RESCUE WORK IN AUCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 29, 3 February 1905, Page 2

RESCUE WORK IN AUCKLAND.

A BID FOE TRUST MONEY. £1500 AT STAKE. Four lawyers were engaged in Chambers at the Auckland Supreme Court this morning in a case involving £1571 of trust money. The ease, which was heard before Mr Justice Edwards, was one in ■which Mr Clayton, on behalf of the trustees of a charitable fund of the amount stated, now lying unused, applied for the Court's sanction of a scheme to hand the money over to the management committee of the Door of Hope Rescue organisation in Auckland. Mr Sou they Baker appeared on behalf of the Door of Hope, in support of the application. Mr MeVeagh, for Canon Mac Murray and others concerned with the Anglican rescue homes, and Mr C. F. Buddie, for the Salvation Army, opposed the scheme, and urged that the fund should be equally divided between the three organisations. Mr Clayton explained that the fund was founded in 1869 by the wife of the late Sir William Martin, formerly Chief Justice of New Zealand, and its administration was entrusted to a committee of Church of members called the Women's yHp&ie Council of Parnell. It was voluntary subscriptions, and was founded for the purpose of providing a home for fallen women regardless of religious creed, and for promoting their comfort and reformation. A home was carried on for some time on these lines, but was closed in 1870 owing to a dilliculty in securing a suitable matron and site. Regular contributions, however, continued to be received. A year cv two later there was a proposal to start an Auckland Women's Home under an undenominational committee, to do the same work as that of the former home. It was therefore suggested that the fund in question, which then stood at £20S 7/7, should be handed over to this new committee, notwithstanding the fact that it had been entirely subscribed from the Church of England, because the objects of the proposed new home were identical. Tliis was finally done in 1873, and an extract from a report of the new committee acknowledged the gift, without which they admitted they could not have come into existence. The Auckland Home continued to exist till 1874, when, owing to defects in its scheme of management, it was closed with £90 in hand. This sum of £90 was handed to trustees—Mr Robert Walker, a gum merchant, of Shortlandstreet, and Mr Charles Alexander, an agent, of Parnell. They invested it in 1874 in the purchase of a piece of land at Mt. Eden, with the intention of ultimately erecting a rescue home there. They sold the land subsequently for £800, and this sum, with interest, had now grown to £1571. In IS9G the Door of Hope was established for the social, moral, and spiritual welfare of fallen women and young girls. They acquired a property In Cook-street, and that institution wae now on a permanent footing, aided by voluntary subscriptions of the public at large and work done by the inmates. It was entirely unsectarian, being unconnected with any particular church. It was managed by a committee elected by subscribers of not less than a guinea.

On two occasions, continued Mr. Clayton, applications were made to the Supreme Court to have the money paid over to Mrs. Cowie's Home, which was a Church of England institution. No order was made, however, on either occasion, the learned judges—Mr. Justice Gillies and Mr. Conolly—being of opinion that Mrs. Cowie's Home did not fulfil the conditions, being denominational, and controlled by a self-elected committee. If provision were made, said Mr. Justice Gillies, for the election of the committee of management by the subscribers, so as to give it permanency and an undenominational character, he would order that the money be paid over to them. The existing committee, however, refused to make the change. In 18SKJ, when the application was repeated before Mr. Justice Conolly, he came to the same conclusion. At that time the Salvation Army and the Door of Hope opposed the application, and the same option was again given to the Anglican committee of becoming undenominational and getting the money, and was again declined.

The trustees now submitted that the Door of Hope was the only institution which fulfilled all the conditions, and its work was precisely similar to that for which the fund was originally founded. The trustees wished him to point out that Mrs. Cowie's Home had, since they were last before the Court, received a bequest of £10,000, and they thought it hardly fair (to put it in that mild way) that the committee of that home should seek to obtain a share of this money also.

Mr. Baker, for the Door of Hope, briefly supported, but said the suggestion to hand the money to his clients originated entirely with the trustees of the fund. They did not wish to depreciate the good work done by others, but considered they were the only society qualified to obtain the money.

Mr McVeagli, opposing on behalf of the Church oi England, submitted affidavits aign6ti by £he .widoy tlje late Dr. Kinder) of Remiiera, on<> of the original contributors to the fund, Miss Hudson, superintendent of the present Anglican home of Mrs Cowie's at Otahuhu, and Canon Mac Murray. affidavits, read by Mr McVeagb, emphaeised the fact that the fund was started entirely by Anglican money, and enlarged mainly from the same source. The home at Otahuhu, built on 7J acres at a total cost of £4681, was undenominational, but the inmates were required to attend the Anglican services and prayers held there. There was no proselytising. Mr Justice Edwards: If they are not Anglicans you ask them to do what must be against their conscience if you make them attend these services. His Honor continued that when the money was handed over to an undenominational committee no one objected. Mr McVeagli: Mrs Kinder actually resigned. The Judge: But she submitted to it. Mr McYeagh: She certainly took no proceedings. Mr MeVeagh quoted authorities on his contention that the purpose of the founder of the fund must be adhered to. The Door of Hope could not be undenominational, because it bad religious objects. Was it, therefore, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Hebrew, or what? Mr Clayton: It's committee is elected by the" subscribers. Mr MeVeagh: It is easy to put a number of names on the subscription list, for the purpose of carrying a certain point. This is not unknown in Auckland. The Judge: They must have a conscientious desire to advance their ends to the extent of a guinea each. Mr MeVeagh produced a document showing that in 1899 the three sectsAnglican. Salvation Army, and Door of Hope —applied for the distribution of the fund equally among them. His Honor said the law did not seem to provide for the splitting up of the

fund, but for its administration. "You would v have had it all," he added, "if you had given up your sectarianism." Mr C. F. Buddie spoke for the Salvation Army, and was asked by His Honor if the Army was undenominational.

"Oh, yes," replied Mr Buddie. Counsel submitted an affidavit of the local adjutant as to the work of the Army's home and the management of its fundsTrust moneys were treated as local funds, and -were banked and treated entirely separate from the general funds. The Home was quite undenominational. The Door of Hope had the same power to introduce denominationalism as the other bodies.

Mr Baker said any attempt to do so would produce a great commotion among the subscribers.

Mr Clayton said the claim of the Anglicans on this fund after getting the bequest of £10.000 looked like greed. The Salvation Army, on the other hand, was an entirely irresponsible body. His Honor reserved his decision.