CHARITY

Mataura Ensign, Volume VI, Issue 288, 11 September 1883, Page 2

CHARITY

Is the most sublime of the virtues, and it must be said that on occasions of the appalling nature of the Wairuna tragedy it is seldom or never withheld when sought, This was well exemplified in the case of the Kaitangata catastrophe. On that occasion the people oi; the colony nobly met the demand made upon their sympathy, and the result was the accumulation of a colossal fund for the benefit of the bereaved families. We should be the last to attempt to discourage the giving of bounteous help to those left to mourn in destitution, but there is just a little danger that in the fervour which the calamity calls forth our feelings are liable to prompt us to give more than we should coolly give, and thus dry up for a time the well spring which should continually flow for our distressed. If the committee of the Kaitangata funds had not, in the face of muchobloquy, sternly interposed their authority, the whole of the vast fund at their disposal would have been at once divided, and many of the recipients of it would have been in a state of wealth which they could never reasonably have hoped to attain in their previous condition. Thus there would have been created the possibilities of results disastrous to themselves. There can be intemperance in giving as in withholding, and the noble effort of those striving to help the unfortunate should not be in danger of being misdirected.