NURSES' MEMORIAL FUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24949, 23 June 1942, Page 4

NURSES' MEMORIAL FUND

The work and administration of the New Zealand Nurses' Memorial Fund, during the 25 years of its existence, is outlined In the twenty-fifth annual report. This fund, established during trie last war, as a memorial to those nurses who had lost their lives, has been built up by contributions from nursing and sister organisations as well as from persons sympathetic to its objects. Its main purpose is to provide relief for trained nurses who are in distress occasioned by sickness, old age, accident, or other misfortune. All nurses on the New Zealand State Register are eligible for relief, and also all maternity nurses who are eligible for membership, of the New Zealand Registered Nurses' Association. It is expected that demands on the fund will be greatly increased after this war, and it is hoped that the fund will be extended by contributions to. enable it adequately to meet the needs. During the. 25 years of the existence of the fund, the report says, relief has been given either by grant or annuity to 138 nurses who, for various reasons, have been in need of financial assistance. The total amount, distributed up to March 31, 1942, has been in round figures £23,800, making an average amount of over £l7O to each beneficiary. rThe 1 individual amounts have, of .course, -differed very much, varying from grants of £5 or £lO in cases of temporary distress to an aggregate of a good many hundreds in the cases of the older annuitants. Every case has been carefully considered, and every care taken to ensure the revenue of the fund . being distributed m such a way as to do the most good. During the 25 years the capital. fund, chiefly built up from legacies and donations, has reached the amount of over £37.000. The growth of the fund is of the greatest importance, as the falling rates of interest have made it a hazardous undertaking to incur liabilities, by granting annuities without the assured income to meet them. The income from investments last year was less by a few pounds than it was 10 years ago, owing to the reduced rate of interest. In the report of last year the committee expressed appreciation of the action of various nursing staffs and nurses associations in contributing over £6OO to the fund. This year they have contributed more than three times as much. Contributions from the public are still disappointing. The amount of £lB2 received this year is larger by £7l; than that of last year, but analysis pf the contributions shows that they include, a grant of £SO (the eighth) from the trustees of the Theomin Estate, £lO from the Mackinnon Trust in Invercargill, and the sum of £6O from two nurses who formerly received help from the fund, but are now in a position to pass on to others the help they received in the past. The cost of administration for. the year has been only £3l. about 2J per cent, of the amount distributed to beneficiaries. The report adds that the number of annuitants on the list is. 35. an increase of one over the figures of last year.