The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1915. THE PATRIOTS COMMITTEE

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144851, 1 December 1915, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1915. THE PATRIOTS COMMITTEE

The question of the administration and disposal of the funds already in the hands of the Patriotic Committee and to bo collected was raised at last night's meeting of the committee, when the Mayor reported upon his last visit to a conference at AVellingtnn. There is, it appears, a strong disposition on the part of the Government to cast upon patriotic committees the duty of supporting hospitals in England where New Zealand soldiers are being treated, as well as to relieve the State of a largo share of its responsibilities with respect to soldiers who have returned to New Zealand and to the dependents of men who have fallen. There is a strong and growing feeding among patriotic committees and among the public who subscribe to their funds that the Government, if it cannot secure control of these funds, will endeavour to shelve as much as possible of its responsibility on those funds. This must be combatted to the ut-

most, otherwise it is certain that the fountain from which these subscriptions are flowing will dry up. The funds have been contributed voluntarily for the purpose of supplementing the assistance and relief which it is the duty of the Government to furnish. It is as much the Government’s duty to pay for the hospital treatment of the men as it is to pay for their military equipment. Equally is it Ihe Government’s duty to provide pensions and allowances on the most liberal scale the Dominion can afford. All these things should be a charge upon the whole community, not upon the generous section of it, and the cost should be raised by taxation falling upon all according to their means. What the generous people choose to do in addition should not enter into the Government calculations at all. Already far too much has been provided nut of .patriotic funds for purposes fhich the whole community, through the Government, should have met, and committees will he wise to guard their remaining funds very jealously and not allow their hands to be forced. If funds are required to maintain hospitals for New Zealanders in England, in the Mediterranean, or in Egypt, it is Now Zealand’s dnty as a’ whole to provide them, not the duty of the generous section. But Ministers seem to want the patriotic committees to find the money. They do not seem to appreciate the fact that patriotic committees cannot force shirkers to contribute to their funds, and hence that if these funds hear expenses which should fall on all alike the shirkers will escape their fair share of the burden. Something like a million and a half has been subscribed by the generous people to the various funds, while there are many mean people who have not contributed a penny piece, or have given a pound where they should give twenty or a hundred. Only the Government can force the latter to pay, but if it passes on to patriotic committees a large share of what should bo the general burden they will escape very lightly. Of course they are going to he taxed, but so also arc the generous, who will ho paying both voluntary and compulsory taxes. This feature is. we believe, already causing

many who would otherwise give freely, and have already given generously, to button up their pockets, for there has been a marked falling off of subscriptions locally, and that, we believe, is chiefly Ihe reason. Another

reason, perhaps, is ihe want of systematic collection, and

in that connection wo arc glad to see that the local committee is about to adopt a scheme of weekly, collection. It is vrhat we urged months afro, and the value of the system has been demonstrated in connection with our own Belgian and Wounded Soldiers' funds. AVc have on our lists the names of individuals, business establishments, and schools, who have for months past made systematic collections. Take the West End School as an

example. For over a year unw there has been a weekly collection of pence there, ami without looking up the amounts we should say that the school has contributed £4O or £fjo to the Belgian Fund. Then a warehouse has made a weekly collection among its staff for a year or more and has contributed as much. Several shops and factories have adopted the same sVstem with excellent insults. The merit of the system lies in the fact that a large sum is collected in the course of a year without any individual feeling the loss of his-contribution. “Many a mickle makes a muckle’’ ia very true of this system, and we should like to see it extended. Moreover it distributes the burden far more generally and equitably than the haphazard way of collecting. The Patriotic Committee now proposes to adopt this system, and we would urge that every business establishment should he waited upon and given a collecting book. The collecting would be under-

taken by a member of the establishment’s staff, the amounts being entered up in the, book, and the committee’s authorised agent would call periodically to receive the sums collected. Mr. W. J. Chaney has generously undertaken this duty, and we hope that the system will be universally adopted, for by its means a large sum of money will bo raised.