Makan – No. 71
1st October, 1952

Official Organ of the 2/30th Bn. A.I.F. Assn

COMMITTEE

Dear Dig,

We will be very interested to hear from any of our members who applied for relief to the special £250,000 fund set up by the present Government, as to whether their claims were rejected or accepted. We have to hand our first letter on this subject from one of our chaps, a very worthwhile character too, whose claim has been rejected. This chap is sufficiently incapacitated to receive a full pension and is not very well blessed with his share of this world's goods.

You may have noticed that one of the items which was 'brought forward at the last R.S.L. Conference was a motion that the provisions governing the Canteens Trust Fund should be altered in order that a more liberal distribution of this money should be made.

Last month, the "Old Man" went to Mackay in North Queensland at the invitation of the local ex 8th Division personnel there. It was apparently, a very successful turnout for everyone and he renewed acquaintance with about 70 people, most of them from the 2/10th and the 2/26th, also members from other units including one from Timor. During his weekend there, the "Old Man" addressed the local R.S.L., the local branch of Legacy,  and was the guest of honour on the Sunday at the local Golf Club, which was having its annual Diggers’ Day. On the way down, he was entertained at Brisbane for the short period while the plane was there and renewed acquaintance with Stuart Peach, Vic Gordon, Hec Chalmers and Sid Graves. Sid Graves, you might remember, was our first adjutant at Tamworth. Although this little meeting was organised by Col. O'Donnell, Colin himself was unable to be present and his father was ill enough to necessitate him making a rushed trip to Sydney.

A few weeks ago we were most interested to receive a call from a gentleman who calls himself "Mr, Hollis" requesting assistance. We ere not familiar with the name, although he assured us that he was from "C" Coy. and appeared to know many members of the Unit. Reg Ellis rang at least six people of "C" Coy, to enquire whether they knew of this character. These enquiries came to no avail and, as a last resort, he rang Porky Evans, who is reputed to know 95% of the Unit by both Christian and Surnames. Porky regretted that he was unable to help and so Reg, who was doing all this by phone, sent the chap to Jimmy Cooper. Jimmy immediately recognised the gentleman as being our former confidence man and although I am unable to tell you his name, you may gain a clue from the words of that popular song, "China Town". The effrontery of this character in giving an assumed name to people who have known him for ten years was too good to keep to ourselves. When we told Porky Evans, he stated that, although he is very familiar with all the original names of our members, he has not yet begun on aliases and does not intend to start now. Perhaps the only person who would have been able to cope with such a situation would have been Joe Carew.

Don Schumacher of Newcastle has recently come out of hospital, where he has been suffering from ill health due to war service.

You will be pleased to note that we must congratulate John Haskins, of Oberon and his wife on the birth of a cute little daughter, Penelope Anne.

Ron Foster, from whom we hear quite often, wrote to us from the Cavalry Club, London, to tell us that he was just off to Cannes for two weeks of sunshine and beautiful women.

The Association extends its sympathy to Ray Duncombe on the recent bereavement in his family.

3/- per day

The reason for the delay in the receipt of the first payment of approximately £32 apparently rests with the Government.. The cash is ready but cannot be distributed until a special Act is passed by Parliament authorising the distribution. However, the delay of a few more weeks on monies which should have been paid years ago will not worry anyone unduly. There is one matter which has prompted some members to write us for information and that is whether any future payment will be made other than the £32, You recall that there has been talk of a second payment, of approximately £30-£36, this money apparently coming from Japanese assets held outside Japan. It is said that this second amount of cash would de distributed by the International Red Cross (bleak smile. from ex 8th Division). Well the best person perhaps in Australia to speak on this subject is the Prime Minister himself and this is what he said recently in Parliament:

Excerpt from Hansard No. 13

Australian Prisoners of War

Question asked by Mr. Falkinder, answered by the Right Honourable Prime Minister:

Q. "The Prime Minister indicated in answer to a question yesterday that money now held in the form of Japanese assets would be distributed amongst former prisoners of war of

the Japanese after an amendment of the Trading with the Enemy Act had been made. Can the right honourable gentleman yet say when a distribution of funds will be made under the terms of the Japanese Peace Treaty, in accordance with which the International Red Cross will distribute the remaining moneys to former prisoners of war of the Japanese?"

A. "I realise that the honourable member's question relates to what might be called the second portion of this problem. I regret that I am not in a position, offhand, to tell him of the latest developments in connection with this matter, but I shall make enquiries as soon as possible and advise him of the result."

As to whether we will ever receive the full £190 is a matter of opinion and your opinion is as good as the next Man's, but it does appear to be wishful thinking now to expect to receive this sum.

ANNUAL REUNION

Our 7th Annual Reunion will be held in the Drill Hall of the St :George Regiment at Arncliffe on Friday night, 21st November, commencing at 8 p.m. This year we will not be providing supper, other than cheese and biscuits (plenty of these) so you should have your tea before you arrive. There will be lots of beer and lots of good fellows so try to make this reunion our biggest yet. Last year the reunion at this Drill Hall was one of our most successful to date and the numbers present had only been exceeded on one other occasion. If any country or interstate members intend to be present, would they please write to Reg Ellis as soon as possible, giving the date of their arrival and departure. If it is possible, we hope to make our interstate and country visitors very welcome this year by providing entertainment for them on the Saturday and Sunday following the reunion.

In answer to our paragraph about the copy of the "Unit History" required by the British War Museum, we can tell you that Alf Lammacraft's mother has generously donated her copy for this purpose. This is a very nice gesture on the part of Mrs. Lamacraft and the copy will be forwarded to London in due course.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

We request you, on receipt of this MAKAN, to glance at the end of the letter and note whether you have received a renewal notice. About 40 of you will have received such a request and we ask you to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! We are running our Association on a shoestring and cannot carry on unless subscriptions are paid. Please make the effort and post in your subscription for 1 or 2 Years.......TODAY!

Please send all cheques, money orders and postal notes to Reg Ellis, Hunters Hill.

Cheerio,

STAN ARNEIL

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