TO REVERT TO R.S.A.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 274, 18 November 1937, Page 6

TO REVERT TO R.S.A.

RETURNED SOLDIERS’ HALL ASSET FOR DISABLED MEN Occupancy and management of the Wanganui Returned Soldiers’ Clut» builaing in St. Hill Street, as a result of a motion carried last night, is to revert to the Wanganui Returned Soldiers’ Association, not as a club in the sense accepted in the past but to allow the association, in conjunction with the Wanganui - Waitotara Patriotic Association, to make the hall a payable institution by letting it to various bodies for social and meeting purposes. The building is to be managed by a special committee representative of tne two bodies named. The Returned Soldiers’ Club was opened as such by Lord Jellicoe, then Governor-General of New Zealand, in November, 1920. It was established at a time when the desire of returneo soldiers to run their own clubs was very strong. A sum of £2828 was raised by way of subscriptions, £1296 from entertainments and £1291 from art unions. The Patriotic Association made a gift of £2500, making a total of £7196. Immediately after the building was opened some 250 “Diggers” assembled at dinner and established themselves in their new home in characteristic fashion. As the war years receded the tendency to use the club as a club lessened and during the depression years the building was taken over by Mr J. Patterson. The late Mr Alfred Burnett, whose generosity in regard to returned soldiers was outstanding, gave the land on which the building was erected, and the deed of trust under which it was established provided that if it ever ceased to fulfil its original functions it was to be sold and the proceeds used for ex-servicemen or their dependents. Although the building did cease to function as a club it remained an asset of the Patriotic Association, a body which is akin to the Returned Soldiers’ Association in that its work is to care for those suffering the after effects of the war. Under the new scheme of control, Mr Patterson has handed his interest in the building to the returned men and at last night’s quarterly meeting of their association a motion was carried expressing appreciation of his action in that direction. The building is to be managed by a joint committee representative of the R.SA. and the Patriotic Association. The president and secretary for the time being of the R.S.A. will represent it on that committee, which will give effect to new management for a year as an experiment. At th? end of that period the revenue and expenditure aspect will decide future policy. “When it is generally known that the hall is to be for the benefit of returned men it should surely receive ■public support,” stated Mr W. H. Canaan, president of the R.SA., at last -Sight’s meeting. He, together with secretarv (Mr F. G. Seddon) ano Mr H. "M. Keesing, explained recent negotiations which had resulted in the change. It was pointed out during the meeting that the building represented an asset for the Patriotic Association, the funds of which went to the assistance of ex-servicemen feeling the after effects of war. As such, if it could be continued as a revenue-pro-ducing concern, it would not only assist that deserving cause, but, with the progress of better times, consolidate itself as a capital asset, either for the R.S.A. itself or the Patriotic Association if that body remained in existence longer than was anticipated.