CHARITABLE AID.

Evening Star, Issue 10402, 25 August 1897, Page 1

CHARITABLE AID.

The circumstances in connection with the Home of the Aged Needy in Wellington, which have recently attracted public attention throughout the Colony, seem to us to point very clearly the moral that there is urgent necessity for radical reform in the whole system of charitable aid. Whatever may be the rights of the particular questions involved, there can be, no doubt,, .whatever that the administration- has hot been satisfactory, and that the Trustees must be considered' mainly responsible. Defective as the law is with regard to hospitals and charitable institutions, in no respect does it more require amendment than in regard to the constitution of the governing bodies. There are too many such bodies to begin with, and the method of election is not favorable to popular representation and the direct responsibility of the members.

In Wellington the conduct of the Home for the Aged Needy—an institution much on the lines of the Benevolent Asylum at Caversham—has been for some time the subject of ugly rumors, and had become very much a public scandal, when at last the Trustees consented to an inquiry into the condition of the Home being made by two well-known philanthropic ladies —Mrs Fitzgerald (the widow of the late Controller-General) and Mrs Williams. A few days ago these ladies submitted their report, which is very outspoken, forcible, and trenchant. After much consideration they state that they have come to the conclusion that, "owing to various causes, there is an "entire disorganisation and demorali- " sation of the affairs of the Home," and therefore, "without wishing to make any "complaint against the master and "mistress," they deem it imperative for them to resign. They also express a very decisive opinion that it is advisable for all the Trustees to resign, and that tho Goyernor-in-Council should be asked to appoint a commission to carry on the affairs of the Home until the election of new Trustees in January. These are very sweeping recommendations, and the condemnation is absolutely without reserve. We do not, however, understand why there should be such reticence as to the grounds upon which this condemnation is justified. In a matter of such moment the public fairly have the right to know something at least as to the premises on which the conclusions were based. From the character of the ladies who carried out the inquiry there is every reason to believe that they ' were fully satisfied as to the conditions disclosed, the facts brought under their notice, and the evidence given. It would be eminently desirable, for instauce, that the reasons should bo given for recommending so extreme a course as the vacating of .office'by all the Trustees ; and it should certainly be known, in view of projected amendments of the law, in what respect or respects this particular Board of Trustees have failed so signally in their duty as to render wholesale retirement essential in the public interests. As to the master and mistress of the Home, this matter is very serious for them. Resignation in their case means ruin, and they can hardly be expected to give up their appointments without good cause being openly shown. The case, wo should certainly conceive, cannot be settled on the report of Mrs Fitzgerald j and Mrs Williams, unless it be supplemented by a statement of facts ascertained and a precis of the general result of their investigations. It is, we are disposed to think, fortunate, in prospect of the early meeting of Parliament, that so conspicuous an object lesson of the operation of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act should have been presented. Very possibly the Wellington Home for the Aged Needy is not the only institution which requires thorough examination and purging out, and it is evident that the official reports presented annually to Parliament are not to be implicitly depended upon. In the report on hospitals and charitable institutions in the Colony for the year ended March 31, 1896—the last available—we find the Wellington Home highly commended in the following terms :—" The admirable " and home-like arrangements of this house "of rest for aged colonists deserve all "commendation. It is pleasant to note " the interest taken in this institution by " many Wellington residents." This is the institution which Mrs Fitzgerald and Mrs Williams report is in a state of "entire disorganisation and demoralisation "! It may be noted that these two good ladies take the opportunity of making a very|valuable suggestion, which, we trust, may be acted upon when the amendment of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act is before Parliament. Tho suggestion is to the effect that on every Board of Trustees of such institutions there should be two lady members, who should act specially as official visitors in all female cases, and should investigate all applications for outside relief by women. This is a practical reform which, we believe, is most urgently required in the interests not only of economy, but of propriety and decency. It is, indeed, fervently to be hoped that the intended reform of the whole system of local government may not be much longer postponed. In no respect is it more desiraWe than in the management of hospitals and the administration of charitable aid. Thisi management an 4 administration, owing to peculiar methods of the election of district boards and trustees, seem to be monopolised for years together by the same persons, who, when first elected, were in most cases members of borough or county councils, but have long ceased to be representatives in any sense of their fellow-citizens, and are in no way amenable to public opinion. In some mysterious manner they have seemingly become permanent occupants of seats on the Boards, and the result is clearly pot altogether satisfactory. The process recommended by the Wellington ladies in regard to the Home for Aged Needy in that city—a clean sweep of the Board of Management —might with advantage be applied to some other districts we wot pf,