RELIEF FOR NEEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26541, 16 August 1947, Page 2

RELIEF FOR NEEDY

WORK OF DUNEDIN R.S.A. ALL RETURNED SERVICEMEN ELIGIBLE NO BAN ON NATIONALITY Every year the Dunedin branch of the Returned Services’ Association distributes about £6OOO in relief grants. It was explained to the Daily Times yesterday by an official of the Relief Committee of the association that any returned serviceman of any nationality was eligible for assistance, and not only members of the R.S.A. The Relief Committee deals with between 40 and 50 applications a week. Wide Variety of Relief The main fund administered by the Returned Services’ Association is the Poppy Day Funnd, which averages about £4OOO a year. The remainder of the money for distribution in the form of relief comes from 13 trust funds and 12 direct bequests to the Returned Services’ Association. Although the R.S.A. deals with almost every conceivable type of application for assistance, the principal forms can be divided roughly into six groups. They are: Monetary grants, the provision of work for those capable of doing it, orders for goods, the provision of school books for the children of servicemen, educational bursaries for the children of deceased or disabled servicemen, and the distribution of about 70 tons of coal annually to needy families. In the last-men-tioned case the coal is provided free by the Kaitangata Coal Company. Relief is distributed not only in Dunedin, but also through the. country sub-associations and committees in Otago which are affiliated to the Dunedin branch. They are provided with imprest accounts on which they can draw for relief payments. In this way the Poppy Day funds collected annually in the various districts and sent to the Dunedin Association as the administrators of the fund are returned to the country areas for disbursement as required. The trust funds on which the Dunedin Association can draw include the ,2nd N.Z.E.F. Canteen and Regimental Trust Fund, the Anzac Commemoration Stamp Fund, the Maadi Tent Fund, the J. R. McKenzie Trust, and the Tasman Trust (from Tattersall’s (N.Z.), Ltd., among others. The conditions under which moneys from the 12 bequests to the association may be distributed are so wide -in their scope that they can be used for almost every type of assistance required. Other Bodies Co-operate

These combined funds are administered by the Relief Committee of the Returned Services’ Association in cooperation with other bodies in the city. The committee includes representatives of the Mayor’s Relief Committee, the, Patriotic Associations of two wars, the Great War Funds .Administration , Committee, the Joint Council of the Red Cross and St. John, and Heritage. Applications for assistance from relief funds are handled in the first instance by the secretary of the R.S.A., Mr O. L. Ferens, who advises the applicants on their problems. The bases are then placed before the Relief Committee, which refers approved applicants to the Patriotic Councils for direct financial assistance. Men who are able to work are dealt with through the Mayor’s Relief Fund, and in other cases men or women may be sent to various experts in the city who will give them full advice on their personal problems. Organisations such as the Commercial Travellers and Warehousemen’s Association provide relief for blinded ex-service-men, and others such as Heritage and the Dunedin Savings Bank are often helpful to applicants. Payments are made immediately in necessitious C3S6S. The R.S.A. also maintains a liaison with hospitals and other institutions in the district to promote the interests of ex-service patients. It provides Christmas treats for the. children of deceased servicemen and gifts for widows. The majority of the relief granted up to the present tiJt? has been to returned men of t).# Great 'War of 1914-18 and their dependents, but a relief account is ntw being built up from the Poppy Day. funds for men of the 1939-45 war. This fund now stands at £SOOO.