THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2105, 2 October 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1875.

A case of real destitution, and one which we feel sure those who are able would do well to take in hand, was brought more prominently than usual before the notice of the public by an appeal for aid made to the Mayor and Borough Council on Thursday night last. The case represented is that of Mrs Pearse, who, it appears, is in most indigent circumstances, as will be.seen.from the following stateui&i'fc:—Mrs Pearse, who is a widow, has

four children, all entirely dependent upon her for support; this support she has endeavoured to give them as. long as her,, powers of body enabled hereto Jio so-by working with a mangle, which some friends had bought for her. For somo time past, however, she has been totally unable to work from sheer bodily incapacity, and though, obliged to obtain the services of both, doctor and nurse, all she has" had to supply the wants of her four children and herself ha« been twenty-seven shillings a month allowed for rations by the .(-royernment, and three shillings a week added by the Ladies' Benevolent Society, In all between nine and ten shillings a week. Now this small sum, it is obvious, is not sufficient to provide clothes, house rent, and keep the bodies and souls together of any five, persons, even though four out of the five be but children—at least if any have any doubts of the fact let them make the trial, themselves at that rate only for one day (i.e., about threepence halfpenny a day at the outside) and we venture to assert that they will not be sceptical about it on the second —much less is it sufficient to provide medical attendance, proper nursing, J or any one of the small luxuries which tend so much to alleviate, the pain and weariness of a sick bed, and most likely this Mrs Pearse would have ceased to be a charge either on the Ladies' Benevolent fund or the Government had it not been for the kindness of Mr and Mrs Fleming, who, at their own cost,, have supplied her with considerable quantities of food absolutely necessary, as well as having proved themselves most kind by the trouble they have taken in nursing her in her illness. We are glad however to be able to say that for the present at least Mrs Pearse's wants, having been brought into public notice, some aid, even though it be but of a temporary nature, is likely tobe accorded to her. The Mayor on beil% informed of the case conjointly with Councillor Ehrenfried started a subscription in the Borough Council Chambers, and the Town Clerk and other councillors present having readily responded to his call a list of subscriptions amounting to £3 10s was handed to Mr Fleming, which we daresay ere this he has received for Mrs Pearse's assistance. Nor is this all. The Thames Amateur Dramatic Company luckily have a play in rerehearsal. This play, with other entertainments will be performed on Thursday night, and we have heard from Mr Loveday, one of the principal members of the above named club, that the proceeds will be devoted to the aid of Mrs Pearse and her family. So far so good. The subscriptions of the Mayor and Council must, evidently, soon be swallowed up, but we hope that the benefit will be a real success, and that all who can will take tickets, even though unable to attend the performance itself. But though we are glad that Mrs Pearse's suffering will, as we trust, be rendered more bearable, we cannot but feel that this present state of things as regards our poor and sick is far from satisfactory. There may be many others whose cases require aid as much as Mr Pearse's and yet have none at hand, like Mr. and Mrs. Fleming, to act for them in the way these have done for Mrs. Peafse. It cannot always be expected that we shall have Mayors and Town Councillors able and willing to subscribe their pounds and half-pounds on every fresh case of distress being brought under their notice; and even if able and willing, the assistance thus rendered would not be more than of a temporary nature. Neither, again, is it likely that one of the two Amateur Dramatic Clubs will always have a play in rehearsal just in the nick of time, which they will be able to perform for the benefit of the deserving sick. The Ladies' Society, we have no doubt, do and would do all that was necessary had they sufficient funds at their disposal, but with all their pains and trouble in soliciting subscriptions, the amount obtained is so- insufficient that they can never hope to be more than an assisting society even should their aim be to become a supporting society. So little are they able to do this that Councillor Ehrenfried saidthatit were better for Mrs Pearse to have been without the three shillings a week given by the Ladies' Society altogether than by taking it to allow the impression to take hold of the public mind that the Ladies' Benevolent Society- had taken up the case, and that there was no further need for any exertion an their part. The^e is no doubt much of truth in this. Without wishing to moralize one caunot help noticing that the tendency to shirk duties is so great among all that, to many, merely hearing that a society like the Ladies' Benevolent has taken up a case is quite sufficient to make them regard themselves as free from all responsibility. They have given, perhaps, half-a-crown to the Bevenolent Fund, and contribute a threepenny bit occasionally to other purposes if one can be procured without difficulty, and so if they hear that the society to which lliey are regular subscribers (P)has taken the case in hand, they eeeni to consider that the sick and ill, if not luxuriously attended to, have at least all neces* sary comforts. It scarcely needed the case of Mrs Pearse to tell us that these things are not so. However desirous the ladies may be of doing good, they cannot do more good than they have the means of doing; and that their means are insufficient we are painfully made aware of. Either their society must be greatly strengthened—and this can only be done by voluntarily increased, and largely increased individual gifts—or some other society must be formed to act with them. The Mayor spoke of a committee being formed from the Borough Council, or some such scheme to co-operate with the ladies when cases are brought before their notice; as far as we eoukl gather the opinion of the

assembled Cotfn'cillors was favorable, and forfyiourselves we should rejoice to see it carried out. Such a committee, if seriously determined to do good, could afford much more relief than the mere supplementary support which the ladies can afford, or the spasmodic efforts of benefit performances. We do not wish: to discourage or to attempt to discourage either the one or the other, but if the aid afforded;-,by.~;one be supplementary and of the other fortuitous, which may or may not be forthcoming,; something is wanted more than these,- and this something such a committee as that spoken of !by the Mayor on Thursday night would, we think, be most likely to supply.

We faotice from- our exchange! that several New Zealand papers besides ourselves were favored with copies of the Yorkshire Gazette containing the famous review of Mr Bees' pamphlet on "The Coming Crisis." The Otago Guardian 'devoted two leading articles to the Gazette's mischievous inferences and assertions. The latest we have noticed; is in the Bruce Herald, which merely reproduces the Gazette's article with the following comment : —"We wish, to direct the attention of our readers to an article headed ' Politics in New Zealand,' which we republish from the Yorkshire Gazette, an influential English journal. This article is a. review of a pamphlet entitled 'The Coming Crisis,' written by Mr. W. L« Kees, barrister, of Auckland, in which the author attempts to give what he calls ' a sketch of the financial and political condition of New Zealand, withj.he* causes and probable results of that condition.' We need scarcely inform our readers that Mr. Rees is a violent partisan in politics, and a bitter opponent of Sir Julius Vogel. That the pamphlet, and the article based upon it, are teeming with falsehood and misrepresentation will not surprise anyone, and it is to bo hoped that Mr. Kees and the journal that appears to attach such importance to what he has written have both been answered by the representatives of New Zealand resident in England. The space at our disposal will not allow us to deal with this article at any length, and we republish it simply to give our readers a sample of the nonsense with reference to this Colony which occasionally appears in English newspapers." We have nothing to add to the commentary on the article which appeared in a recent issue, but we may say that in justice to the Colony the Yorkshire Gazette should publish the other side of the question as set forth in the different journals from one end of New Zealand to the other. The Gazette invited criticism. It should in the interests of justice do the amende by republishing the various notices of its own article in order to remove the mischievous impression which the publicity of such article may have produced.