£5000 Income Exceeded : £500 a Month Now Being Expended.
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. We have to record, with renewed thanks to supporters of this -journal in all parts of the world, the fact that the total of donations to our " Campaign Comforts "Fund.for the M.T. Columns of the Army Service Corps this Week reached—and exe-eededthe £5000 -.stage. We first .announced the establishment of this Fundlin'ouriesue of the 22nd_ October last, and we _have now to note the date on which the £5000 stage. waS completed as Monday, the 5th July. We have, therefore, 'required. 216 Working days, exclusive Of Sundays and holidays, to reach 15000, or, rather, slightly to exceed it.. The rate Of access of income has _averaged approximately £23 per week-day. This result is one which we neither anticipated nor foresaw eight *months ago, but all Our readers will .agree that the successful orgdniza, Con and administration of the Fund has -brought its own reward by cieWning our efforts with so marked a degree of success.
The cause for which we work is a good one. The sending out of extra comforts to the officers and men of the M.T. Colunms of the Army Service Corps, bothin France and Turkey, is no mean undertaking. It makes a definite and continuous call upon the services of our staff, the whole Willingly given on a voluntary basis. Our pages have, week by week in the earlier stages and less frequently of late, conveyed to our supporters the exact data on both the revenue and expenditure sides, whilst the income and expenditure account, duly certified by the honorary auditors, Messrs. E. Bishop. a.nd. Co., ..Chartered Accountants, of 106, A22 Jermyn Street, W., is available to the 25th March last.' Any donor can have a copy.
We have been instructed by the Secretary of State for War not to disclose the actual strength of the A.S.C., M.T., Columns, and we have undertaken to be content for all future time to refer to that:strength as " something in exceSS.of 20,000." The extent of the excess is--a matter of no small concern to ua, in relation to our Fund and the. demands that fall upon it. They are, at the moment, responsible for an expenditure of approximately 1500 per month, and the fact that we are still in a position, from the funds in hand, to-Carry on until the middle of September; whilst we announce it without reserve, does not in any way, solace us in respect of probable requirements during the winter -of 1015-1916..
We are not asking for more money just yet.
There is no occasion to do so. Our reserves of cash against commitments and fresh requisitions are sufficient for the time being, as stated, and especially so if we reckon, as we believe we may, upon regular additional contributions from the A.S.C., M.T., Depots at Grove Park, Bulford and Aldershot. The thoroughness with which the chiefs of the A.S.C., 3.4.T., have co-operated with us in the matter of our Fund is testified by the high share which they have borne of the requirements to date. The money from theniaggregates no less than 1:455. When we add to this sum the, aggregate of 25 individual donations of .E50 each, it will be seen that more than half of our 15000 is derived from these stated sources. We have analysed the other donations, and they indicate the widespread, nay, the almost-universal, character of the support which we have received from tha motor industry at large, inclusive of important representatives of the private-car industry. This result, of course, is admittedly in part due to the valued publicity which has been accorded to us by our sister journal " The Motor." We .acknowledge. all such helpas willingly as we do the free and generous notices in contemporaries of all typos during the month of February last, about which time the Central Campaign Comforts Fund for the A.S.C., M.T., for the organization and control of which we have been responsible, began to emerge as one of the successful and properly conducted funds of the present war.
It will be agreed, on all sides, we are firmly convinced, that the work to which we put our hands eight months ago cannot be abandoned. Summer 'comforts are necessary, as our correspondence with more than 150 officers at. the Fronts proves, but it is the imageryof winter discomfort that makes the strongest appeal at home amongst those who have been unable to take active. service. The men of the A.S.C., M.T., deserve, in our sincere opinion, despite efforts to discredit them, not less than the Measure of consideration and keeping in mind which, through us, so many of their friends, and not least of all the members of the Ladies Committee, have been able to show.
We wrote with satis,fa-3tion when we completed the £1000 stage, and we ha.ve kept relative silence, during the interval, while completing the £.5000 stage. Who shall say what may he necessary to see this Matter through to a finish? Let that be what it may, we intend to do our share, relying on the support of these wha have helped, both by money and services, 'since October last.