Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 1897. Charitable Aid.

Manawatu Herald, 9 November 1897, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, NOV. 9, 1897. Charitable Aid.

TitE industrious and honest settler is having a trying time to make both cndq meet with the constant requiri tions that are made upon his pursa to find the money for tho numberless institutions set tip by the Govern* ment to encourage the lazy and thriftless, and it is therefore exceedingly satisfactory to find that we possess one (Government official who possesses sufficient independence to speak out plainly upon the extravagant system of charitable aid now in force in this colony. Very many settlers will re-echo his remarks and did they but take the interest tbpy should in public matters they would be able to supplement his statements by facts which they should be cognizant of in their own districts. Dr MacGregor the Inspector of Hospitals in his report to Parliament says " All over New Zealand the State subsidy for indiscriminate outdoor relief is the tnost effective | scheme that could be devised for the systematic cultivation of social parasites. We carefully hatch them out, and lay them down in the alimentary tracts of society, and we call the insane proceedings philanthropy. . . . . . I have called our system of giving outdoor relief indiscriminate, it is bo all over the country j but it is worse in Wellington than anywhere else. In this belief I instructed Mrs Grace Neill, the Assistant Inspector specially sp pointed for this work, to attend the meeting of the Benevolent Trustees, and thereafter to personally visit and examine ifi ev&ry possible way the recipients of aid— their homes and environment." The report of Mrs Neill we give further on, but before producing extracts we desire to again repeat what Dr MacGregor says upon it, as it will give the thoughtful reader a better insight to what it really is, beyond the bare words used. Dr MacGregor says " Every statement it contains had of necessity to be carefully toned down to the last degree of tenuity, so that the reality must largely be left to the constructive imagination of the reader. ... . . As I have set forth at large in former reports, the first step toward remedying this state of things is to stop the subsidy, and reform our absurd system of local Government." Mrs Grace Neill reports that the Wellington Board issue a monthly list giving name, address, and amount granted, but that the inaccuracies of the addresses has proved a considerable hindrance to her investigations. " I may add that the more doubtful the case the less likely is the address to be correct. A certain proportion ot these errors is, no doubt, due to the nomadic character of the class who get relief, but there are instances where families have left the address given in the January and February lists, three, six, and even in one instance the neighbours told me twelve months previously, and yet are receiving rant and rations. . . . . . As I pointed out last year, the system of " boarding-out " children in Wellington is most unsatisfaotory. Supervision in most cases ia merely nominal, and the tendency is still to place children with applicants for relief. ... . . A boy of twelve has been boarded out for years with an aged grandmother. His father is dead, but relatives on the mother's side are well to*do. An aunt told me when I visited the house that she paid £90 a year in rates. . . . . . He. .is growing up idle and mischievous. Another boy, nine i years old, is placed with a woman and her husband in a small house at the back of Elizabeth street. She gets six shillings a week. The lad has not attended school for a twelvemonth. Teachers, have remonstrated, but to ho avail. Such " boardingout " cannot be to the advantage of the community. Three little girls whose father is said to have deserted them are with an aunt, who receives £1 a week for the keep of her relatives. The aunt and her husband hold a good situation under the Municipal Council. One woman receives £1 a week for the care of two little twins ; others, only 5* per child, seems to be throughout little consideration for the best interests of the children, or their eventful good citizenship. After personally visiting in the homes of so many of the cases getting relief, I am more than ever convinced that the existing mode of out relief encourages a cancerous growth of pauperism and many another social evil. It is impossible to sift truth from concealment of facts, or even direct falsehood, as each applicant comes and tells her tale to the Board. Plausablily usually carries the day, and unless some flagrant deceit can be proved — a well-nigh futile task — she may remain a pensioner for an indefinite period. A vacillating method of granting doles encourages speculative applicants. Relief may not be given the first time of applying, but if a ' daring woman inportunea she Boon overcomes the slight line of resistance

to impulalv'e generosity on the part o! the Trustees. This uncertainly leads to hardship in cases of real necessity. It is difficult for the I independent spirited to ask ; they j take <% No " for an answer, and do not like, as one Wofflan put it, " to be blairet) at " The saddest cases do not approach the Benevolent Trustees. . . . . Few homes on the list approach real destitution. . . Relief given to an able-bodied woman earning has a tendency to depress Wages | she can do laundry-work or cleaning at a lower rate than her more independent neighbour. . . . . Until infirmity, intemperance, and indolence be abolish**, poverty will never cease. The Ohari* table Aid Board la t^stea fdr a fund cftnlpuisorily levied, not dispenser of the alms of the philanthropic and benevolent. It is bound, therefore, to study the highest welfare of the community j Whilst . relieving the distitutioh of the individual. On the other hand, compassionate relief of the deserving poor can only be fairly dealt with by voluntory contributions, unaided by State money."