THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1963, 9 June 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1880.

The proposal made by the Dean at the late meeting of the Benevolent Association that the committee should consider the advisableness of establishing a place where temporary shelter could be afforded to homeless persons and others is one which will require the most ri'gi'd'scrutiny and careful consideration before adoption, even as a temporary measure. It simply means the introduction here on a small scale of the night refuges common in large cities, and in our opinion would have a decided tendency towards demoralising the recipients of the shelter. There is always a danger of making Christchurch a {sort of Arcadia for all the loafers in the country. Under the old regime of the Charitable Aid Department it was notorious that this class of persons made their way hither by some means or other, and that men designedly deserted their families, knowing full well that they would be amply cared for by the unsparing charity dispensed in those days. As Mr. Ollivier pointed out, there is this danger about the proposition, of the Dean, that the shelter once established, it would be almost impossible to discontinue it. This fact must be borne in mind when considering the subject. Again., the very points urged by the Dean in favour of such an institution were shown to be without foundation. The three classes that the Dean seemed

to think would be benefitted by it were—first, patients coming to the Hospital and unable to obtain admission through being late and being without funds;, secondly, patients discharged from the Hospital and having no money or home to go to; thirdly, discharged prisoners. Dealing with the first two classes, the chairman of the Hospital Board showed that there was no need of delay in obtaining admission to the Hospital where necessity occurred; that the system of orders of admission had been done away with, that consequently there was no need for solicitation of them, and that the House Surgeon had ample and full powers to deal with every application for admission as it came before him on its merits. "With regard to discharged patients the same gentleman pointed out that there was a fund for the very purpose of providing patients who left the hospital without funds with the means of subsistence for a time at least. As regards discharged prisoners, we believe we are correct in stating that these also, on leaving the gaol, have a small sum of money given them to enable them to start again in their new course of life. Thus the principle arguments of the Dean seem to us to have missed their mark, and this being so we confess to a feeling that such an institution is not at all desirable. It would encourage the formation of a class of professional beggars, who would gradually receive accession to their numbers from other parts until the burden would be found to weigh very heavily on the provident and thrifty who would be the persons called on to support this institution. Unless some very much stronger arguments can be adduced to show the urgent necessity for such an institution we hope the committee will decline to entertain or approve of the project. It would involve far more expenditure in the way of supervision, Ac, than the ratepayers or the charitably disposed are aware of, and would, we feel sure, do far more harm than good. The present soup kitchen, though perhaps required in some instances, is a purely temporary measure, and can be dispensed with .when the necessity for it has passed away. Not so, however, with regard to this night refuge. Once started there will grow up around it regular habitues, who will look upon it as their home, and so strong will this feeling be that it will be a matter of some difficulty to close it after it is once started. We wish very much that our charitably disposed friends would go off an another tack. If they would rack their brains to devise some means whereby the needy could be employed at a remuneration sufficient to enable them to purchase the necessaries of life a great good would be done. As was justly said at the meeting the other day, there is a distress —nay nearly actual starvation—which is by no means reached through any agency that is at present employed, that poverty which while bearing a fair outside to the world is yet the most grinding of all, which shrinks above everything from publicly proclaiming itself. If, by influence exerted, employment of some kind can be procured for such as these, then indeed will |the charitably disposed be doing a work which will be productive of great good. The establishment of the proposed night ■refuge will be frittering away the energies of the benevolent in a totaMy wrong direction.

It is satisfactory to find that the Sydenham Council on reconsideration have agreed to approve of the Bill re the South Town Belt as it originally came from the Conference. To have done otherwise would, as wo pointed out in a former article, have been to imperil the settling of the matter in an amicable way. Now that the Bill has gone forth to Wellington, we trust that means will be taken to urge on its passage through the House, so that at least a partial alleviation of the evils experienced last season may,, be attempted during the present dim, If both Councils work heartily together, laying aside any little local jealousies and prejudices, there will be no cause of complaint. Once power is given to proceed with the long-deferred work, we hope that no delays will ensue, but that it will bo pushed on with vigour, so that the residents in the neighbourhood may not again havo to endure the discomforts and annoyances to which they were subjected last winter.