CONTROL OF CANTEEN FUNDS DISCUSSED BY DOMINION R.S.A.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17864, 4 June 1926, Page 16

CONTROL OF CANTEEN FUNDS DISCUSSED BY DOMINION R.S.A.

EX-SOLDIERS SHOULD BE ADMINISTRATORS, SAYS EXECUTIVE. I’er Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 3. The distribution of canteen and regimental funds which accumulated during the war, amounting to about £200,000, which are now controlled by the Trust Funds Board, was discussed in the annual report of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association. While agreeing in the main that the canteen funds should remain intact for the present, the Dominion executive feels that the association should con-, sider for submission to the board some policy of distribution of at least part of the interest being earned by the funds. It has been suggested that, the canteen funds might very well be utilised for the establishment of more .veterans’ homes. The report states that there may be other suggestions, and that undoubtedly the association should definitely decide to frame a policy which would be of assistance to the board either now or when the time comes for the fund to be made use of. The Minister of Internal Affairs, the report states, is convening a conference to endeavour to lay down some uniform policy with regard to the administration of patriotic and war funds and to consider the advisability of a

scheme of centralisation. As matters stood at present, a returned man in necessitous circumstances in one part of the North Island might be able to obtain assistance from a patriotic society, while an identical case in another part of the Dominion might be refused assistance because the applicant was not in receipt of a war pension. The Dominion executive feels, states the report, that the Dominion Council’s discussion might well begin upon the suggestion that it is time patriotic moneys were administered upon a common basis of service, each case to be considered upon its merits. Referring to the administration of funds, the executive states that it is time that ex-soldiers themselves were allowed more representation upon the various councils, boards or committees. It might be said that the representatives who had all along been controlling these funds had done so on behalf of the subscribers, the general public. It was submitted, however, that the claim for increased representation of ex-service men was not prejudiced in any way by such and that as beneficiaries, ex-service men were closely interested and were capable of gtying material assistance in administration. It was felt that there was a tendency in some quarters to divert patriotic funds originally subscribed for the benefit of ex-soldiers from the proper objects. The trend of events called for the strongest representations to the Government for the appointment of further ex-soldier delegates upon the National War Funds Council in particular, to ensure that beneficiaries’ interests were unceasingly safeguarded.