THE ORPHAN HOSPITAL

Press, Volume II, Issue 45, 22 March 1862, Page 1

THE ORPHAN HOSPITAL

IGoi_ a into a friend's study one morning, we remember finding him engaged in conversation with a stranger. The firs, sentence which caught our ear. was somewhat startling.—"Come now," said the stranger, " I'll tell you what I'll do—l'll give you two idiots for an orphan." Our friend did not appear at all surprised by the Btrange proposal. On enquiry we found that the offer intended was, two votes for the next election to a vacancy in the Asylum for idiots, in exchange for one vote for tho next election to the Orphan' Asylum on Haverstock hill. In fact the elections to those numerous and magnificent establishments which have sprung up in the last century have become matters of excitement, of competition, eveu of barter, to an extent of which those who have never taken up the cause of a protege have little idea. Most of the orphan asylums in which'hundreds of children are now well fed, clothed, housed, and educated, are supported entirely by voluntary contributions; and the mode of election, by the "votes of subscribers, is the very means of keeping up the subscriptions. There is no one form of charity, so satiafactory, "because so effideat. as thisu A man may have brought his poverty ou himself by a life of indulgence and vice. Even disease may have originated in licentiousness. .And though such suffering, more or less self-imposed, may not, in Christian duty indeed does not, relieve a neighbour from the demand- of charity, still it must be confessed there is something unsatisfactory about the giving of alms, when we feel that the misery we are relieving is the deserved punishment of crime. Again, in bestowing relief upon adults, the suspicion not unfreqiiently enters, that we may be deceived in the object of our charity, and that, after all, our dole may ■be used to feed the vices of the sturdy beggar class. L 'lThe pleasure which a generous man experiences in giving is curtailed by filch fears. But to take tho orphan child out of the street, to reclaim him from vice, and dirt, aud w__t, f is a task which has no drawback.' The child's* misery is involuntary, not deserved; it's relief is gehufne and cannot be misapplied. It is not only the purest and holiest form of charity, but it is the most needful: we have learnt that much of late in En&liand. When transportation was done away with, and the difficult question arose, what are we to do with our criminals, some men who looked deeper into questions than their neighbours asked—can we not 'diminish the number of our criminals altogether? Thence arose the enquiry— where do so many criminals come from ? The answer was obvious ; from the highways and hedges, —from the araba and outlaws of our cities—the orphans both by nature and by art, by the death of parents and by the desertion of parents. A whole race were found to be reared in the very heart of our society, whose hand was against every man and every man's hand against them. Herds of children were growing up into formidable armies of criminals. Some one then who took the economical view of the matter thought it worth while to enquire which of the two were cheapest, to reform and educate the children, and turn them out respectable citizens, or

to leave them till they grow up, and then prosecute them and keep them idle in gaol. Even apart from the social and Christian view, a very little examination shewed that, in the monied aspect of the question, as a speculation, it was far better that the race of neglected children should be transmuted by the alchemy of care and education into orderly working men and women. Hence ragged schools, reformatories, and orphanages innumerable, which now, thank God, are spreading over the whole of England. There is to be an orphanage established in Christchurch —not indeed to be, for it may be said that there is one; a tolerably comfortable home is provided, a matron hired, and a few children already received. Now, whether it be in education, or in distributing ordinary charitable aid, or in other matters of a similar nature, we believe the instinct and natural desire of Englishmen to be, that such things should be done, not by government, but by the voluntary exertion of those who are willing to give themselves to the work. As the support should be voluntary, so the management should be voluntary also. And therefore in this case we are glad to find that the orphanage is entirely a private and voluntary institution. Indeed there is something remarkable about its establishment. It did not appear before the public as a scheme, but as a reality. The public were not asked to support it when it should be founded, but are asked to support it because it is founded. The thing was done first in a quiet unpretending manner, and the public are now appealed to, not to let it go down again. A part of the funds, we hear, are to be supplied by government, which is quite as it should be. A considerable part of the charitable aid distributed by the Government, has been devoted to the support and education of orphans left destitute. Now the only mode in which such children can be taken care of ia by putting them under the charge of some woman who will lodge, feed, and clothe them, for a weekly charge. In an asylum of the description now formed, the expence of maintaining such children ought to be much less than in the case of a single child. The Government therefore will no doubt send all the orphans it is compelled to support to this Hospital. The House is set up by, and is under the management and inspection of, the Standing Commission of the Diocesan Synod. We may therefore anticipate that it will be well looked after. The children are to receive no instruction. They are to be simply boarded, lodged, and clothed, and are to be .sent to the ordinary schools as any other children from their homes. Thus, some may go to the Church schools, some to the Presbyterian, some to the Wesleyan, just as they have been brought up, or as their surviving friends wish. This is an admirable plan, as it gets rid of all sectarian character in the establishment. But could not this institution be extended ? There i 8 no more urgent want in this colony at present, than some means of providing education for the multitude of children who are growing up barbarians and heathens on the sheep stations. Many of the parents could and would send up their children to town for education, if they were sure that they would be taken care of at a moderate expense. Why should not this orphanage be extended so as to take in all children whatever whose parents would pay so much a year for their maintenance ? We believe this has been already suggested to the patrons, but we do not know* whether it has been adopted. It would in" no way interfere with the value of the establishment as an orphanage, and would, by greatly increasing the number of children, diminish the average cost of each. No institution has yet been established which seems to us to have a greater claim on the public than this, and especially on those who, residing at a distance from towus, are not called on so frequently to put their bauds in their pockets as those who are easier got at when any charitable subscription is required. Tho orphanage is at present in its infancy. We suppose the patrons—that is the Standing (tumnis.ion of the Synod—are the persons who are to grant

admissions. We would suggest whether it would not be desirable to adopt the admirable plan in use in similar institutions in England, and to make subscriptions give a right of voting for candidates to be admitted, and that in proportion to the amount of the subscription. A donation of a certain amount should give the privilege of a perpetual appointment. Thus, in some of the Asylums in England, the Queen can keep one'child perpetually in the institution in virtue of a donation once made at the founding of the school. A smaller donation gives the right of nominating one child: a still smaller donation gives the donor so many votes for the next election; and an annual subscription gives so many voles at each annual election. Thus numbers of persons who would not subscribe to an institution in which they had no peculiar interest, readily do so in order to help some particular child for whom they or their friends are concerned. The Government in that ease would probably give an annual subscription, entitling the Superintendent to nominate one or more children perpetually to the asylum. We throw these fewhints out for the consideration of the patrons of the orphanage, hoping they "will not be considered inappropriate or intrusive.