3
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Zealand papers and periodicals on the tables, and the whole organization of the association behind them. We cut prices down to the lowest figure, but once the initial cost has been paid they are self-supporting—and this in spite of the fact that New Zealand men in hospital blue (many of whom are allowed no money at all) can have their tea for nothing if they do not possess the necessary pennies to pay for it. A special word of praise is due, I think, to the lady workers in these clubs. They have long hours standing on their feet and much manual labour. As to the value of this work, both towards the men's progress in health and for their enjoyment, I would confidently refer you to both the officers and the patients at Codford Camp, where the accommodation is so taxed that we are in process of enlarging. You have visited the Residential Club in Russell Square. It is, as you are aware, not under the control of the executive, being an independent branch of the association, but it would not be proper to omit a brief reference to its good work. Since its opening on the 2nd August it has provided about sixteen thousand of our men home on furlough or discharged from hospitals with decent accommodation and a New Zealand welcome. I will only recall to your memory that one of its most valuable features is that it arranges to depute some New-Zealander from the club to meet the "leave trains" and shepherd our men safely to the club, thus saving them from the serious initial dangers men arriving on furlough are exposed to the moment they step into the streets of London. Tho Stores Committee, a sub-committee recently formed, deals with consignments of hospital requirements and comforts for men which arrive from New Zealand branches of the Red Cross and St. John Ambulance, and which these societies asked us to receive and distribute. Lady Liverpool's Fund, which sends a monthly parcel for every man at the front, also employs us as its agents. In accepting this fresh responsibility we took a considerable load upon our shoulders, for the New Zealand Red Cross alone has already sent us 736 cases to distribute, whilst a regular supply is on the way Home. We confidently believe the goods are being distributed in a manner which will satisfy both the donors and the recipients, and a register is kept here which shows the numbers of cases received and their disposal. I must now say a few words upon another committee—in one sense the most important of all. The Finance Committee has much arduous and anxious work to do. Financial estimates and arrangements are, as Sir Joseph Ward and you must know full well, particularly difficult to deal with in war-time, with no steady standard of prices to depend upon and with constant emergencies—impossible to foretell—presenting themselves. I will not weary you with figures. Our accounts are, as you are aware, audited, and a monthly statement goes out to the New Zealand Government. But 1 may say that, excluding the hospital at Walton, we have expended since our foundation in August, 1914, to the 30th September last a sum of £20;680. The administrative expenses, including rent, salaries and wages, printing and stationery, postages and sundries, during that period came to £2,804. As regards salaries, I may say that at the present time our salary and wages list comes to only £400 a year, which includes typists, messengers, office boys, storemen, and a book-keeper, who enters upon his duties to-day, and who has been engaged because our operations have grown to such magnitude that we can no longer depend upon voluntary labour for the keeping of our accounts. We have now only two more branches of our work to put before you. The first is the New Zealand Officers' Convalescent Home at Brighton. This is a charming house situated in the best yet quietest part of the Brighton front, and accommodates from twelve to fifteen patients. It has a trained matron in charge, an excellent doctor in attendance, massage, electric treatment, &c. Since its opening between one hundred and fifty and one hundred and sixty New Zealand officers have enjoyed its hospitality; and the splendid air, the skilled attendance, and the excellent, fare provided have done much to accelerate the recovery of its guests. Only officers recommended by Colonel I'arkes, D.D.M.S., as suitable patients are accepted by us, so the work is directly of real advantage to the military authorities. This home and these comforts we owe entirely to Mr. C. A. Knight, a good friend to New Zealand, who may well receive your thanks as he does those of this association. Not only is practically the whole expense borne by him. but both he and Mrs. Knight are indefatigable in their attention to and their care for the comfort and the welfare of their guests. I may mention that Lieutenant Tom Seddon, a member of the House of Representatives, has just returned from what he has assured me was a most agreeable stay there, and one which greatly helped his recovery. Lastly, we have a delightful house at Sandwich, lent us by the generosity -of Major Waldorf Astor, M.P., where those New Zealand nurses whose health has suffered through their self-sacrificing services for our sick and wounded can rest and recuperate. This rest home is in charge of Miss Tombe, R.R.C., formerly our matron at Walton, who is, with other volunteers, working without reward for our common objects. Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward, I have now endeavoured as briefly as I could to give you some idea of the method and scope of our work. That is all we as an executive desire to-day to bring before you. You are in the happy and, I imagine, unusual position of not having to ward off applications upon the public purse. Thanks to subscriptions received in this country and from individual persons in New Zealand, thanks to the contribution of ,£1,500 a month from the Patriotic Associations of New Zealand and to the assistance we are receiving from the Red Cross Society out there, we find we can, by careful management, pay our way. There are matters regarding the control exercised by the New Zealand Government upon our funds and our activities which we desire to put before you, but these can wait a more suitable occasion. In the name of the executive and its sub-committees, and on behalf of our four hundred voluntary helpers, I thank you and Sir Joseph Ward again for your attention and for your presence here to-day; and, in conclusion, I would point out that I have endeavoured as far as I could to avoid mentioning names in these remarks, for if I once began to try to acknowledge individual services I should have felt compelled to trespass to an unfair extent upon your valuable time. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, High Commissioner for New Zealand, said, —I desire, as chairman of the New Zealand War Contingent Association, to extend to the Right Hon. W. F. Massey, P.C.,