HC Deb 13 December 1945 vol 417 cc795-8W
Mr. Palmer

asked the hon. Member for the Forest of Dean (Mr. Price), as repre- senting the Charity Commissioners, the total sum subscribed by the public to the Transvaal War Fund and Lloyds Patriotic Fund between 1899 and 1902 and to the Prince of Wales Relief Fund between 1914 and 1918; the total amount of relief granted to Servicemen from these funds and the amount still remaining in the funds.

Mr. Price

The Charity Commissioners do not possess particulars of the total subscribed by the public to the Transvaal War Fund in response to an appeal made by the Lord Mayor of London on 21st October, 1899. At that date Parliament had not provided for the registration and supervision of war charities as in the War Charities Acts of 1916 and 1940 and the jurisdiction of the Commissioners under the Charitable Trusts Acts does not extend to collecting charities.

The fund subscribed was divided into four parts:

  1. (a)for widows, orphans or other dependants of those who lost their lives, to be administered by the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation;
  2. (b)for the sick and wounded, to be administered by the British Red Cross Society;
  3. (c)for those disabled by wounds and needing assistance after leaving the Service, to be administered by Lloyds Patriotic Fund; and
  4. (d)for wives and children, to be administered by the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families' Association.

The Commissioners have no record of how the parts allotted to the British Red Cross Society and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families' Association have been applied.

The total sum actually received by the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation was £443,636 17s. 9d. This Fund was applicable (both capital and income) for the widows and orphans of the officers and men who had died or might die in the service of the country in the South African Campaign. By a scheme dated the 18th April, 1913, the Commissioners slightly enlarged the scope of the charity, but it is to be noted that no part of the funds are applicable for Servicemen.

The report for 1944 of Lloyds Patriotic Fund states that, from the South African Fund, 1899, the Trustees can help men discharged "medically untfit" as a result of service in the Boer War, 1899–1902, who are still suffering from the disability from which they were discharged. The total receipts of the South African Fund from 1899 to 1944 amounted to £164,205, and the total expenditure to £151,345, leaving a balance of £12,860. The Commissioners understand that the total number of men receiving regular help at the end of 1944 was 38 and that 21 special grants were made from this Fund during the year.

The National Relief Fund (otherwise known as the Prince of Wales's Fund) was wound up in 1921 and a final report made by the Executive Committee was presented to Parliament (Cmd. 1272). This report contains details of the total receipts and expenditure.