“CHARITABLE” AID.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3349, 29 November 1919, Page 3

“CHARITABLE” AID.

BOARD IMPOSED UPON. I UNUSUAL CANTERBURY CASE. ‘ ' CHRISTCHURCH, Nov. 27. ‘ A story of "how the North ‘Canterbury Hospital Board Wns imposed upon by a person who, from it and other sources, obtained charity for a period of five montlls,.which was equal to an’ income of £SOO :1. year was told at}! to-day’s meeting of the Board. .l The Charitable Aid Committee, in its report, stated that it desired to call attention to a. case whereby rclief was obtained by the most barefaced misrepresentation, the worst case lof the kind that had occurred in a {numlber of years. Application was made for assistance on June 6 on account of the illness of a man, there being a wife and eight children. Immediate relief in the form of food‘ and milk was given. On June 19 the -food and milk allowance was renewed, and an additional allowance for rent was made for a. period of four weeks, This allowance was renewed. on four other occasions, making the assistance continous to November 13.

The answer given to questions on each renewal of the application were that the only means the family had was the grant by the Board. The committee was throughout suspicious, and made special inquiries. It had since transpired that in May the man’s wife Wrote to the union of Xvhicll her husband is a member. ‘A collection was‘ made, and £5 was handed ‘to her.: From July 15 to November 17 fu*:t'T‘lv,r sums were handed to her, totalling '£B2 10/. The man, who was in hos—pital from June 12 to July 18, was 3han(led :1 sum of £ls to enable him !to go away to fully recover his health, and clothing of :1 value of £22 was given for the children. The ‘total re‘ceived from the union was £122 10/. ' Besides the above a church organisation gave assistance equal to about £75 in the early stage of the man;’s illness. The total of the assistance received by this family from June 6 to November 17 was as follows:—— From the Union £122 10/, from the lchurch £75, from the Hospital Board £45 10/; total, £243. Mrs H. F. Herbert said the man’s

Wife had admitted to the committee that she had £ls in ‘the bank. The husband. now was working‘, alDld she thought steps should be taken to recover the amount expended by the board. The cyhairman 1-.emar?2:od that the board vvns always in (lallgol- of being “had.” It was because of the proper caution it exercised that the board was sometimes described as callous. 4 The matter was I'ofel’l'ed back to the committee. Mr H. B. Sorenson; And I hope the committee will be more careful in future. A _