NAPIER NEWS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 4052, 15 May 1900, Page 3

NAPIER NEWS.

(Own Correspondent.) Napier, Yesterday. It has been known to members of the Charitable Aid Board for some time that indigent persons, in receipt of aid by means of rations, were in the habit of abusing their privilege by taking value out in luxuries that people in receipt of stated incomes find it difficult to afford. Consequently a committee was appointed to make enquiries into the matter and although the investigations of these gentlemen have not yet been completed, enough has been discovered to prove that the ration system has been grossly abused. Not only have these supposed penniless people been in the habit of having the best brands *)f tea, sugar, etc., but they havo so arranged matters as to be able to take out their rations in stockings, wheat, maize, and in one instance rent had been paid by the contractor and debited to—“ rations.”There is something very decidedly wrong with a system that permits of such liberties being taken with it, and the committee of the Charitable Aid Board will need to carry their work beyond the mere substantiation of certain complaints. Their “ order of reference ” should certainly cover suggestions as to bettering the ration system. Why should not the Board take the matter into their own hands and abolish the contract system P Dr de Lisle has resigned his position on the honorary medical staff of the hospital, owing to the increased demands on his time by his appointment as Health Commissioner for Hawke’s Bay. It would be as well for the local bodies of country towns to see to the cleanliness of the areas under their jurisdiction, as Dr. de Lisle intends shortly to visit the whole of the district over which he has control. Duty has been paid on £81,315 in the estate of tho late Mr A. M‘Hardy. Mr A. L. D. Fraser, M.H.R., has approached the Minister for Defence with a view to getting a lot of old stock in the shape of short carbines which at one time formed part of the Armed Constabulary equipment, issued to the big State schools for the use of the children. The question is “ under consideration.” The news of the relief of Mafeking is hourly expected and arrangements are being made for the event to be “ kept up ”in right royal style here. The two old fashioned big guns, now doing duty as ornaments in Clive Square, will be fired as the signal for the outburst of a flow of patriotic enthusiasm which has been slowly but steadily accumulating ever since tlio relief of Ladysmith.