PATRIOTIC FUNDS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4220, 6 December 1939, Page 8

PATRIOTIC FUNDS

R.S.A. PRESIDENT’S APPEAL. TO PROVIDE COMFORTS AND AMENITIES. Returned soldiers have reason to hold in very high esteem the Hon. \V. Perry, M.L.C. and Dominion president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association, and the following address 'by that gentleman, broadcast over the national radio network, should be of special interest to all the people fo the Dominion:— For some weeks past appeals have been made over the air the people of New Zealand to subscribe to the National Patriotic Fund which is being raised for the purpose of providing comforts and amenities for members of our Armed Forces and the Mercantile Marine. I regret to say that the response so far has been disappointing in the extreme. There is a widespread, belief that ithe Patriotic Funds being raised for this war are under control of the ’Government. This belief is wholly erroneous. Let me try to place the exact position before you. To do this, it is advisable first to refer to the methods of raising patriotic funds which obtained in the Great War of 1914-18. After the outbreak of war, collectors and. collecting agencies sprang up all over New Zealand with the result that there came into existence some 6’oo separate War Funds and nearly 1,000 collecting agencies, the result being that, although huge sums were subscribed, there was much overlapping and wasteful expenditure. The War Funds Act, 1915 remedied this state of affairs in some degree but this Act mainly established a system of registration and audit but did not provide for any control over methods of raising funds or overlapping of effort. Under the Patriotic Purposes Emergency Regulations 1939 such provision is made but these regulations do not bring the funds subscribed for patriotic purposes under Government control. There are established 12 community chests icomprising a General Fund known as the National Patriotic Fund and 11 Provincial Funds. The National Patriotic Fund will be administered by the National Patriotic Fund Board of which His Excellency the Governor-General is Chairman and which is constituted by the regulations as a Body Corporate with perpetual succession and a. common seal. Cheques drawn upon this Fund will be signed by the Secretary and two members of the Board and no. one else. The 11 Provincial Patriotic Funds will be administered by the 11 Provincial Patriotic Councils and each Provincial Patriotic Council will be the authority controlling the expenditure of the Provincial Patriotic Fund. To enable such expenditure to be made to the best advantage the Provincial Patriotic Council is empowered to appoint as its agent any society or other Ibody of persons which by the nature of its objects and machinery of its organisation is specially qualified to expend moneys for any particular purpose. As an example, what better body could we entrust with the care of any soldier who may be blinded in war, than the Commercial Travellers Association who have done such great work for the Blind Soldiers of the last war at such infinitesimal cost. The National Fund will be one to which it is hoped and felt that

moneys will be contributed both by the people generally and by Provincial Councils for purposes for which expenditure can best be made by a national body. In particular, all moneys for- expenditure overseas must be paid into the National Fund. Already the Y.M.C.A. and Salvation Army have been appointed National Expending Agents for the work within (the camps and the Joint Council of the Order of St. John and the New Zealand Red Cross Society National Expending Agents for the sick and wounded. There is also constituted under the regulations a National Patriotic Council which will alct as an advisory body to the Minister upon the methods and means of raising moneys for Patriotic Purposes and as to the classes, kinds and quantities of comforts or amenities immediately required »or likely to be required within specified future periods and many other matters. Conferences have already been held <of delegates from National Patriotic Fund Board, the National Patriotic Council and the Provincial Patriotic Councils for the purpose /of eliminating competition and over-lapping between these bodies. I repeat and re-emphasise that none .of .the moneys subscribed and none of the goods donated or purchased will be under the control of the Government.

Those of us who had the privilege of serving in the last war will never forget the joy with which we greeted the arrival of comforts from our Homeland so many thousands of miles away from those who kept the home fires burning so that the boys who were far away dreamed of home. And those of us who have occupied executive positions in the R.S.A. also know what a wonderful boon the Patriotic Funds subscribed in 1914-18 have been to the Ex-Sold-ier ever since.

Good as the camps in New Zealand are, many extras are required by our fighting men who are training there. Apart from the additional comfort these extras give, I want you who give to remember the pleasure and the gratitude with which your gifts are received. The men feel that the people are with them in the sacrifice they are making in obeying the cad of duty. I assure you that the Armed Forces of to-day deserve all the assistance you can give them. A great and dangerous task lies ahead of them how great and how dangerous is not realised by more than one in a thousand of the people of New Zealand. I want the other 999 to realise it tonight I want the people of New Zealand to realise that in order to win this war they must make sacrifices •too, that their duty does not end merely with ( paying their increased taxes—it only begins there. Although, as I have sa.id, the response so far has been 'disappointing, I want nevertheless to exhort you to subsribe to this National Patriotic Fund, which will be expended for the benefit of all members of the Armed Forces irrespective of what part of New Zealand they come from, with an eager generosity which will convince even yourselves that your hearts are really in the war. Send your subscriptions to the Secretary, National Patriotic Fund Board, Wellington. Next Tuesday night at 7 p.m., Mr . H. Nimmo a member of the NatlanaJ Patriotic Council will tell you °f the Patriotic Seal Campaign which will be launched that day. Please | listen in that night so that you will not miss the story.