Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1909.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7824, 17 June 1909, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1909.

.When speaking on A Plka, the question of un- . ■ fok ' employment at the ' Fairer last meeting of the Representation. Borough, Council the Mayor (Mr BE. Davis) referred to the unfairness with-.which the district was represented .oh the Charitable Aid Board; He did hot wish to reflect in any way on the representatives for the district, but-he had always advocated thaj/ the -Mayor :or the borough should be' elected, ex-; officio, to the position, because men and women who were in need ot. temporary assistance invariably waited on the Mayor of the town and explained their case. Since he had been Mayor of Ashburton—and he did not say it boastingly—he had had occasion to put his hand frequently and deeply in his pocket to assist deserving cases ot need, because he recognised that to recommend the applicants to wait about, and so -through the necessary red-tapeisnv to 1 place their cases before tlie Charitable Aid Board, .would be so much loss of- time; and, as a matter ot tact, applicants whoso cases: demanded urgent relief could not possibly go through these formalities. 'He believed that the Dorcas Societies and Ladies Guilds were doing good work among the poor; but he could assure the meeting that if he had £50 per month to distribute during the winter he could find applicants to absorb the whole of that amount. As far as he knew, there were no cases in the borough that could be classified as cases of even semi-starvation, but there were many , families , who would be pleased to .receive some assistance in obtaining necessary extra "firing and other necessaries during the winter months. The ratepayers'of Ashburton paid a large amount annually towards charitable aid, but un.der the present unsatisfactory constitution of the Board, Ashburton's poor were, by force of circumstance, overlooked in favour of the poor- in the larger centre—Christchurch. Mr Davis here states the_whole case very temperately and very justly, and the change lie advocates should be made with as little delay as possible, for the double reason that it is called for in the interest of the district's fair representation on an important body, and m the interest of those who have claims upon : the . district's humanity, and, in a special and imme^ diate sense, on the nibney found by the district for the relief of those who are in need of practical human. assistance. ".'. ...