THE WINTER’S CHARITY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4356, 6 March 1875, Page 3

THE WINTER’S CHARITY.

(From the New York Herald.) The citizens of New York have a right to be proud of their public charities.-a Nearly one million dollars is given ungrudgingly in. the annual tax levy to asylums, reformatories, "and charitable institutions. - The excise moneys are similarly distributed/ The various established aid and benevolent societies) present long lists of ) liberal donors, who contribute in the aggre-, o-ate "an" enormous yearly sum for the relief of ■ suffering and the reclamation of the erring. Probably no city in the world is more open- ; handed in its benevolence than this metropolis. We have less abject poverty and misery here, than may be found in the older capitals, because in a new country and a nation of workers some employment may generally, at least in- - ordinary times, be found by those willing to. - earn a living. Nevertheless, in a city with over a million inhabitants there; is always certain to be a wide field for charity, and when a commercial pressure comes upon us, when money is scarce and business dull, the dependence of all our people upon labor for the means of sustenance makes the distress the more widespread and severe.: ~ ."" ! But, useful as our established charities are, they are unfitted to meet these special emergencies produced by scarcity of employment and severe winter weather combined. For these we, need a direct, immediate and sufficient relief, simple in its operation, free from the forms and safeguards veiy properly required in - the established , institutions, and ready to be applied wherever suffering and death are to be instantly grappled with and overcome. The evidences of want in the city are undeniable. The present cold weather seems to indicate a hard winter. When men, women, and. children are found perishing of hunger and cold there should be some means . by which they can be immediately fed and warmed without the delay of tickets, registers, or testimonials of a year’s residence. ; The surest, safeguard against imposition is the establishment of depots where meals : can be supplied,. and to which the professional beggar, who solicits alms, can be referred. for relief either for himself or his family.. Some undeserving individuals will occasionally obtain food arid fuel, no doubt,; but this is no excuse for permitting a single human being to die of want in a Christian community. While dependence on charity should not be encouraged we are no advocate of the English system of “passing” a pauper “on” to his “parish. If wo have severe suffering among tho poor ; if whole families are destitute and perishing tor the want of the common necessaries of life, we cannot get rid of the duty humanity imposes upon us by the plea that some worthless creatures would rather live by charity than by labor. We hope to see the subject of the temporary relief of the poor in the winter months taken up in the pulpits of the city. The cold weather warns us that an organisation and a system of relief, controlled by the most prominent of our citizens, should be completed without any further delay.