THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.

Evening Star, Issue 4049, 17 February 1876, Page 3

THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION.

I The following Teport was submitted at the 'annual meeting of the above Institution this •afternoon:— -r

THE INSTITUTE'S OBJBCTS-i-HOW CARRIED OUT. .The Secretary, Mr Quin, is authorised to relieve with promptitude, and to,the best of his judgment, all urgent and deserving, coses of distress that may be brought under his notice; but these and all other claims are fully considered and disposed of by the Committeo at their weekly meetings. Every possible effort is made to ensure that sufficient aid, in a suitable form, is bestowed on all who are really in need of it, and every precaution is adopted to [prevent any portion of the funds entrusted to ithe Committee from being expended in such -a manner as to encourage 'laziness, improvidence, or misconduct., The Committee fully [recognise the necessity of guarding most vigilantly against doing anything that would tend towards the, formation of a class 6? permanent or hereditary Eaupers, and also against the possibility of the lstitution being tho means of. leading anyone to calculate on receiving assistance, and thus to indulge the more, freely in idle and thriftless . habits. Except in the cased of the aged and the permanently disabled, tho utmost care is taken to secure that the relief granted is of as temporary a character as possible, the Committee believing that ; the poor are best served by being raised out of their poverty, and not by being nursed in it.

IK-DOOE EEUEP. For several years after the erection of the build. ins at Caversbam, it was occupied almost solely by children, there being Bcarcely any resident adults. For example, on the 31' st' December, 1868, there were 63 children and only five adults resident in the Institution. Since the opening of the Industrial School in January, 1869, the necessity for receiving orphan and destitute children as inmates of the Benevolent Institution has'been done away with in a great measure, and consequently the number of such on the booksbas been gradually diminishing, while the building has been'more and more devoted I to its original purpose, viz., an asylum for the aged and infirm poor. On the 31st December last the number of resident ehildien had been reduced to 37,.being 26 fewer than at the correspQndia» AtK~T I 1868, while the adult inmates ha 4 to 41 during the same period. • The -„ ? ve ! of inmates In theTutUutit- E3nJ?S?l Il ? al>Br The Committee desire it to be distinctly understood that it was only the extreme pressure of 08 *^ 0 * **<*!* W*«f *ae rVption of children into the v lbßtitution, and pf>te fe> it to be their imperative* & to «££ the admissions to toeiiged; and infirm/Cases do the Committaeto aasWt in maintaining orphan and other poor children; hut in all such iust wcVb they

| deem *T to be much the wiser course to join in an | arrangement whereby the children may he placed £2? S Sw able ? amilies - ■■The Committee greatly regret that owing to the. want of ouitablo and sufficient accommodation at the Industrial School, tne authorities are at present compelled to place orphan and deserted children, as yet uneontaniinated by crime along with boys and girls of vicious and depraved habits. The Committee believe tbnt a system of boarding out children of the former class with honest and respectable families is greatlv preferable to that of collecting- them into one lar4 institution, however well Conducted. But as such a course seems to bo at present impossible, especially in the case of children who ave too yomi" for work, it is extremely necessary that the Governmeat should take immediate steps for providum a separate and distinct department of the Industrial acttoplfortho reception and traiuiug of children free from the criminal taiut.

H-IEaiTIMATE CnitDREK. •The committee have sometimes been much pressed to receive illefritimato children into the Institution, but they have felt it to be their clear duty to decline doing so. They have never refused to assist temporarily, when absolutely necessary, the untortxinato mothers of such childron, when they have given satisfactory evidence of their desire to do well, and to earn an' honorable maintenance for themselves and their children.. They consider. However, that it would be extremely unwise to aaopt any course which would lead persons of this' description to calculate on getting easily rid of the consequences of their folly and sin.

, ADULT AND JDVENILB INMATES. applications on the part of adults for nd-nis-fiion to the Institution have largely increased the number admitted during the year being 28 males ana 16 females. One male and one female were removed to the Lunatic Asylum. Ten males and five remales left of their, own accord, after longer or shorter periods of residence; and four males were expelled for breaches of the regulations. One male and one female died in the Institution. ■ The total aumber of adnlt iumates on the 31st December last was: —Males, 31; females, 10. Eight boys an<J four girls were placed at service during the year; and six boys and three girls were taken out by their friends. Good accounts continue to be .received respecting the children placed out by the Committee. The total •number of children in the Institution at the close of the year was—Boys, 19; girls, 18. Miss Wilson continues to perform her duties as teacher with her wonted fidelity and success.

BEHGIOCS INSTKUCTIOX. .Ihereligious instruction of the Vrotestant in. mates has been attended to by Mr MoFie-with his usual zeal and ability. w ™

: OUr-DOOR UELIEF. _ln almost every case, the out-door relief is bestowed in the shape of food, clothing, fuel, and house rent, money being very rarely or never flTi M 1 2 lght |K expected, the forms of distress and destitution which claim the attention of the Uommittee are numerous and varied. It must be borne in mind that as a rule the aid given by the 7~ mm * °I ? tem Porary character, and that the amount granted is seldom of itself sufficient for the entire maintenance of the individual or family reC ?i Vm? l t - mosfc instances, the recipients are able to do more or less towards their own maintenance, and all they usually need is a little aid, in the form of house-rent or food, for a shorter or longer period, to help them oloug. or to tide them over a temporary illness or other difliculty;

■ CHARACTER OP THE RECIPIENTS. . The Committee feel bound to say that although too large an amount of want and suffering is caused by the misconduct of the applicants themselves or of those who are bound by law and nature to nro. vide for them, yet by far the greater number o! cases coming under their notice are the results of sheer misfortune, or of causes over which the suf ferers themselves and their connections have been able to exercise little or no control. For examule there were on the books at the close of laft voir' 47 widows, with an aggregate of 200 chilOrpn denenl dent on them, and in not a few of thaso cases the fathers never had an opportunity in this coiuitvv of making any provision for their widoT,-B and children Tbe Committee consider it due to many of these" widows to bear testimony to tha brave manner in which they are. striving honestly to maintain themselves and theu- children, sometimes with the very slightest assistance from the fuuds of the Institution. < CAUSES OP DESTITUTION. .Among the causes of destitution may be menttoned the following :—Accidents, old age and debi-, lity, the sickness or death of the head of the household, the dl-health of the applicant, the impossibility of obtairing work, especially on the part of newly-amved immigrants, owiug chiefly to the wet weather which prevailed during a great portion of the winter, spring, ani early summer months and in some cases the imprisonment of the husband and father for a breach- of the criminal law. But there are two causes of destitution which are yearly increasing to an alarming and disgraceful extent, and to which the Committee, not for the first time, desire to direct special attention. The first is the frcqr.ont desertion of wives and families, in most cases by lazy or drunken husbands, and not unfrequently by recent arrivals whe leave their families, ostensibly for the purl pose of seeking work " up-conntry." It will scarcely be credited that applications for relief , e ,£? en .?S ceive 4 duvin S the year from 31 women and 123 children who had been thus deserted. It is evident that this is a matter which calls loudly for legislation. The »ther cause referred to is intemperance. The Committee are frequently placed in a position of very great difficulty, in dealing with poisons of hoth sexes whose poverty and inability to obtain a Uvlihood are clearly traceable to intern, peratehabits often of long continuance. Such persons are, as a rule, utterly incapable of taking car e of themselves, or of making a proper use of anything they might receive from the committee ; while at the same time it is impossible, for obvious reasons, to admit them into the Institution. The committee would strongly and urgently plead for the erection of an asylum for all such inebriates, where they could be saved from themselves and their own weaknesses, and at the same tima bo made to contribute largely towards their own support.

EXPENDITURE. The amount expended during the past year on out-door relief was L1.66715s Bd, of which the sum of L42713s 6d was.paid for The num. ber of persons thus relieved averaged 98 weekly The total number aided during the year was—Adult males, 87; adult females, 292; and children 832

SCARCITY OF HOUSES. One source of considerable perplexity and dimculty has been the absolute dearth of houses suitable for the class of persons whose cases usually come under the notice of the Committee. Not only are houses of any kind exceedingly scarce, hut many of the dwellings within reach of the means of the poor, and even number of the industrial classes, ore of a very inferior and unsuitable description The rents even for these are extremely high and they are not unfrequently situated in very undesirable localities. It is very difficult to suggest a remedy for this deplorable Btate of matters, which is undoubtedly one of the most fertile sources of moral and social degradation. The Committee can only strongly and earnestly urge the consideration of this matter upon all who feel interested in the welfare of the people. (To be continued.)