WAR FUNDS DISPOSAL

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 65, 11 September 1924, Page 5

WAR FUNDS DISPOSAL

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL VIEWS. MONEY HELD IN LONDON. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, September 10. An interesting statement respecting the probable future disposal of war funds wi-s made in the legislative Council to-day by the Hon. Sir Francis Hell, who moved the second) reading of the War Funds Amendment Hill. Sir Francis said that at present the difficulty was that we had a large number of the various war funds existent, but without any definite object. The National War Funds Council already had had invested in it a number of the smaller funds, and it had power to receive them from the various trustees when, they were satisfied to part with then trusts. Section 6 of the Bill was important, as it made provision for tho submission to the court of schemes for tlie disposition of the money, held on trust for war runds, for example, tho Belgian relief fund. Immense sums of money were collected in New Zealand and transmitted) to London for charitable purposes, but the purposes no longer existed, and tho money was held in London by the High Commissioner without any purpose to which it could lie applied by him. Sir Francis trusted) that a large portion of the funds would ho passed on to the Red Cross authorities. The Hon. A. S. Malcolm asked if it was intended that these funds should: lie devoted to the relief of soldiers and their dependants. Frequently lie had had to go to the council for help for such people and he had been met with tho difficulty that the officers had been unable to trace a connection between the returned soldier’s present illness and .his war service. It was distressing that men should be refused relief on that account. He had hoped that the fund might he used for the relief of such distress, irrespective of whether the trouble was due to war service. The Hon. Dr. Collins agreed largely with Mr Malcolm. There were cases of soldiers whose illness could not be shown to be due to tho war, aucl it was very difficult to deal with those cases. He had been delighted to hear what Sir Francis 801 l had said respecting the Red Cross iuuds. The Hon. E. Newman hoped tho High Commissioner would) he consulted before money now in England was transmitted here. He was satislied that there was room for the useful disposition at Home of some of this money. Replying to^a point raised by Mr Malcolm, Sir Francis Bell said that under the Bill the War Funds Council would have the power to deal with men whose illness might not he dn ectly traceable to the war. The second reading of the Bill was agreed to.