SEVEN YEARS LONGER

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1081, 19 September 1930, Page 16

SEVEN YEARS LONGER

DURATION OF SOLDIERS’! RELIEF FUND UNEMPLOYED MEN’S PLIGHT If the present rate of disbursement of the Auckland Provincial War Relief and Patriotic Association’s “A” fund to sick and wounded of the Great War and to eligible dependants, is maintained the money will last another seven years. The fund will then ha ye j attained a currency of 21 years, which was originally laid down as its probable duration. This was disclosed in a report presented to the association executive yesterday afternoon. / The Claims* Board stated that the number of applications was being maintained practically at a maximum point. On Friday last week the board dealt with 143 cases at a single sitting. In the majority of the 1,500 applications considered during the quarter, assistance was granted. The total authorised in this period was £4,811. •of which 10 per cent, was disbursed on account of the National War Funds’ Council, and 10 per cent, on account of sister patriotic associations, these latter amounts, however, being due to be refunded to the association. UNEMPLOYMENT INCREASE The increasing number of unemployed returned soldiers, who were not suffering any sickness or disability arising from the war, and who applied for assistance, was commented upon by the board. The only assistance that could be given to these applicants wa.s from the War Funds’ Council Unemployment Fund on a restricted scale. The “A” fund was being strictly administered within its objects and payments were quite up to the estimate formed years ago. Close touch was being maintained with the 13 branches of the association, most of which were active apd regularly referred cases to the Claims Board, who expressed appreciation of the work of the chairmen and committees in provincial centres. “It is very striking to see the number of ex-servicemen who are now cracking up—l2 years after the war,” commented Mr. A. G. Bunn. The men, he said, deeply appreciated the assistance given by the association, believing that this was all that stood between them and destitution. ■, On May 31 the total funds of the association were £100,734. Since then £2,321 was received in interest on investments, £1,450 in refunds, and £204 in donations. The expenditure amounted to £5,927, leaving a balance of £98,783 at August 31.