faulogo chinese textFAU China Convoy Reunion Group

FAU

World War I
World War II

Selection and Training
Membership
Funding


Post World War II
Funding

Funding for the Unit came from a variety of sources, with significant contributions made by individual Friends and others in response to appeals issued through The Friend and elsewhere. Between 1939 and 1946 a total of £393,000 was raised of which £192,000 came from private subscriptions. A separate appeal and fund was established to fund the work of the China Convoy, raising £192,000 up to 1946. This, like the membership of the Convoy itself, was boosted by significant international contributions, notably from America and Canada.

Funding was used to purchase supplies trucked or flown in to China, while local running costs were largely met through contracts established with the Chinese National Health Administration, the Army Medical Service, Chinese Red Cross and the International Red Cross (later renamed the International Relief Committee) for the transport and distribution of medical supplies. These contracts were based on a tonne/km rate and this income almost kept step with the rocketing Chinese wartime inflation. By 1945 the bill for a new garage at Lushien was CN$ 5m which at official exchange rates equated to £400,000.

Unit members received an allowance of 25 shillings per month from central FAU funds and their subsistence in terms of food and shelter. This compares with the average wage at the time in Britain for a miner of £3 10 shillings per week or the 2s/6d per day of a newly enlisted private soldier.

In each section of the FAU the practice was soon established that all private resources of members would be pooled and then divided between the members of each unit. This was most closely observed by the members of the China Convoy and a few members were able to contribute from salaries and wages which their pre-war employers continued to maintain despite their absence.