HAWKE'S BAY HERALD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1862. THE LANCASHIRE DISTRESS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 6, Issue 336, 22 November 1862, Page 4

HAWKE'S BAY HERALD SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1862. THE LANCASHIRE DISTRESS.

To beg is a thankless task. Few persons are found willing to undertake the duty, and few {fisitors.are.n^Qre. unwelcome than they who bear a subscription list in. their Hirad§. L "^ph,iar^uirs : tenapT|y - 'in matter s . affecting^ thp .breeches pocjpet ,|s j»ro jrerbial j . but, nevertheless j Jwhen his 1 sympathy is arpuß^d— whea a. .casV of - real distress is fftirly l§,id b|fQre Kirn as 4he is 'fta\ly conf vinced that it is such, and not one. of. the

numerous impostures by: which iie'is constantly beset, then he is found to be on the whole a kind-hearted old gentleman, ready to lend his aid toward^ the alleviation of suffering at. home or abroad. Since the time of the patriotic fund for the relief of the widows and orphans of the soldiers who fell in the Crimea, there has not been any subscription of so na-" tional a character -as that which we desire again to urge upon the attention of our readers. Indeed, the claim of the distressed cotton spinners is stronger than that of the heroes of the Crimea, inasmuch as the latter had an indisputable claim upon the national exchequer, whilst the former have (without special enactment) no other resource than the local poor rates, already strained to the utmost, but utterly inadequate to meet the emergency that has arisen, and by which many of the rate payers have become paupers. Who will say that the patient toil of Lancashire and Yorkshire has done less to raise England to her proud position among the Nations of the Earth, than the bravery of her soldiers and sailors ? It was the policy of England to take part in the contest of which the Crimea was the scene, and many of her soldiers fell victims in the discharge of their duty. Now, the scene is changed ; non-intervention is the watchword of the day ; and the national policy is to refrain from that interference in foreign affairs which might probably put an end to the contest now raging in America and re-acting upon the cotton districts of England. But the peace policy bids fair to be as destructive as that of war, and unless some comprehensive measure has ere this been adopted it is to be feared that, during this (English) winter, famine will be more fatal in peace than the sword in war. But whilst in the latter case the sufferers are themselves beyond the reach of pecuniary aid, in the other such aid is all that is required to remove the immediate distress. If, then, we need any excuse for bringing before our readers a subject which has already been touched upon on more than one occasion in the columns of the Herald, we reply that thousands of our countrymen at home are reduced to the verge of starvation who were recently in comparative affluence — -and that from no fault or improvidence of their own, though perhaps from a national improvidence in suffering such an important branch of British industry to be dependant almost entirely on the caprice of a single foreign nation. We are glad to see that some steps have already been taken (as we informed our readers on Tuesday) for obtaining subscriptions in aid of the Lancashire relief fund. Although each single subscription may appear a trifle towards the mitigation of so great an evil, it should be remembered that the large sums now being gathered throughout the British dominions will principally of an accumulation of small amounts. There are few persons in this Province who cannot afford to do something in aid of their fellow-country-men. Whole families in Lancashire are now keeping themselves alive for a week upon a much less sum than would be received as a day's wages by a single labouring man in Napier. The price of one " nobbier " would be more than a day's subsistence to a starving cotton spinner in Manchester. We urge, then, every man to do something, and as the distress may yet be of long duration, we would suggest a weekly or monthly contribution, so long as it shall last, and trust that all who have time and opportunity will aid the cause with their exertions amongst friends and neighbours, both in town and in the country, so that the Province of Hawke's Bay, if it be among the hist, may not be among the least, of the respondents to the cry of distress from Home.