2322 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE No. 100

Again the trust continued its policy of making 3 district grants each of $15,000 and a regional grant of $10,000 to an organisation/s that serve the whole region. The trust allocated these grants to:

Buller District Council area—

• Karamea Aerodrome Inc ... 8,000
• Clarion Management Committee ... 3,500
• Royal NZ Plunket Society—Westport Branch ... 2,000
• Reefton Rotary Club ... 1,500

Grey District Council area—

• Greymouth High School ... 3,750
• West Coast Theatre Trust ... 2,250
• Order of St John—Greymouth area ... 2,000
• Greymouth Municipal Band ... 2,000
• Greymouth Heritage Trust ... 5,000

Westland District Council area—

• Hokitika Heritage Inc ... 3,750
• Hokitika Angling Club ... 3,750
• Hokitika Free Kindergarten ... 2,000
• Franz Josef Glacier School ... 1,000
• Carnegie Restoration Committee ... 3,000
• Whataroa Gym Club ... 1,500

West Coast Regional Grant—

• Cancer Society of NZ Canterbury/West Coast Division ... 2,500
• Order of St John, WC District Ambulance Service ... 2,500
• Life Education Trust ... 2,500
• Solid Energy International Sports Trust ... 2,000

To mark the tenth anniversary of the trust which occurs on 1 June 1998 it was agreed that a special award of a one off grant or grants of $10,000 be granted within each of our 3 district council areas.

The trustees took the opportunity of inspecting a number of projects which the trust had assisted throughout the past year.

Capital Investment

The trust again increased its capital from $4,238,104 to $4,432,972 at 31 March 1998, an increase for the year of $194,868, a result which, considering the low rates of interest, proved to be quite satisfactory.

The trust’s investments at the end of the financial year were realising rates of interest ranging from 7.75 percent to 9.70 percent with maturity dates varying from 2 May 1998 to 15 April 2007 at 31 March 1998. These investments lie with 5 different investment organisations as scheduled below.

Conference of Community Trusts

The trust was for the first time represented at the conference held in Napier on 6 and 7 November 1997 and in my report to the trust I found that the discussions on such matters as “Issues with Sporting Trusts”, “Funding NZ wide Organisations”, “Investment Strategy”, “Areas of Disadvantage”, “Trustee Remuneration”, “Trustee Liability Insurance”, “Taxation Issues” and other items on the agenda very interesting, especially an address by the Right Hon. Bill Birch. Mr Birch made it quite clear to conference that trusts must differentiate between charitable and non-charitable grants. As a result, the trust accepted the generous offer of 2 trustees from Trust Bank Southland Community Trust, Messrs Colin Ballantyne (Chairperson) and Warwick Cambridge (Trustee) to come up to Hokitika and discuss the matter of forming a sub trust. This meeting held on 20 March proved quite fruitful and the trust very much appreciated the willingness of Messrs Ballantyne and Cambridge to help us understand what is required of us in this regard.

Trust membership

This remained static at nine (9) members but the terms of Stanley Dawson, Margaaret Moir and James Keenan expire on 31 May 1998 and the trust has recommended to the Minister of Finance that all of the above trustees be reappointed. I have, however, indicated to Mr Birch that I did not wish to continue as chairperson in view of my 9 year term in that role and the trust recommended Margaret Moir and Jan Coll for consideration as my replacement as chairperson.

Meetings

Although other trusts hold regular monthly meetings, this trust in the interest of economy continued to hold quarterly meetings. These were held at Shantytown, Hokitika, Greymouth and Reefton whilst the public meeting was held at Hokitika.