The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1886. STARVED TO DEATH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1352, 27 September 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prevalebit MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1886. STARVED TO DEATH.

Happily, the circumstance of a fellow-creature perishing for lack of frod is one almost unknown within the bounds of the colony, and the case of the unfortunate man Ward, whose body was found the other day on the beach at Island Bay, is almost the first, if not the first, of its kind. The pitiful story of that unfortunate, as published in our columns a day or two ago, will have evoked feelings of mingled sorrow and surprise—sorrow for the sufferings of the man himself and those of his family, and surprise that such privations as they have undergone should have been experienced in the capital city of New Zealand, and that no hand should have been outstretched to rescue the perishing. And persons at a distance —our friends at Home, for example—who read the sad story reprinted, as it doubtless will be, from New Zealand files, will be in danger of supposing that the colony must be in exceedingly bad case if already it be possible lor any of its inhabitants to perish for lack of bread. It may therefore be well to explain that Ward was by no means a victim to the inevitable, but simply to a mistaken feeling of pride, which by concealing his and his family’s need prevented their receiving that succor which would have been speedily and liberally afforded had their sad circumstances been known. It is quite true that in our centres of population, as is the case in every other part of the world also, there is from time to time a proportion of the popu'aticn unable to obtain employment, but it is not true that any one of these is in any danger of starvation, the organisations of public charity being always ready and willing to assist any genuine case of . distress, while also private benevolence freely responds to every call from the sick and suffering. But neither public nor private aid can be afforded unless the need for that aid be made known, and it is but the truth to say, though it may sound somewhat harsh, that the sufferings endured by Ward and his family were, therefore, to be traced to his own fault, and that in a sense he was responsible for the loss of his own life. For he had but to make known that he and they were in want of food for food to be provided freely, and although the feeling of proud independence is one which cannot be too much admired, there is a point beyond which it may not be pushed without incurring blame. For the independence that chooses death by starvation for self and little ones rather than accept help from those who are not only able and willing to give it, but whose duty it is to give it, is a vice and not a virtue. Even in the most prosperous times in every community misfortune and sickness will occasionally bring some of its members into sore straits, and when trouble of this sort comes, arising from no fault on the part of those upon i whom it falls, no disgrace whatever attaches to accepting the helping hand stretched out bythosewho are in happier j case; while as regards public charities j help may be not only accepted from , these without any feeling of shame, but , may be claimed as a right. For it is ■ precisely to meet such cases as these ‘ that those charities exist, and as they are largely maintained out of Slate funds, they have been contributed to in their degree by those who require their help, and, therefore, those who in their distress are aided by them have a right ( to that aid, because it is provided out t of funds which in their good times they have helped to create. Had the v poor fellow whose sad case has called «

forth these remarks but reflected thus he would assuredly have been alive and well at this moment, instead of lying down to die on the sands of Island Bay; he would have saved his family from suffering and bereavement, and the community among whom he lived from undeserved reproach.