THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1882. CHARITY SUNDAY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2656, 11 October 1882, Page 2

THE GLOBE. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1882. CHARITY SUNDAY.

Ok Sunday next an organised appeal to the benevolence of the people, in aid of a very worthy object, will be made in the various churches throughout tha district, of all denominations. Tha object, as onr readers are doubtless aware, is to supplement the funds of the Benevolent Association, or rather to place that Aessociation in a position more adequately to cope with the cases of distress which are brought before it. To the superficial observer, one who only sees the outward signs of prosperity amongst ns, it may appear strange to assert that there does exist here a vary large amount of distress and want which this Associa. tioa has endeavoured to alleviate. It is true that at the present time there is no great lack of employment, and that ablebodied men are thus enabled to escape the dire necessity of having to apply to the Association for relief. But while this is so, there are persons far more helpless—women and children, who must be relieved. Whether it is because Canterbury spends yearly more in charity than any part of New Zealand, or from some other reason, certain it is that this district is, so to speak, the happy hunting ground of the impecunious and needy. Subscriptions are got up for them in other provinces, and they make their way hither to be supported by charitable aid. Then there is another class, and a "very large one, which the Government aid only partly relieves; and it is these people the Benevolent Association have to supply with food and other necessaries. Widows with large families, women whose husbands have deserted them, or who have fallen into evil ways and are doing penance in gael, come to the Association with most pitiful tales of distress. They cannot be allowed to starve, and they do not come within the category of thosa to whom the Charitable Aid Department gives relief, so that tho Benevolent Association has to take up, what has proved during the past year, a wide sphere of operations. Such an Association cannot but have very strong claims on the sympathies and purses of tho general body of the people. It is unobtrusively but effectively doing a good work, and every care is taken to ensure the distribution of assistance to worthy persons. In cases where applicants desire work it is found for them, and assistance in the shape of goods, &e., granted to tha families of those thus leaving Christchurch until they ard enabled to send some of their earnings. There can be no doubt that nothing is more hurtful than indiscriminate charity given without enquiry and without knowledge. But this is not the case in respect to the Association. The utmost care is exorcised to ascertain tho bona jides of each applicant. The cases are investigated and decided upon by a committee, and upon their report the relief asked for is granted. The gathering together of the people for one common object, and that object the noblest in life, has about it something to impress and to do good in developing the better feelings of onr nature, and we trust that tho result will be a substantial one. Whatever is subscribed in this way—and wo would desire to call special attention to this fact—will be supplemented £ for £ by the Government, so that every one who gives 10s or £1 will have the satisfaction of knowing that his gift has been increased 100 per cent. If this be borne in mind, and also the fact that the Association has done and is still doing a great deal of useful work in the community, we feel sure that the people will respond most heartily to the very eloquent appeals which will be made to them from the various pulpits on Sunday on behalf of the fnnds of the Association. Let ns ono and all resolve, according to onr means, to give what support we can to the cause of benevolence; the more so as, on this occasion, it is a platform upon which all creeds and all denominations can meet for one common purpose. To many of us Providence has been kind; onr lot has fallen in pleasant places, and to ns life is easy. Prom small things, there are those amongst ns who have progressed to riches—by their own industry and self-denial it is true. Bat lot ns not forgot the other side of the picture; the struggles, unavailing, of many a man against adverse fortune ending in poverty and sometimes want; or, more pitiful still, the case of the educated poor, who cannot dig and who aro ashamed to beg—who are all unused to the rough and tumble of colonial life. Let ns, therefore, all—whatever our position may be —give our mite towards tho good work, and, in the words of a well-known song, “ Help onr worn and weary brothers, failing hard against the stream.” With the thought of these in the minds of those who attend the special services on Sunday, added to the undoubtedly strong claims of the Association, we have no doubt that the result will be a moat nbstantial one