8.-6

XV

Contributions of the public to various overseas relief funds are as follow : —■

The general receipts for overseas relief funds are less than they were for the previous year, except for the British Red Cross Fund and the British Navy Relief Fund, in aid of which special collections were taken up during the year. The cessation of hostilities has enabled the funds raised for Belgian and Allied relief to be set free, and as a result remittances overseas in connection therewith have been increased by £54,000, and only a comparatively small amount of the funds so raised now remains to be remitted. MUNITIONS AND SUPPLIES. Owing to the cessation of hostilities with. Germany, the activities of the Munitions and Supplies Department were duly brought to a close on the 31st March, 1919. Up to this time the total expenditure by the Department in procuring stores for military purposes amounted to approximately four and a half millions sterling, the whole of this sum, representing an annual expenditure of £1,300,000, being handled without a single case of fraud, although at the beginning of the Department's activities it had been found necessary to inflict fines where specifications had not been faithfully carried out, amounting in one case to £2,000. When the Armistice was signed the Department was committed to incomplete contracts to the value of £145,000. Owing to the fact that a clause had been inserted in the contracts giving the Department the right to terminate by taking over materials, these commitments were cancelled, at a total cost by way of compensation amounting to £112, and by taking over from the contractors goods useful to the military authorities to the value of £32,000. A surplus stock of consumable goods to the value of £9,588 was disposed of at a net loss on cost of £2,772. It is satisfactory to record that the cost of administering the Munitions and Supplies Department amounted in round figures to £18,000, being an average annual cost of £5,000. In this connection it is well to remember that the economy in expenditure has been due largely to valuable services rendered gratuitously by the advisers and experts who patriotically placed their services at the disposal of the Minister in charge. Priority Permits. With the signing of the Armistice came the lifting of all export restrictions imposed during the war period by the authorities in the United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America, India, and Australia.

For tho 5Tear ended 31st March, 1919. For the Period since Outbreak of the War. Belgian Relief Funds Other Belgian Funds For other Allies Civil relief in Great Britain British Red Cross Fund British Navy Relief Fund New Zealand Hospital Ship Fund New Zealand Comforts Fund New Zealand War Relief Fund For equipment of aeroplanes, ambulances, &c. For regimental funds For looal War Funds For sundry overseas funds £ 37,599 310 15,874 2,942 142,379 13,183 1,276 50,393 475 1,418 1,016 184 12,249 £ 348,720 6,746 38,231 14,729 329,801 111,421 65,023 178,670 16,455 10,821 3,752 7,824 13,726 Total voluntary subscriptions .. Government contribution to Belgian Relief Funds 279,298 1,145,919 228,145 Grand total .. 279,298 1,374,064