THE HOSPITAL BENEFIT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 672, 10 May 1870, Page 2

THE HOSPITAL BENEFIT.

[to the editor.] Sir — In your evening contemporary's issue of the 7th inst. I find a letter signed " A Member of the G. A. D. C.,» purporting to be a reply to mine which appeared in yours of that date, it would seem that 1 was in error in stating the proceeds reached L4B ; it should have been L 43 Is 6d. It is said the " gentlemen did not pay one of the members Lls from the Hospital, nor from any other fund." Will the writer add to his many accomplishments the blushing modesty of denying the fact that the sum of Lls now remains a debt due by the Club to a certain gentleman at Westport, and that sucli debt was for his valuable services? lam told "The Club have got funds in hand and assets to a considerable sum." If such be the fac£, why did the Club want to pay certain creditors at the rate of 60 per cent, on their debjjg, alleging as the reason that they were slrort of funds. Can this champion declare that, ac the present moment, $ie Club is out of debt and able to pay all liabilities ? A very feeble attempt at an explanation appears to be offered, namely, the expense of dresses, scenery, &c. In the firat place, there are few pieces more easily (in that respect) placed upon the stage than the "Kent Day," and all the necessary properties could have been obtained by borrowing ; and as for the scenery, we were told Mr James had kindly painted two scenes. The writer has directly stultified himself by first asserting the " Club have got funds in hand," and then, in referring to the performance for the sufferers by the fire, which occurred three or four nights after, he declares, "they found themselves in pecuniary difficulties, to meet which several of them had to contribute from their own private purse. Why should any such contribution have taken place, if the Club had funds in lia^d and assets to a considerable amount? There must have been a good many j " dead heads," or else the audience mußt have been excessively corpulent, for it seems passing strange that the gross receipts were only L 43 Is 6d. I thought the refreshments amounted to LI 17s, and not 18s 6d for sundries as stated. Does it not, Sir, seem preposterous that for one night's performance the expenses should have amounted to more than half the takings of a house containing between L4O and LSO. I shall not trespass any further, suffice it to say that, in the balance sheet as published, and the vindicatory letter of " A Member of the G. A. D. C," I see nothing whatever to cause me to retract the charge of their having been guilty of a breach of faith, nor can I see that I have committed a gross libel upon the Club. I ami informed the Hospital Committee took and sold about LI 5 worth of tickets, and they get in return 3s. By old amateurs I am told the same pieces could have been pat upon the stage at a cost of Lll at the outside ; for amateurs should not expect the public to pay for their dresses when playing for the benefit of a hospital or any other charitable object — Yours, <&c, One op the Attdienck. P.S. — I have since learnt the Lls 3s was only paid to the Hospital Committee after the appearance of my letter.