The Globe. WEDNESDAY JUNE 26, 1878.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1362, 26 June 1878, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY JUNE 26, 1878.

It is very evident that the Government are most anxious to rid themselves of Charitable Aid on tho 30th of the month, no matter what the consequences may be. Wo learn from tho correspondence which was read at the meeting of the City Council on Monday evening, that the Government do not intend to expend less than it has hitherto done upon Charitable Aid. " but it is desirous of decentralising the ' administration of what can only bo done effectively and with discrimination on tho spot." Ministers also have a dread, it would appear, of " creating a trade of pauperism," and so require the local bodies to fix the amount that is really required to relieve misfortune. The Government is therefore prepared to hand over monthly, till the organization is completed and tho subsidies are accurately computed, one-twelfth of the gross sum expended in the provincial district this year in Charitable Aid. This surn it is proposed to pay to tho Mayor of Christchureh, or such person as the local bodies may select. Now wiry this apparent liberality? Why this eagerness to persuade the local bodies to undertake fho work of management? We know of course flat by the Financial Arrangements Act tho money c#n be recouped from the subsidies to local bodies, and therefore when wo are informed that Government does not intend to spend less than it has hitherto done pn this item, wo naturally seek for some reason £gv the desire ot the Colonial Secretary to get rid of the troublesome duty immediately before the meeting of Parliament, It will be observed that, in the correspondence to which wo havo referred. Ministers have taken up a WW position.. They do not now tell tho Local bodies that on iho 30th of Juno they will cease to administer Charitable Aid. and so leave it to them, or to the benevolent, to find the means of earning (W &o work. Their proposal now is to provide the funds themselves, as hitherto, at any rate for % time, but thry want that money to bo locally administered. Such being the case, there can be no reason whatever for forcing a change iu the administration on

the 30i,h instant. Till it is seen what is the opinion of Parliament, why not go on as at present ? Tho financial aspect of the subject is not to bo altered, as originally announced. Ministers still propose to hand the necessary funds to the distributing authority as they do now. Unless, therefore, they have some ulterior object in view in forcing local administration on and after July Ist, their present action must be pronounced vexatious and annoying. It will bo time enough to create new machinery when the principle sought to bo laid down is accepted by Parliament. If Ministers are proparod, as they now toll us they are, to still keep tho payment of the money needed for Charitable Aid in their own hands, thoy can as easily place it at tho disposal of tho officer who has hitherto so efficiently performed tho task, as pay it to, say, the City Council. Our readers are alroady acquainted with the course takon by tho Christchurch City Council regarding this matter. That body has absolutely refused to take the responsibility of the administration of Charitable Aid, and has directed the attention of Ministers to the resolutions passed at the conference of Mayors and County Chairmen in March last. There can be but one opinion as to the wisdom of the course taken by the Council. Had that body accepted the task, it could never, have got rid of it, although it is more than probable that tho present subsidies will not long be continued. Besides, as was pointed out, under such a system cities would have an irresistible attraction to poople in distress in the country districts, and tho taxpayers would eventually bo saddled with a considerable burden in tho shape of a poor rate. Wo are sorry to observo that the municipality of Sydenham has succumbed to the wiles of tho Ministry, for their action must, to some slight extont, weaken the effect of tho steps which will no doubt bo taken by the conferonco of Mayors and Chairmen to-morrow. In March last those gentlemen suggested a course to Government, of which they professed to approve. But thoy did nothing more. Tho resolution of the Christchureh Council, however, seems to havo awakened them to the fact that such suggestions had been made to them. As they had done nothing themselves to carry them into effect, a brilliant idea suggested itself—Why not blame those gentlemen for not carrying their resolutions info practical effect ? Such a course would havo the result, at any rate, of putting them on the defensive, and so of somewhat confusing the point at issue. We fancy, however, that the conference, which meets on Thursday, will have something to say to this view of the matter. The simple truth evidently is that the Government havo allowed things to drift, and now when Parliament is about to meet, and when perhaps it will bo convenient to have tho subsidies relieved from such charges, they are endeavouring, by moans of liberal promises, to got Local bodies individually to take over tho responsibility of Charitable Aid. Sydenham has risen to tho gilded bait, but from the Christchureh Council thoy havo not got evon a nibble.