CHARITABLE AID.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 55, 14 June 1910, Page 3

CHARITABLE AID.

I SOME DIFFICULT CASKS, On Saturday morning-, the Taranaki Hospital and Charitable Aid Board .had some peculiar «haritable aid cases before it, and the members were sorely puzzled as to how best to do what was right for the applicants 'for "relief whilst at tke same time ■conserving the rights and funds of {.bo ratepayers. . i- ...•■ "AWFUL WTJJD." "The first concerned a man who was formerly a resident of Inglewood, and , whose wife, with two or three children, j still lived there, hut without receiving any assistance or support from the man who had sworn to ''love, ..honor, cherish and .keep her." He was a man who could ', earn good money, but who could not I, carry it home, or apply it to the household account. He had his own way of i getting rid of it, receiving doubtful pleasure from it, and little 'benefit. In the diieu'ssioii it transpired that in the past twelve months he had contributed £3 to the maintenance of his wife. At the same time, one of the members stated, he "got awful wild" when he saw this matter reported in the newspapers, and said he was able and willing to keep ' has wife if she would live with him. Another member rejoined that the delinquent would have the pleasure of seeing his name in print again if he didn't come forward and do his duty. U-jron being represented that the woman was being cared for by relatives, the BoaofJ decided it could do nothing until the applicant had exhausted the usual processes of compelling her husband to contribute to her upkeep. The ,pfi]!f§ wS\ he communicated with. WIFE PPGRTION AGAIN., The second ease was of a 'somewhat similar nature, except that the rie'et'*doweH husband this time had forsaken a wife and nine children ,of seven were at home. The wife' and "mother applied for an increase of reMef! l '' She was already drawing 10s a We"eM.'-Mem-bers acquainted with the cii'&imsfcahees .said that the man was of .Wflb was profoably "having agood'tlhi'e somewhere," and not paring a straw "aftoiit his family. , ''*■**■ ;'sl Several speakers referred to'Hhis-'ln-creasing 'burden upon the rates caused' itiy absconding husbands, who 'hj'ffr their duties to be carried out by the/Sta'te. 'fei this case the aid of the police'Wi},been invoked, and the absconder's photograph handed to them, but so far. .the .search for him had been unavailing; •' :;-' r: ' The chairman warned member's' : tha|; they must be careful with theii l,dispensing of charitable aid, for the* nW 1 legislation placed a premium upon'economy in'this department, paying increased subsidy to boards which were 'manifestly carefirf in l the distribution of relief. This Board was earning a subsidVclf' '£l Is 3d in the £, 'whilst some got from 12s 6d to 16s. . ( '' "' '* | ."SUBSIDISING CANTANKEROUS- I, ness." . .„, .;,,,., There was a long discussion yVpb'Jf-l'H'e ' circumstances and personal cHa'ra'dteris 1 ' tics of a recipient of chd'fSaM* affiFlii ' the Opnnake district, wftoilj •',s&'"'hlft ; been before the Board at' ffie?pFevipuß * meeting. A letter was read from Hiei", commenting on the amount of attention the case had demanded at' t^e r 'flaiicfe' til ' the -New Plymouth papers/- aw'aißlrJg 1 ! the secretary to forward her the amount of the coach fare to ;New • Plymb'uth so that she could personally interview. tbs Board. The secretary had replied; .jhowf ' ever, that the Board was not up* the of doing this, 'and the ' relieved. ,-;-{• .cd.anJ The secretary also queried- some of- the ' items in the woman's groqerjfo-accQun£ pointing out that the Bqard^supplied only the necessaries of life. ,'• .j,ff,«- ; ,< '. Mr. Macßeynolds: How stupid storekeepers are nowadays, ~fjb -.be snre4 In my day the lady would, hij.ve,'.l)ee}i able to get what she wanted, and no one would have been the vyj^ef^. (Laughter). - „<* .1 The Board then discussed fb&,< merrt-g of the cast.- ',- ' In answer to questions,. Mr,. MacKeynolds said the woman was strong and able-bodied, and that the. .joungestj of ' her four children was Two of them were working., , si But sfej was very difficult to get and was constantly interfering with. £h« ,ph.il4; ren when they were in employ.'. , ~.,';.{ A motion was presented, tQ f ,stslje>.hftJ off the list of recipients of > aid, cji th£ ground that the Board was. notvjbher.e for the purpose of subsidising canjjankijk oushess. Able-bodied people &hjPWjjfl r , made to work, and it was noilikelj tsw they would work .so long-as. get' money without it. Pexb&pfr-jtf •$? relief were cut off this lady \youMjsaike more pains to "get on" with pe<>ph^ 4 A| everyone knew, there was- any,,anjco|jij| of work in this country for aht -aide,bodieil woman who was willing, tp. c \TOf Jj,

Another member favored sending her and the two young children to Australia,! This would be the cheapest way.,oii| of an expensive business. To this 1 the chairman objected, on the ground that if she became .stranded in Australia tie authorities there might pack her off back to New Plymouth, and compel the Board to foot the bill. Mr. Macßeynolds was prepared to guarantee that if the aid were cut off the Board would soon have a visitor from Opunake (laughter). He thought that if the Board decided to send the woman to Australia they need only concern themselves with the passage-money. Her friends in Opunake would see that she had the necessary cash in pocket. When the Board went to a vote on the matter Mr. Macßeynolds renewed a protest that he had made earlier in the discussion against this sort of business .being reported. Mr. J. Brown replied that the more publicity the better it was for the Board. Publicity had done a lot of good, to his knowledge. If all these particulars were to be hidden away the Board would have a lot of cases before them that would not bear investigation. It was decided to ask the Press not to publish the decision of the Board, but no ban was placed upon the remarks made during the course of a long and at times very interesting diseussion.