THE BELGIUM FUND.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 617, 1 February 1916, Page 8

THE BELGIUM FUND.

CITY COUNCIL'S ATTITUDE CONSTITUTION OF COMMITTEE OBJECTED TO. There was a good deal of discussion at last evening's meeting of the Ghristchurch City Council, with regard to the Belgium Relief Fund. Several members of the council strongly objected to the constitution of the committee of the fund, and to the principle of taxation without representation. Eventually the council asked the Mayor to make a further report in the matter at its next meeting. The discussion arose from Ihe receipt of a letter from the secretary to the fund, who wrote that his executive had carried the following resolution: —"This executive, having ascertained from their legal adviser their position in regard to certain resolutions carried at a meeting of representatives of local bodies, held on December 11, 191;), and presided over by the Minister of Internal Affairs, are prepared to add to the Executive Committee the representatives selected by the groups of-local bodies, as suggested at the meeting, on receiving the assurance, that they will, as from the beginning of the year, contribute their share, as allotted, of the Canterbury monthly quota for the Belgium Fund." The letter added that the executive of the fund desired the amount due from each gronp of local bodies, whether paid through the fund or direct to the Minister, to be paid before January 31, and it asked that steps should be taken to bring the subject before the authorities concerned as soon as possible. POSITION OF THE QUOTA. The Mayor remarked thai the conference had suggested that the city of Christchurch and the surrounding local bodies should have the right to elect one member of the comj mittee.

- Cr Williams: How many representatives of local bodies, altogether? The Mayor: Four. One for Tim-1 am and adjoining bodies, one for Ashburton and surrounding bodies, one for Mid-Canterbury, and one for; Christchureh and adjoining bodies, j Cr Williams: And Christchureh has the privilege of appointing one!j Cr McCombs: How many self-; appointed members of the committee? The Mayor: Eight, 1 believe. In a review of the position, the Mayor said that in November last the quota was £2G7 short. The Minister of Internal Affairs announced that; he was calling a conference of local bodies, and the balance of £207 was; at once remitted to Wellington. At I that time the Belgium Fund Committee had approximately 13000 in hand. At the time of the conference he (the Mayor) felt, and he felt now, that it would be most disgraceful if Canterbury in any way defaulted in its pledge to make up the quota. He stated at the conference that he was prepared to recommend to the council, provided the Belgium Committee continued to collect voluntary contributions, that the council, along with others, should make up any deficiency in the quota. The next development was the forwarding of £2OOO extra by the committee to the Minister of Internal Affairs. The Minister understood that that sum was the balance in hand, andj personally, he (the Mayor) under-! stood fiat too, and that the idea of! the committee was to be able to say! that it had no money left, and it was' up to the local bodies to find thei quota. It appeared, however, that the £2OOO consisted of special dona-' tions, principally from Ashburton and Timaru. He believed that the; Belgium Fund Committee had be-j tween £2OOO and £3OOO at the present time. Councillors would note the! condition in the letter, that the cxe-l cutive would be added to provided; that the local bodies would pay the whole amount from January 1. Aj private meeting of Mayors had been | called by him, and that meeting had decided that in the circumstances it| would take no action in the matter of recommendations to the local bodies until the Belgium Fund Com-] mittee approached them. Since the little "sera])" with the Minister, the! Belgium Fund Executive had car-! ried, at its last meeting, a resolution that the voluntary subscriptions should be sent to the Home authorities direct. That being so, presumably the voluntary contributions would lose the Government subsidy, and the local bodies would also lose the benefit of them. He was not prepared to shift from his position, and; lie was not prepared' to recommend: the council to pay the monthly quota, while the committee had a substantial sum in hand. The present position seemed to be more involved | and more surrounded with difficulty than ever before. It seemed to him that the local bodies should have en-! lire control of the matter if they! were to be responsible for the whole of the monthly quota. "FAILED IN ITS DUTY." Cr Burgoync moved:—"That thei council lake no action in the mat-' ler." The Government had absolutely failed in its duly, for it had the! power to raise the money by taxation, and so avoid all the bickering i and trouble. The council had the j power to levy rales for municipal purposes. In any case it was the; city's duty to look after its return-! cd men. After what had occurred j between the Belgium Fund Commit-1 tee and the Minister it was time for the council to clinch up, and keep away from the matter. The Government should in the first instance have tackled the question, and taxed for the money, instead of having this continual appealing to the public. Cr J. O. Jameson seconded the motion pro forma, in order to speak

to it. He said it was not dignified to be "scrapping" on the matter when the people of Belgium were in such a condition. Some gentlemen—he need not say whom—had retired from the Belgium Fund Committee, and perhaps things might work a little more smoothly than in the past. He felt confident that now the personnel of the committee had been slightly changed the Mayor could arrange things amicably and with credit to the city of Christchurch. The Mayor: I should be only too happy to carry out any resolution of the council. In reply to a question, the Mayor added that Canterbury's monthly quota was £865. Canterbury had already subscribed, in addition to the monthly quota, the sum of £67,000, to say nothing of the value of goods sent, and a great many local bodies thought that that money should have I been held to provide the monthly quota. The Dominion was required to provide £15,000 a month. Of that sum (lie Government paid £SOOO, the ; public was asked to pay £SOOO, and | the Government provided a £ for £ I subsidy on the public contributions. Auckland was the only one of the large city councils which paid a I monthly quota—it paid £IOO. In Wellington and Dunedin the proceeds of carnivals had been reserved to provide the monthly quotas. j WHOLLY UNSATISFACTORY. j Cr McCombs expressed the opinion that the constitution of the Beljgium Fund Committee was wholly j unsatisfactory. The council should j uphold the action of the Mayor. The : whole position was wrong from beginning to end. The idea of handj ing over public money to eight selfI appointed members of the commitj tee, wiih four representatives of [local bodies who were merely tolerated, was preposterous. Cr Hayward moved as an amendj ment that the Mayor be asked to convene a meeting of representatives of local bodies with a view to setting | up a separate committee to deal with I contributions from local " bodies, j leaving the present committee to |deal with voluntary subscriptions. iThe council should have the right |to proper representation on any | committee handling its money. j Cr Sullivan seconded Cr Hay- | ward's amendment pro forma, to | have it discussed. He was inclined I to think it was an impossible proj position to separate the two sources | of income and carry on the business j independently. Each committee | would be working in the dark as to ithe total funds available. He j thought that Canterbury had done jits duty by the Belgian people, and | should now look after its own men. The Belgium Fund Committee had I done an unjustifiable thing to the | people when it sent the £67,000 forward without reserving a portion ! which would have earned the Gov- ! eminent subsidy and provided the quota. Cr McCullough said that the counj til was not wishing to shirk its re- | sponsibility in the matter, but it had (the right to fair representation on i the committee of the fund. I Cr Ilavward's amendment was de- | feated. Cr Taylor moved, as a further i amendment, that the letter be reI ceived and that the Mayor be asked j to report on the matter at the next i meeting. After a little further discussion Cr Taylor's amendment was carried, | only Crs McCombs, Millar, and Burjgoyne voting against it.