"May Scrape Through" Says Poole to Finance Committee

Maintenance for the Gym. this year will amount to about £30-£40. and will probably increase in time. The men's common room is urgently in need of a complete repainting and installation of additional furniture, now too inadequate for the number of students. The men's common room would require an expenditure of £50 to make it habitable; some or this the Council may meet. The women's common room have about £15 in their funds, and may require more.

The time has come for the evolution of a policy to be followed in making club grants. Is the Association to be the fairy godmother to all clubs? In my opinion it is time that the clubs did something to help themselves financially and not rely on the Association to foot inflated applications for grants. However, that is only my opinion and need not concern members of the Committee other than this year's Finance Committee to formulate a comprehensive financial policy.

We should also consider under this heading our policy towards subsidies for the Winter Tournament this year and the Easter Tournament next year. The maximum subsidy per person the Executive can make is £2, but this figure will certainly not he granted. Nevertheless, we will have approximately. 60 players going to Dunedin this year and will also have to foot our contribution towards the legitimate Tournament expenses other than entertainment, which is met by Otago. Also are we to supply our representatives with representative badges? The Faster Tournament ones were given to the representatives at a charge of 10/- each.

Medical Scheme.—As it would seem that we can expect no contribution from the Council, we will be unable to institute a compulsory medical scheme by reason of the excessive cost. If as the Medical Scheme Committee suggests, the scheme can only be curried on voluntarily, then how much will this cost?

Building Fund.—In the last few years approximately £1,000 per year has been added to the Building Fund, and while this is satisfactory, even larger sums will need to be added to increase more rapidly the size of the Building Fund. While it is not our province to discuss the ways and means for raising funds, we should nevertheless be prepared to foot some substantial cost to raise sufficient to erect the building.

These are indications of the problems facing the Executive on the financial side, and for my part I cannot see how we can keep our head above water without raising the Students' Association fee. It might be possible to scrape through this year, but next year our financial problems will be to easier nor the time any more opportune, for raising the Students' Association fee.