The papers of Monday published a letter from Mr. Balfour
on the administration of the Prince of Wales's Fund. Mr. Balfour contradicts two errors which are curiously prevalent. The first is that no money is to be expended on the relief of civil as distinguished from military distress, and the second is that in cases of civil distress no relief is to be given to women. Naturally women are among the first to be cared for by the Executive Committee. Mr. Balfour then meets the complaint that there has been dilatoriness in the administration of the Fund. He points out that the Committee could not wait to bring complete new machinery into existence. It had to work as far as possible through existing organizations, while main- taining the idea of a Central Fund. A Central Fund is desirable since it diminishes overlapping. On the military side of the work, the Royal Patriotic Fund and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association have been freely financed, but it was only to be expected that the sudden enormous strain thrown on the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Associa- tion, which is a voluntary organization, found it to some extent unprepared.
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