852
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 50

2, East India Avenue, Leadenhall Street, E.C.,
London, 11th April, 1892.

My Lord,—I have the honour to enclose copy of a letter
recently addressed to the editor of the Times, describing
the present position of the fund raised in 1857, at the sug-
gestion of the late Mr. Alderman Finnis, then Lord Mayor
of London, for the relief of the sufferers by the mutiny in
India, to which the inhabitants of New Zealand most
generously and handsomely contributed. The committee
retain a grateful recollection of the sympathy displayed on
that occasion, and I am desired to express a wish that you
may see fit to make it generally known.

I have, &c.,
G. B. TREMENHEERE, Major-General,
Chairman of Committee.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Glasgow,
Governor, New Zealand.

———

THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INDIAN MUTINY RELIEF
FUND OF 1857–58.

To the Editor of the Times.

Sir,—As the proprietors of the Times were among the
largest contributors to the above fund, the committee of
management, consisting of Major-General G. B. Tremen-
heere, R.E., Chairman, Mr. Thomson Hankey, Surgeon-
Major Alexander Grant, Q.H.S., Major-General Cave, Mr.
H. D. Sandeman, Major-General Dodgson, C.B., Mr. G. C.
Finnis, Major-General Baker, Lieutenant-General Holroyd,
Brigade-Surgeon J. Berry White, Major-General Johnstone,
C.B., Surgeon-General Cockburn, and Lieutenant-General
Murray, at their meeting held on the 22nd February, con-
sidered that it might be interesting to the subscribers and
to the general public to know the result of their recent
inquiries into the operations and present position of the
fund.

When at the request of the Committee the transactions
of the fund were brought under the supervision of the High
Court of Justice in Chancery in 1877, it was not thought
necessary to publish any further annual reports, which the
committee had done for twenty years during which they
had administered the charity.

Under the order of the Court the assets then remaining at
their disposal were transferred to the Paymaster-General,
and the Committee continued to administer the income of
the fund; but this order did not in any way interfere with
the allowances granted to the several recipients, nor hinder
the due consideration by the committee of any applications
which from time to time might be brought before them.

On the 31st December, 1877, the securities and cash handed
over to the Paymaster-General amounted to £106,000, and
308 widows and other relations of officers, soldiers, and
civilians, who had been sufferers by the mutiny, were receiv-
ing annual allowances from the fund.

It may be of interest to those who remain, not only in the
United Kingdom, but in all the British Colonies and De-
pendencies in America, in France, Austria, Germany, Russia,
Holland and Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal,
Italy, Turkey, the Danubian Provinces, Greece, and Egypt,
who in 1857 so generously contributed to form this noble
fund, to learn its present position, and how its resources con-
tinue to be applied.

The original donations in 1857–58 amounted to £440,968
13s. 10d., to which has since been added £179,169 13s. 2d.,
which has accrued by interest on the investments, and profit
on sale of stock, making a total capital of £620,138 7s. to be
accounted for. Of this sum £535,379 8s. 4d. has been ex-
pendcd in donations and allowances to sufferers by the
mutiny, viz. : In the United Kingdom, £395,092 9s. 9d ; re-
mitted to India in relief, £140,286 18s. 7d. ; in administration,
viz., salaries, stationery, rent, law-costs, and miscellaneous
expenses, £26,375 13s. 4d. ; balance on the 31st December
last, with the Paymaster-General and Bank of England,
£58,383 5s. 4d. : the cost of administration during the thirty-
four years being about 5 per cent. on the above expenditure.

The annuitants on the fund having become considerably
reduced in number, an actuarial valuation of its liabilities
and assets was made in 1884, and it was then ascertained
that the funds in hand were more than sufficient to provide
life-annuities for all the recipients.

A scheme was then submitted to, and approved by the
Court, for distributing a portion of the surplus to other mili-
tary charities in need of assistance, which were considered to
be closely allied to the original purpose of the fund, and
£3,000 was so granted on the recommendation of the com-
mittee to the Royal School for Officers’ Daughters at Bath,
and the Cambridge Asylum for Soldiers’ Widows, the amount
being included in the above figures as part of the sum dis-
bursed in the United Kingdom.

The committee has been reinforced from time to time, to
fill the place of casualties by retirements or death, but it
consists mainly as before of military men and civilians who
have served in India, and they continue as heretofore to re-
gulate and administer the fund under the inspection and
approval of the Court of Chancery.

The number of annuitants still on the books, who are paid
every quarter, is—widows and other relations of officers
civil and military in the United Kingdom, 66 ; widows in
India and the colonies, 11 ; widows and other relations of
soldiers, seamen, and marines in the United Kingdom, 156 ;
widows in India and the colonies, 8 ; invalided and wounded
soldiers, 8 : total, 249.

Another calculation with respect to the liabilities and
assets of the fund was made in 1889 by the Actuary of the
London Life Association, which satisfied the committee that,
although there was no surplus, the money at their disposal
was sufficient to provide the annuitants with their present
allowances for the term of their natural lives.

I have, &c.,
G. B. TREMENHEERE,
Major-General, Chairman of the Committee.

———

Result of Poll for Proposed Loan, Waikohu Road Board,
County of Cook.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 21st June, 1892.

THE following notice, received from the Chairman of the
Waikohu Road Board, is published in accordance with
“The Local Bodies’ Loans Act, 1886.”

P. A. BUCKLEY.

———

WAIKOHU ROAD BOARD.

I HEREBY give notice of the result of a poll taken by this
Board on the 31st May, upon a proposal to borrow £120,
under “The Government Loans to Local Bodies Act, 1886,”
for the purpose of constructing a road within the Waihora
Special District.

Number of ratepayers on the roll, 1, capable of exercising
1 vote ; number who voted in favour of the proposal 1,
exercising 1 vote.

As all the ratepayers within the special district voted in
favour of the proposal, I declare it carried.

JAMES ORR,
Chairman.

14th June, 1892.

———

Special Order made by the Mongonui County Council.—
Merging the Victoria Valley Road District.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 22nd June, 1892.

THE following special order, made by the Mongonui
County Council, is published in accordance with “The
Counties Act, 1886.”

P. A. BUCKLEY.

———

SPECIAL ORDER.

THE following special order was made by the Mongonui
County Council on the 13th May, and confirmed on the 14th
June, 1892:—

That the Victoria Valley Road Board be dissolved, and the
Victoria Valley Road District be merged in the Mongonui
County, on and after the 30th June, 1892.

I certify that the above special order has been duly made.

W. J. HARRIS,
County Clerk.

County Office, Mongonui, 14th June, 1892.

———

Assessor of Native Land Court resigned.

Native Office,
Wellington, 18th June, 1892.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to ac-
cept the resignation by

HONE PARAONE TUNUIARANGI

of his appointment as an Assessor of the Native Land Court.

A. J. CADMAN.

———

Volunteer Officer resigned.

Defence Office,
Wellington, 15th June, 1892.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to ac-
cept the resignation of the commission held by the
under-mentioned officer :—

Canterbury Scottish Rifle Volunteers.

Captain Daniel Macbean. Date of resignation, 3rd June,
1892.

A. J. CADMAN,
For the Minister of Defence.