Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] TUESDAY, MAY 8, 1894. OUR BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4713, 8 May 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] TUESDAY, MAY 8, 1894. OUR BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

Last week a widow informed us that she was threatened with a bailiff for some arrears of rent, which she had been unable to pay off. We advised her to apply to the Benevolent Society to assist her in her difficulty, as there waß reason to believe that if she were helped round this corner she would be able 10 run alone and support her family, The widow took our advice, and applied to the Benevolent Sooiety, but yesterday she came to us to say that distraint had been made, and the officer of the law Was thon in possession. We applied personally to the Chairman of the Benevolent Sooiety to come to kec rescue, but he told us that nothing could ba done till the Society held its monthly meeting. In the interim he admitted the widow's furniture would bo removed, and she and her ohildren turned out into the street. The use of the Benevolent Society under Bach... circumstances is a little problematical, unless, looking at the season of the year for life in the open, it is intended to come in as a Funeral Association. It was clearly a case where it would not do to rely upon a Benevoleflt Society, so an appeal was' made in our last issue for the pnblia to do the work, which the Benevolent Society is specially intended to undertake. We may state that the avowed objeot ot the distraint was to seize the widow's furniture and to put it in an auction room, and turn her out of her cottage, These nice frosty nights would no doubt be fully appreciated by a woman and ohildren bundled out of their home with no other place to go to, There is another aspect of the question from the Benevolent Society's point of view, Had the widow and her ohildren been turned out in the cold the police authorities would probably, have interfered and compelled the Benevolent Society to provide for (hem. The result of this would have been that the-Society would have had to find ten tiroes as muoh money as was required to pay out the bailiff. At the present time the woman in question is practically earning a living, She has a stookiug-knUtiog machine, and orders on hand for Books, she also has a sewing machine, For the Benevolent Sooioty to allow these waobioPß to be seized and sold simply Means cutting away the woman's livelihood and forcing her to depend in toto on the society, in fact, creating a permanent pauper. Wehava alwaja in connection witli this society advocated the polioy of helping poor people to help themselves,and outting down weekly doles and allowances. It is on this well defined principle that we say that in the present instance assistance should have been given, and given promptly. Asooiety whioh has to wait for a monthly meet' ing before dealing with an urgent case is practically useless.