The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1883. A Good Cause.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 833, 4 January 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1883. A Good Cause.

One of the advantages that those who live in the colonies have over the inhabitants of older countries is that they are not brought face to lace with abject poverty. Now and then, indeed, we hear of applications being made to the police court or to some benevolent institution for relief, but such occurrences are rare, and a v e due either to temporary embarrassment or to the heartless desertion of a husband or father. In England, on the other hand, there is a vast class to be found in all the large cities, consisting of people who live from hand to mouth, never knowing, where the next day’s meal is to come from. It must have been a cause for wonder to anyone who has lived in London how these people manage to exist. And yet they not only contrive to live, but they also multiply, and the problem of how to deal with this fast increasing class is growing more difficult of solution every day. It is not difficult to foretell what will be the future career of a child who is born in an atmosphere of crime, and whose education is a matter of utter indifference to its parents. There are thousands of children of this kind in England, and it is from their ranks that criminals spring. It is easy enough for the moralist to deplore such a state of things, but the true philanthropist is he who will not only preach but will also do his best to remedy the evil. This evening a lecture will be delivered in Ashburton by the Rev. Dr. T. Bowman Stephenson, whose name is identified with one of the noblest institutions in Great Britain —the Children’s Home. A very few words will suffice to make people understand what is the nature of this Home.. Some few years ago it was started in a very humble way, a small house being secured, capable of accommodating twenty lads, who had been rescued from the streets. The good work that had been inaugurated by Dr Stephenson was recognised, and funds came in rapidly, and at the present time there are now no less than five branches of the institution, including an emigration branch at Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and a seaside branch in the Isle of Man. Dr Stephenson has been lecturing throughout Australia for the purpose of augmenting the funds of the institution, and wherever he has spoken great interest has been shown, and a large number of subscriptions received and promised. The proverb that “ charity begins at home ” is too often made an excuse for mere niggardliness, but this is a cause towards which everyone should contribute according to his power. If we in New Zealand do not know the terrors of abject poverty, we can still do something to lighten the burden of those whose lives are spent in less favorable places, and it is to be hoped, for our own credit, that Dr Stephenson will take away from Ashburton an appreciable addition to the funds of the institution of which

he was the founder and is thi©' head. ' -