Christmas Cheer.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20101, 3 December 1930, Page 10

Christmas Cheer.

We print to-day a statement issued by the Mayor after yesterday's conference of representatives of local organisations interested in procuring and distributing comforts for Christmas. If this meeting had been called for the purpose of "roping in" organisations which have in the past preferred to do their work in their own wmj it would not bav* been poa-

sible to be enthusiastic about it. But the conference really affirmed the principle that, benevolence should work in its own way, though it qualified this in practice by adopting a plan intended to restrain what was termed "over- " lapping." Such a restraint is of course perfectly proper when applied to official or quasi-official charity which is designed to provide uniform and regulated •elief, but its application to private **tfni*»"lence excicisod for a special j>uiposi'j especially such a puipose as chat before yesterday's" meeting, can only be defended when, without it,°'some would be well provided for and others get nothing. Ihe decision of the conference to appoint a committee to act as a " clearing house " and to assist in co-ordinating the different efforts will certainly help to bring about ii better distribution oi benefits. There is a risk, however, thai private benevolence may be discouraged if the impression is given that everything has to be done through official channels, and if the amount of overlapping is very small, as seems to be the case, it might perhaps have been better to let well alone. Organisations such as the Rotary Club, the Savage Club, Masonic Lodges, and other Friendly Societies have been distributing Christmas benevolence for many years, and should be left undisturbed to continue that work in their own way if they wish.