The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1874.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 116, 14 October 1874, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1874.

The feelings of those who, like ourselves, have been accustomed to look upon the Christchurch City Council as theincarnationof wisdom, good management, and careful supervision, must have received a shock at the revelations, almost indeed amounting to charges, made by his Worship the Mayor at the meeting on Monday last. As the gravamen of these charges is under the consideration of the Council, and therefore to some extent sub judice , we shall endeavour to be as general as possible in speaking upon this part of the question ; dealing with it rather upon the broad grounds of the absence of that due supervision by the Council over the expenditure of the ratepayers’ money, which in their interests wo consider is absolutely necessary. Who is to blame in this particular matter is somewhat difficult to decide; but this much is certain, that payments have been made on account of horse feed, ostensibly checked, and examined by some one in authority, but which duty, from the statements of his Worship the Mayor, appears to say the least of it, to have been performed so perfunctorily as to give rise to surmises that the ratepayer’s money has been expended in a way, and to an extent, quite unwarranted. Not only this, but his Worship stated in the plainest possible terms that he had called attention, some time ago, to the large amounts being paid for this item of the Council’s expenditure, but without any information being obtained by those whose duty it was to do so as to the reason. The work’s committee, it is true, marked on the book in which the entries appeared a query, why so large an amount had been expended during that particular quarter, but no information was afforded, and they appear to have rested content with having done this. This quarter it appears, that with an extra horse to provide for, the same amount of work to be done, and oats from Is per bushel dearer, the feed account is some £9 less. Naturally this state of things provokedinquiry, and his Worship only did his duty in bringing the matter before the Council; had he not done so, the account would have passed without remark, and the present system of so called supervision—which in reality is no supervision at all— W ould have continued. It may be considered that this is but a small matter, and perhaps it is, but it shows a laxity in dealing with the affairs of the city, which we should hardly have expected to find in bhe City Council.

So far as can be ascertained, the manner of obtaining supplies has been and still is—for the men in charge of the horses to go to the contractor with their feed books, order what they want, which is debited to the Council, and then the books, when the quarter» account comes in, are examined as a -heck against the account. In some instances we believe the order has been given verbally, and of course no record exists. This appears to us to be a very unsatisfactory state of things unsatisfactory alike to the meu employed by the Council and to the Council itself, furnishing as it does, no reliable data whereon to enable those upon whom the duty of passing the accounts devolves, to see whether or not the amount of feed obtained was actually necessary, and preventing them having that salutary check over the expenditure of public money which they ought to possess. But not only is this the case, but a divided opinion exists as to whose duty it really is to certify to the correctness of accounts of this nature. The finance committee will have none of it, Cr Eaphael indignantly repudiating the idea of the finance committee playing the part of detectives, whilst unaer present circumstances, the ratepayers may be mulcted of a large proportion of the rates, without any one knowing how the money has been spent, or whether value received has been given for it. We trust that in larger matters a more complete supervision obtains, for if not, the sooner some change is made the better. It is all very well for irate councillors to complain of injustice done to them by the papers, and affect to sneer at what they are pleased to call “ penny rags,” but it is the duty of public journalists, quite irrespective of the price charged for their paper, to fairly and honestly comment on the actions of those charged with the adraistration of municipal affairs —and this we shall always do, despite the sneers alluded to. That cause exists for this being done is evident from what has taken place, and the statement of his Worship only shows the necessity there is for requiring, on the part of those whose duty it is to supervise the expenditure of the ratepayers’ money, that they shall discharge that duty thoroughly, which certainly does not appear to have been the case in the present instance. The enquiry about to be instituted by the Council will, we trust, result in a change being made in the present system, and the institution in the place thereof of one whereby the representatives of the citizens will be able to see that a large expenditure of money does not take place, without some information being afforded as to the reason.

Following up and extending their scheme of insurance, the Government have projected a new branch more particularly affecting the working classes. It is intended to apply to members of any Friendly Society registered under the Act, the members of which, to a very great extent at least, are working men and mechanics. Before pro' ceeding to detail the working of the scheme, it may at once be said that the Government do not in any way clash with existing benefit societies; they co-operate with them in their good work, and carry out the principle of assuring a benefit to those joining, much further than the societies can possibly go, and herein we conceive is the suitability of the Government scheme to the wants and needs of the working classes. This will be more apparent when we come to consider the payments necessary to be made to entitle any one to the benefit of an Industrial Insurance policy-benefits which can be secured either for wife and family, or for relatives, at the option of the insurer. While these payments are so trifling in amount as to be well within the reach of all, the benefits to be derived are of a substantial nature, and thus, besides encouraging thrift and providence in the working c 1 asses, the Government places at their disposal a means whereby, when the bread-winner of the household is removed, those dependent upon him are placed at least above want. The great good done by such organisations as the Oddfellows’, Foresters’, and kindred societies no one will dispute, and every credit is due to them ; but we will put the case plainly, so that it can be easily understood by all—so as to show how the industrial scheme comes in to supplement their efforts. A member of a friendly society falls sick, and receives the usual allowance from his lodge, together with the doctor's attendance. Though far below what he could earn were he in health, the money is of great assistance—indeed, of vital importance—to his family. The man dies, and the funeral donation paid to the widow —only enough, under the absurd custom which prevails in this respect, to bury him decently and provide mourning—there ends any help to her so far as the society is concerned. But, supposing the man has joined this industrial scheme, and, being aged forty, has paid one shilling weekly, his widow will be entitled to receive £6O, provided he has paid for twelve months ; if he dies within that time she will receive half that sum. The highest rate of weekly contributions under

the scheme is 3s, the largest amount payable to the assured being restricted to within £IOO. The conditions of the issue of policies are very simple: any person wishing to insure fills up a form of proposal supplied by the agent, by whom the proposer is referred to the medical officer. After the report of the medical officer has been forwarded to the commissioner he gives notice of acceptance to the proposed assurer, and five days after receipt of this the first weekly premium, according to age, must be ppid, when the policy will be delivered to him by the agent of the town or country district in which he resides, and thenceforth he must weekly pay to the agent the premium under which he has been accepted. If the weekly payments are allowed to fall in arrear over five days the policy becomes void, but can be revived within twelve months, on proof of health and payment of arrears, together with a small fine. No medical fees or postages are required to be paid in connection with the scheme by the assurred. Such in brief are the provisions—or at any rate the material portion of them—of the scheme, and we may say that it is likely to be largely taken advantage of by members of existing Friendly Societies under the Act. and others who intend bringing themselves under its provisions. Mr Donaldson, the Government agent here, has brought the matter under the notice of the numerous lodges of Good Templars, and it is more than likely that they will endeavor to register under the Act so as to ensure to their members the benefits of the scheme. The object of the Government being to co-operate with and extend the operations of the Friendly Societies, we hope the larger and more influential of these, such as the Oddfellows and Foresters, will take the matter into serious consideration, because they are the persons who will reap the benefit. The lodge, as we have said, pays the doctor, and provides a sum of money for interment, but there is a want for further assistance in 99 cases out of 100. The widow wants some money wherewith to continue to educate her children, and provide for their and her maintenance, because it must be recollected the source of the household income has stopped, and therefore the family is thrown upon its own resources, often slender enough, and barely sufficient to prevent actual privation. This want the scheme supplies. Under it the family have a certain amount of ready money to fall back upon in the time of their greatest need, and it probably forms the nucleus of a small business for the widow, thus enabling her to bring up her children in respectability and comfort. For all these and many other cogent reasons which we could enumerate, it seems to us that the scheme is one admirably suited to the wants of our industrial population, and one which deserves at their hands the heartiest possible support.