THE H.B. RELIEF FUND.

Hastings Standard, Issue 406, 23 August 1897, Page 2

THE H.B. RELIEF FUND.

[To The Editob.] Sir, — Knowing that your columns are always open for the redress of wrongs I ask for space to let your readers know how the llood relief fund has been distributed in Clive. lam a married man with eight children, the eldest under 15 years of age, and I have always worked hard to support them. In the floods nearly everything I possessed was ruined. I had laid in a small stock of provisions and they were all spoilt, and the furniture and bedding were also ruined. From the committee I received some provisions for my family, two single mattresses and two blankets. As my loss was a heavy one for a working-man I made application for assistance to the Central Committee, and heard nothing of it until Friday, when I received a letter signed by the Mayor of Napier stating that my application had been "finally dealt with." I did not receive one penny for my losses although some others who appear to have lost very little have been granted £2O or £3O. Mine is not by any means the only case in which the committee has acted most unjustly. I heard of one case where a woman went into Napier to make inquiries and she was told that the fund was never intended for poor people as they had th 9 Charitable Aid Board to fall back upon. If the Central Committee has made the distribution on this basis I think the subscribers to the fund should be made aqMmated with the fact. The people'wno suffered the least appear to have got all the cream, and really genuine sufferers, who perhaps have not paraded their losses before the eyes of everyone, have been passed by without a grant of any kind. If any member of the committee will come to Clive and make inquiries he will find without the least trouble that great injustice has been shown to a number of the heaviest loser 3, and that many who are in the direst need of assistance have been entirely overlooked.—l am, &c., Arthur HRMIYIBI ~