The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Thursday, October 6, 1887. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 50, 6 October 1887, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Thursday, October 6, 1887. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou alm’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

At a meeting of the Hospital Trustees some time ago Mr Warren, a gentleman who has always taken a lively interest in the welfare of Friendly Sociedes> made some forcible refffarks on the number of pauper patients admitted into the hospital, whereas by the payment of a small amount per week—about sixteen pence—to a Friendly Society the institution would practically be relieved of any expense. No one is better able to speak with authority on the subject than Mr Warren, and his argument as to the benefits to be derived from being a member of a Society must be readily agreed with.

The Hospital Secretary’s report presented at each monthly meeting still shows that the outstanding fees owing by patients, if not increasing, have in no way decreased, and the fact forms a theme for continual discussion, How are these fees to be recovered ? The question is one that affords food for reflection, for it is from this source of income that the Hospital looks for a considerable revenue. Many people argue that the institution, being mainly supported by subscriptions, should be thrown open to those who are unfortunate enough to require medical treatment. This may in a measure be true, but when there is a sure preventative against the Hospital being burdened with having to support patients who are unable to pay the prescribed fees, surely such a course should be considered and taken advantage of by everyone in the place. Apart from the fact that help to the needy sick is imperative on every community, no one can shut their eyes to the systematic robbery practised by those patients who can but will not pay. No wonder the Trustees are often and often at their wit’s end to know how to make both ends meet. However generous a community may be to extend aid to an institution of which they are justly proud, appeals to them must not be a too often occurrence. The Trustees endeavor to exert all their power to avoid this, and it is only by the payment by patients of fees—fees that are moderate in every respect—that they are enabled to do so.

The remedy undoubtedly lies in the Friendly Societies. At the present time there are three of these valuable institutions in Gisborne, with an estimated membership of about 175. For the ■sum of a few pence a week each member, at sickness, receives /1 per week, medical aid and medicines free, and at death the amount paid varies slightly in difierent lodges, but may be put down at That the Societies have been of enormous benefit, not only to the State, but to widows, orphans, and members themselves, no one will dare to deny. They are a combination making one great bond, which consists of charity in its most liberal sense, so that when the hard trial comes, as it does in the struggles incidental to the numerous vicissitudes of life, there is certain help. Too much cannot be said in favour of Friendly Societies, and to them we now look for a means by which our local hospital can be relieved from a burden which must necessarily press heavily upon it. As we have said before for the mere payment of a few pence a week men can receive unbounded benefits for themselves and families. One can hardly conceive how it is that so many prefer to utterly ignore the existence of bodies eager to do so much for them, but still it cannot be disputed that hundreds, aye, thousands prefer to remain a burden on the country rather than pay their quota into a Friendly Society. We do not attempt to impute for one moment that anyone could do otherwise than agree with the magnificent features and rules of any Friendly institution. It is perhaps more from thoughtlessness that they have stood out in the cold, and been debarred from receiving the fruits attached thereto. It is only human for one to suppose that any reverses on the side of sickness will not be! ill him, but lessons have been so frequent of the danger of delay in not making provision for themselves, and those dependent on them, that they must have impressed all, especially married men, with the imperativeness of insuring themselves against accident and sickness.

There should be no hesitation on the part of men in becoming members of some Society, and with their assent to do this the necessity for providing for pauper patients in our hospitals disappears, always presuming they pay the money donated by the Society to the Hospital. A young man who is taken sick or meets with an accident, and who is taken to the Hospital for medical treatment, relieves the district of his support by his being a member of a Lodge. The £1 a- week he receives goes to pay his maintenance, his medicine, and doctor, and no expense is put upon the institution by whose means he has been brought back to recovery. The remedy is one that should be only too gladly availed of, and we trust that in the interests of both the Hospital and the Fi iendly Societies our appeal to the public will not be in vain.