CHARITABLE AID.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4191, 13 August 1892, Page 2

CHARITABLE AID.

How it is Distributed,

In his speech on tho "Wairarapa Hospital District Bill, Mr A. W. Hogg, M. H. R., is reported to have said that every year since the Charitable Institutions Act was passed, in 1885, a very large amount of money indeed had been drained from a district which supported its own poor, down to Wellington. It bad been asserted that the poor in the country districts gravitated to the oities. It was no doubt the case that the poor of surrounding districts gravitated to the latge centres, but there were large centres in the Wairarxpa. There was a large centre at Masterton; and there were considerable centres jn other partß of the distriot— Carterton, Greytown, Pahiatua, and Woodville—and he asked whether it was reasonable toassume that the poor of that country should gravitato to Wellington when they were more likely to gravitate tp centres nearer at hand, Was jt Reasonable that people living a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles from Wellington should be called upon to contribute to the pooi of that city 1

In 1890-91 ho found that the Wais rarapa North County, subsidy included, contributed £1,051 to the United Charitable Aid Board, and received iii ret'urn The Wai(iftraiig ' powty contributed £1,085, receiving' in re'tufn £BO. The Borough of Masterton contributed J6249, and received nothing. Then the amount levied in excess of the moneys that were allocated by the Board lor \Vairarapa North County was £701; for South (Jopty, £1,005; for Mhsterton Borough, £2-10 /'for Qieytown. £B2: or £1,988 15s id for that year, About £I,OOO, In round numbers, was taken from the "Wairarapa to help the poor pf another locality separated from it by neajly a jiunilred' wile's.' Coming to a latej Sate,"the demands made upon the contributory local authorities in the Wairarapa Hospital District for. the "year 189J.|)3

—he meant the present year—were as follow : Wairarapa North, £631; ;South County, £651 9a 4d; County .of Pufaiatua, £lOl 6s 8d; Borough of Masterton, £149 2s 9d; Carterton, £3B 13s 7d;Greytown, £43 12s Bd. The total amount was £1,616 7s 6d; making, with the Government subsidy, £3,230 15s obtained from this remote country district, And bow much of this money was returned to the district which contributed 1 Here were the figures: North Wairarapa Benevolent Society, LSOO ; Pahiatua, LIOO ; Waitarapn South County, LSO; or a total of L6so—leaving a sum of L 2.580 16s drained from the Wairarapa District for the support of the poor of Wellington, The total contributions from the ratepayers of the Wairarapa District, amounted under the present system to L 1,695 7» 6il for the present year, The amount which wna required by the local institutions for the poor of their own district was L 325 leaving a balance against Wellington of L 1,209 7s Gd. The Wairarapa and Pahiatua Counties, with the boroughs therein, \yould, (luring the current year, be compelled to contribute to the United Charitable Aid Board to maintain the poor in Wellington, nearly L 1,300 more than was required for local distribution, and the Wellington institutions would be credited to the extent, including subsidies, of L 2,580.