NAVY LEAGUE WAR FUND

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1053, 27 June 1917, Page 11

NAVY LEAGUE WAR FUND

HOW IT IS ADMINISTERED. Questions which have been asked, from time to time, regarding the administration, in England, of the Navy League War Fund are answered by a letter from Mr P. J. Hannon, general ■secretary of the Navy League, which was published in the London "Morning Post" recently. In this letter, Mr Hannon wrote: — "Sir, —I have read with intense interest your illuminating article on the pensions problem which appears in your impression of this morning, and I take the earliest opportunity to give you a definite reply in response to the suggestion embodied in the closing sentences of your last paragraph. The Navy League Overseas Relief Fund has received up to ibis date from all sorces £129,809 4/6. Over £9OOO has been paid out to meet cases demanding urgent relief or in round figures at the rate of £IOOO per month since the fund was established. The sum of £109,250 has been invested in the war loan. A sum of £II,OOO is now on deposit at 5 per cent., and the balance is cash in hand to meet the daily appeals which are being made for dependents of seamen and marines.

"It should be pointed out that the comparatively small amount actually expended would have been very much greater if it were not for the fact that separation allowances and allotments were paid by the State to dependents for a period of six months after the death of the father, son, or brother, as the case may be. In the main the grants made by the Navy League have been for the relief of dependents in whose favour no allotment was made, or who for other reasons have been ineligible for aid from public funds. The committee realises that the real pressure upon this fund is still to come, and every economy has been exercised in anticipation of contingencies which may make abnormal grants necessary. "The committee has, however, decided to undertake considerable commitments in relation to the education of the orphans of seamen and marines who have been killed, and it is believed that no more appropriate use of these funds can be made. "The balance-sheet and statement of accounts of the fund are published in the annual report of the Navy League for 1916, and the quarterly statement prepared in conformity with the provisions of the War Charities Act, 1916, is available at this office for the inspection of anybody who may be sufficiently interested to look into the whole history and present position of the fund."

In another letter, Mr Harmon states: "It is eminently creditable to the splendid people of Christchurch that they have subscribed ilie magnificent sinn of £30,000 to this fund, and I beg you will take the opportunity to give wide publicity to the tleep appreciation fell by the members of the committee and the officers and men throughout the Fleet for this noble provision for the widows and orphans of our fighting men who have given up their lives in the defence of the Empire. lam glad to hear that you have decided to keep the fund open until the end of the war and that further amounts may be forthcoming from time to time. The total amount received is in round figures £130,000, and of this aggregate sum New Zealand has contributed considerably over £100,000."