PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Southland Times, Issue 17654, 11 February 1916, Page 5

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

AN ERRONEOUS IMPRESSION. GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE EXPLAINED. (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, February 10., “An impression seems to have got about that the Government wants to get possession of patriotic funds and use them for Government purposes,” said' the Prime Minister to-night. Let me say that the Government has no such intention, though I am bound to also say that I think-the Minister for Internal Affairs was justified, in giving the Auckland Committee an opportunity of assisting in the equipment of the soldiers’ convalescent home at Rotorua in their own district. The Auckland Committee declined, to do so and on that point there is nothing more to be said. “It is the duty of the Government to see that such funds are' used for the purposes for which they were collected, that is for assisting sick and wounded soldiers and their dependents, or the dependents of those who have fallen. So long as the different associations use their funds in accordance with the Act of last session and the desire of the contributors, without parsimony on the one side or waste on the other, there will be no interference on the part of me Government. The Government will do its full duty to the soldiers out of public funds under its own control, but there is' no reason why the Government and patriotic associations should not work together, each in its own way, for the benefit of the Empire’s defenders.”