The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 927, 5 April 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1879.

Jft.t hundred pounds, it is expected, wit! bo collected in this district toward the Kaitangata Relief Tints fact tells 0 J the charitable disposition of colonists, and wilt 6© iv pleasant one for the widows and orphans. Whilst we are gt«d that they wilt have something t»> cheer their hearts after the late sad bereavement.. we cannot help' bestowing # tittle thought upon the distressed in our own district, to relieve whom is oar especial duty, and we have tittle doubt that the same fee-ting will prevail in those other districts that have been so thoroughly canvassed as our own.. We hope that subscribers to-our Benevolent Society will b« able t» view the Kaitangata Relief Fund as a special effort to- relieve a special case of distress, and that there will he no diminution in the - amount of their usual contributions. Benevolent Societies have usually no mure funds than wilt just keep them afloat, and the Oamaro Society is no> exception to this rale; therefore, if theusual yeartysutisjcrip6ions fall away, which would also; mean a reduction in the pound-for-pound government supplementary subsidy, cmcs of distress must go* unrelieved. We are sure that the public will see- that no snefi thing shall eccttr. Subscribers would rather increase their subscriptions, than, by reducing them, tn consequence of the tats special effort, render the North Otago. Benevolent Society unable- tw assist tn deserving cases of distress. We are not troubled by direct appeals from the needy for assistance, and are not therefore brought into immediate contact with the dismal aspect of our social life. This i 3 matter for congratulation on all sides. It is well that there is a Society that systematically and economically dispenses the charity of the public Doners arc not so fond of being brought face to face with want and misery ■, and, even if they had no objection to fihis. money given t« door-t»-do»r beggars is invariably worse than wasted. Hut the puMwr most not think that there we no indigent in this district to- W relieved, because they are not made immediately familiar with the fact. There is mot® distress in Osumn than the majority of its inhabitants are aware of. We ace bound to- admit that by far the &*rge#t proportion of the pauperism that exist* here, aa elsewhere, is either directly of indirectly caused by over-indulgence in stroog drinks. Bat, whatever may be the j cause, at least we cannot allow women and I children to itarve, especially when,

perhaps, a little temporary assistance, with admonition, would ensure their permanent relief. It is plain that we must first attend to the wants of those at home, and then contribute what we can afford to ! assist in special cases demanding Coloni.il i mpatiiy. The institution of a fund for the but-mentionsd purpose has been suggested, and, we think, wisely. Unsystematic and indiscriminate distribution of charity is unsatisfactory to donore, and not unfrequently disastrous to receivers, whilst it is calculated to result in a number of sufferers being left out in the cold. The Kaitangata charity will require good management, or an injustice may be done to those who have subscribed and to those upon whom misfortune has brought one of the greatest of all misfortunes—dependence upon the public for the means of subsistence. Nobody begrudges the Kaitangata widows and orphans the help which they so much need. If the public of New Zealand had been able to contribute double the amount that will be collected for these bereaved ones, we believe that double the sum would have been freely handed over to them. But we arc becoming civilised—we are beginning to run fast—and if some of us should not be tripped up, run over, and crushed in the onward march of civilisation, we shall differ widely from other placea .»imilarly situated. It is petite a wonder that n wail did not reach tts from the Thames before now, for yesterday S telegrams tell of how a number of miners narrowly escaped meeting death from explosion or suffocation. They were unsuspecting. No one dreamed of the existence of dangerous gas in the mine in which the explosion so nearly occurred ; it had been generated in some sly corner, as is eft en the case. Well, the lesson to be deduced from all this is, that we must prepare ourselves to render assistance in the alleviation of special yases of distress, and to so manage that fftt? donations given for such a purpose shall be viewed as supplementary to tho3e which it is usual for us to give in aid of local charity. It is to be desired that the Kaitangata Relief Fund will be properly »«itJv«H9tercd, so that those for whom it has been raised will be the recipients of enough, and no more : and that, if there any overplus it shell either be returned from whence It came, or vested in a Committee, so that it might be available to assist in speciat cases of charity.