WAR RELIEF FUNDS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1359, 21 June 1918, Page 3

WAR RELIEF FUNDS.

N.Z. ADVISORY BOARD. MEETING IN CHRISTCHUECH. The meeting of the Advisory Board of the Federation of New Zealand Patriotic War Belief Societies was concluded yesterday afternoon. Pensions and Allowances. The Otago Association forwarded a copy of a resolution received from the Dunedin Beturned Soldiers' Association, as follows: —"That this committee, recognising that the increases in the allowances and pensions for soldiers are justified, again demands, on behalf of the returned soldiers of Otago, that they be made retrospective to the outbreak Of the war, and points out to the Minister of Defence that, by refusing to recognise the justness of the association's claim in this connection, he has placed a lower value on the services of the men who joined the Expeditionary Force voluntarily early in the war, than on those of the men who are now going to the front." The Otago Association considered that this was a national rather than a provincial matter. The meeting went into committee to consider the matter, and decided that Messrs Paul and Lamer wait upon the Minister of Defence in the matter. Free Telegrams. It was left to Messrs Paul and Lamer to confer with the Minister regarding the cancellation of free telegraphic facilities to societies.

Gift Duty. It was resolved that representations be made to the Government that "gift duty" should not be charged on donations to patriotic societies. Legal Protection of Soldiers. On the motion of Mr J. J. Dougall (Canterbury), it was resolved to recommend that part 3 of the War Regulations Act, 1917, be amended so as to extend to men who have actively served in the present war in other than the N.Z.E.F., the right to apply to a Magistrate for release from onerous contracts; and to give Magistrates power to give judgment in equity and good conscience between those men and civilians. At present this regulation covers men of the N.Z.E.F, onlv.