Soldier’s Widow “ Headquarters refused to support what it considered the unjustifiable action of the Auckland R.S.A. in objecting to a grant of £SO by the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council to the widow and orphan sons of a returned soldier of the last war. who lost his life in the present war. “In a letter of September 13 from the Auckland R.S.A. to headquarters is found the real reason for Auckland’s objection. That letter says (inter alia), that the lady has chosen to place her suns in almost the most expensive profession possible, whereas most of our members are obliged to send their children to work at trades or occupations that are immediately remunerative.’ The .‘most expensive profession ’ in this case is his Majesty’s Navy, in which one of the orphans was actually serving at his father’s death, and the other had been committed to it. Not only has the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council made a grant of £SO, but in view of the exceptional conditions in this case the Government has also made a grant. The £1,000,000 Appeal “ Headquarters emphatically dissociates itself from the attitude of the Auckland R.S.A. towards the patriotic fund appeal for £l.ooo,ooo—namely, that unless ‘as the natural guardian of returned men of the future it is given certitude of adequate representation on the committees distributing the moneys raised in the new patriotic appeal,’ it will not take any part in any public appeal for funds. This seems to the Dominion Executive Committee to be a very unnatural attitude for the ‘ natural guardian ’to adopt. There is, however, no doubt that with tne assistance of all other branches of the N.Z.R.S.A. the sum of £1,000,000 will be forthcoming, despite the official abstinence of the Auckland R.S.A. “ The answer to Mr Kendall’s strange statement that the Government had seen fit to grant £IOO,OOO for the relief of distress in the United Kingdom is that the Government did not do any such thing. The £IOO,OOO was granted by the National Patriotic Fund Board.

“ In reference to the question of the publication of a statement of the receipts and expenditure of the t ,patriotic funds, Mr Kendall, as a member of the Auckland Provincial Patriotic Council, must know that the annual statement of the patriotic funds for the year ended September 30, 1940. was published on October 5, 1940.”