The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1889. THE POOR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1926, 6 August 1889, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1889. THE POOR.

The Kev. Father Gumming, in preaching a charity sermon in aid of the funds of St. Vincent de Paul Society in Christehurch recently, said he often felt it nothing less than mockery to preach of charity and of God's providence to the poor starving creatures he often came across. He drew most pitiful pictures of the condition of the poor, and urged on all to assist the funds of the Society, whose mission was to relieve distress. Clergymen of every creed have from time to time spoken in equally emphatic terms with regard to the miseries of the poor, and we only regret they do not Bpeak more frequently and more emphatically, and make the land ring with their voices. They are privileged to do so; it is their duty; they go amongst the poor; they enjoy their confidences, and have thu» special opportunities for speaking authoritatively. "We think they do not pay the subject sufficient attention, and that they should never cease until they have shamed the wealthy into sympathising with those who feel the pangs of hunger. We can conceive no more deplorable condition than for a poor family to be shivering with cold and starving with hunger in the midst of luxury, pomp, and plenty. We talk of slavery and its horrible concomitant evils, but really slavery I v v * nreferable to the condition of I must Db t -„ 0 £ our i ar g e eities at many of the pooi - . w 6 k eap are present, if half the stones .. .-,«.| v true. In a Christchurch paper receu..,, most harrowing accounts were given of the miseries of the poor. Their condition was shown to be deplorable. One thing which slaves generally get is enough to eat. Their masters take,

care of that, for unless they are well fed they lose their market value, and are not able to perform the work required of them. It is really shocking and shameful that such a state of things should exist in a colony like this; but so it is, and will be until reforms are effected ia our social relations.

We do not believe in private charity, though we admire the generous impulses which prompt it. It is wrong in principle, because while it presses heavily on some people there are others who never feel it, and it is these others who stand in the way of reforms by which the necessity for charity would be obviated. There are generous, noble, kind-hearted men and women whose handa are ever in their pockets giving to the poor; there are also sordid, selfish, grasping people who never contribute a single sixpence to charity from year's end to year's end. It is obvious that in the race of life the generous man is thus greatly handicapped; he is always giving, while his grasping neighbor is piling up riches. This should not be allowed. The grasping, mean, selfish man ought to be made to contribute his share to public charity as well as the generous man, and the way to do it is to tax both equally. This, of course, is being done at present, but it is done in such a mean, miserable way that the allowances are not sufficient, and so grudgingly are they given that many people only apply for aid when driven to it by the remorseless agonies of absolute starvation. The language frequently used is un-Christian and uncharitable. They are called charitable aid paupers, and they have to undergo a most searching cross-examination, which is really painful, and yet the very men who subject them to every possible indignity will by-and-bye repeat with fulsome unctuoußness the trite old saw that "poverty is not a crime." We often make it worse than a crime. In our gaols we are told criminals are! well fed, well clothed, and well housedwhile the allowances given to the poor are not sufficient to keep body and soul together. The fact is the dispensers of charitable aid are vying with each other to see which Board can carry on with the least amount of cost.

Sir Harry Atkinson has now introduced a Bill into Parliament in which he proposes to establish farms on which to keep the poor, and make them work for their living according to their abilities. A wiser, a more humane, or more necessary proposal has never been submitted to Parliament —yet he is met with the cry of introducing pauperism into the colony. He has had a hand in introducing pauperism certainly, but not so far as this proposal is concerned. The scandalous laws by which the lands of the colony have been locked up have manufactured* poverty, and the pro-i posal of Sir Harry A tkinson is only a necessary consequence of then?. Poverty is on the increase, and must increase to a still greater degree, and the burden of keeping the poor from starvation must be boriae by the taxpayers of this colony. Here then arises the question for the taxpayers to consider: Would it not be better to have nine-tenths of these people, settled in homes of their own on the land, and digging out of the earth sufficient to keep them, than ta have them living in towns on charitable aid ? It was said they would not go en the land. The Hon. Mr Ballance proved they would, and silenced that parrot cry for ever. N o one is found impudent enough now to assert what five years ago passed as gospel truth. If Mr Ballance had been allowed to carry on as he commenced there would be few living on charitable aid in our towns at present, but he was hurled from power, and now the taxpayers have to provide charitable aid. Serve them right. They will have to provide more of it; they little dream of what is in store for them yet. Poverty must increase, and so must taxation; and perhaps then they will realise that' Conservatism is not a thing that can possibly pay anybody in a new colony. "We certainly do approve of the proposal to establish farms on which to employ the poor, but not with throwing the burden of what is called casual poverty on local bodies. The proposal is conceived in a mean and selfish spirit; it is simply'an attempt to relieve country districts of having to pay taxes for charitable purposes, and to throw all the burden on the town. This is wrong. All ought* to contribute fairly and honestly, and this can only be done by the Consolidated revenue beingcharged with it. Sir Harry Atkinson, however, wants to retrench, and this is the way he does it. He robs Peter to pay Paul, and then asks us to stand bewildered at his retrenching capabilities. The Consolidated revenue should undoubtedly bear the burden of providing for the poor, and we ought to take care that we do not feed our thieves and robbers, our forgers, and our criminals generally better than honest people, who, owing to our laws, are frequently unable to provide for themselves.

A DISGRACEFUL MONOPOLY.

The Wellington correspondent of tha Christchurch Press of yesterday says i It is currently reported that some startling facts will come to light when the report of the Committee on the West ! n oast coalfields is laid on the table. It '* >f all these mines are practically is said tu«. Uadingr shipping comin the hands of a th e market pany, which is note to conu.,. ~ and output. It is also stated that an «.. properties have been let by Government

on long leases of from sixty-six to ninetynine years, consequently, it is said, the only chance of checking (he power of the monopoly by obtaining iud.-pendent supply 13 the discovery of fresh coalfields. It has been knonn for a long time past that coalbeds exist on the banks of the Upper Wanganui River, but the difficulty ib getting to them until the snagging operations, which were commenced soma yenrs ago, are completed, and that, as this is about the only known locality where a coalfield not already being worked exists, ih will be necessary that the colony should keep a sharp eye on the locality in arder to prevent lands there passing into the hands of the monopolists who now control the mines of the West Coast of the Middle Island. One result of the present inquiries of the Coalfields Committee will probably be the resumption of anagging operations on the Wanganui River, with a view of opening up these coalfields and developing the fields.

We are in a position to state that this is true. The Union Steamship Company now own all the coal mines on the West Coast, and have a monopoly. Orders have come from other colonies for the coal, but the Union Steam Shipping Company would not execute them because the carriage was not given to themselves. The people of Port Chalmers have elected to Parliament the general manager of this company. He is one of the retrenchers, and has fought hard to reduce the honorarium and the number of members. It would pay him to go to Parliament without any honorarium at all to secure such a monopoly. There is at present in fenauka a gentleman who is in business on the West Coast, and he has informed us that the coal trade has been destroyed there. Since the company got the monopoly several of the pits have been closed up altogether, and one town alone has lost 250 men who were employed there. Mr Kennedy, who once owned some of these mines, is being paid £IOOO a year ostensibly to act as agent for the company, but in reality to keep him from opening any new coal mine. The monopoly thus given by the present Government to the Union Steam Shipping Company will more than counterbalance the amount saved by the reduction of members and the reduction of the honorarium. Mr Maclean, chairman of the directors of the Union Steam Shipping Company, is in the Upper House, Mr Mills, the managing director of the company, is in the Lower House, and so the oracle is worked,