RELIEF ADMINISTRATION

Taranaki Daily News, 9 February 1931, Page 7

RELIEF ADMINISTRATION

DECISIONS OF THE CABINET PERSONNEL OF THE COMMITTEE. APPEAL FROM PRIME MINISTER. By Telegraph.—Press Association. , Wellington, Feb. 6. Concerning his appeal to the people of New Zealand for financial ' assistance to relieve as far as possible the desperate plight of. sufferers from the earthquake catastrophe in Hawke's Bay, the Prime Minister announces that as’the result of a meeting of Cabinet it has been decided that the personnel of the Central Committe to administer the relief fund will be as follows:— The Prime Minister (chairman), Hon.* E. A. Ransom (Minister of Lands), the Right Hon. J. G. Coates (Leader of the Opposition), Mr; H. E. Holland (Leader of the Labour Party), Mr. W. E. Barnard, M.P. (Napier), Mr. H. M. Campbell, M.P. (Hawke’s Bay) Air. A. E. Jull, M.P. (Waipawa), ‘Mr. 'W. D. Lysnar, M.P. • (Gisborne), ; representing the districts, affected by the earthquake; the Mayors of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin,, Major A. H. Bathurst (military secretary to his Excellency the GovernorGeneral), the Public Trustee, engineer-in-chief to th© Public Works Department, th© Under-Secretary of Lands and the Valuer-General.

Five members of the committee will constitute a quorum, and the Public Trustee will be the executive officer of the committee.

Following th© experience of the. ad* ministration of the Murchison earth/ quake fund, a small executive sub-comw mittee resident in Wellington will be set up, including the Public Trustee, in order that relief work may be properly co-ordinated and the best possible’use •made of the fund subscribed.; It is requested, that subscriptions from a|l sources be, paid into any branch of the Bank of New Zealand for the credit of the - public account, and the bank receipt forwarded to the secretary to th© Treasury, Wellington, under cover of a letter setting out th© details of the contribution.

—-If-amountscannot conveniently-bepaid into'the Bank of New Zealand they maybe remitted direct to the Treasury or paid into~the post office, in order that "the ;fund. may earn the maximum amount-’-of interest which the Publio -'Trustee has agreed to allow',' 51 per .cent.‘•on the daily balance from its in-r 'ceptipn. It is requested that moneys subscribed be paid to the public account or remitted ,to the .‘Treasury as fast as received; A list of .all such re-* receipts will be issued to the Press for publication. ’ ‘ DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS. ■ Li regard to the distribution and US® of the funds, stated the Prime Minister, the intention is that the Central Committee-should, as ih the case of thd previous earthquake, work in co-opera* tion with local committees to be set up ;n the affliqted areas. The constitution! of the local committees it .is.proposed to feave f to. the people concerned, except that, to facilitate the work, it is desired'; that the local representative, of the 'Public' Trust Office ” and- -Public Works’- and Lands and Valuation Departments be made ex-ofiicio members of all committees. The Public Trust officers will undertake all secretarial and accounting jvork. The fund will be administered by Public Trustee as the executive officer of the central committee. All accounts in connection with .the fund will ,b'e audited by the Controller and Auditor- 1 Gen.Cral,. No organisation or administrative costs will be charged to the relief l fund; that is to say, all money sub-. "scribed'by . the people will be directly applied in the relief of the sufferers from the earthquake. • ‘ In order that there may be as little! delay as possible in applying moneys) to the purposes for which they arc subscribed, it is proposed to convene a meeting of the central committee immediately td determine details in respect to the administration of the fund and t'o delegate the necessary powers.to , the executive sub-committec and local committees-, said tile Prime Minister. . RELIEF OF URGENT CASES.' " Mr. Forbes added that for the immediate relief of urgent, cases of dis* ' tress some grants are being made from the Consolidated Fund. These moneys will be administered by the local committee of those centres on the principles above outlined. After allowing for the settlement of all reasonable) claims on the West Coast earthquake relief , fund it is anticipated that a balance of about £lO,OOO will remain. This balance, could reasonably be transferred to the Hawke’s Bay relief fund, and a meeting of the central committee of the West Coast fund will bef called immediately to' consider the matter.

' The Primo Minister said he felt sure that the response to the appeal for funds would be generous. It was hoped' that the organisation outlined would enable unfortunate sufferers to receiver benefit from those funds with the least possible delay. Although it must be recognised that the collecting and collating of the details of losses suffered will be a work of some magnitude, immediate'needs of sufferers in the meantime .will receive prompt attention; ING-AND QUEEN CONTRIBUTE. HANDSOME GIFTS FOR RELIEF. Rec. 7.30 p;m. Loudon, Feb. &. Sir Thomas .Wilford, High Commissioner for New Zealand, has been notified from Sandringham that the King is sending '£soo and the Queen £250 for the New Zealand sufferers. Sir Thomas Wilford in a letter to The Times says that although it is not proposed to issue an. appeal for assistance for earthquake sufferers The Times’ magnificent voluntary lead will, despite these bad days, undoubtedly stimulate tlie desire of the people of Britain to ) _’p the afflicted. He would be grateful 'if The Times would acknowledge ‘the subscriptions now coming in frcbly. ■ CHRISTCHURCH GIVES GENEROUSLY Christchurch, Feb. 7. Tlic Christchurch City Council's relief •fund totalled £11.298 at noon to-day. Tn addition, oyer £4OOO had been raised by other funds.