A NOTE OF WARNING

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 233, 19 September 1911, Page 2

A NOTE OF WARNING

LET THE STATE DO IT.

“How much ionger are we going to feed everybody with a spoon and allow them io ncglecl duties and respmisibilitics. etcii when these duties cost them absolutely nothing:

••This cpiestion, put by < olonel Hogues at a mt eting of tlie Shefliekl aaliieatioii Committee, is one which many thoughtful men and women are putting at Hie present time, and it, is ori!? winch will have to tie laced spei'diiv ii we are to save tlie nation from a soilness which must compas,, the ilowmall of rmgland, says the ■■Leicester Mail. What’s the End? “It is so easy to swim with the stream, and to say smooth things ; so easy for politicians to say t o the working iiiati, ’ijcave it to tlie titate let the Stale do it.' But the case which was before the Sheffield Education Committee recently roused men 01 noth parties from t-ncir lethargy ami made good Radicals, who spout platftmms on public platforms, ask liieinsei.es, ‘\Vnere is all this going lo mid

“Tbc point is one worHi LivingLas', year in Sheffield, as the result of examination by school medical officers, 31GI children were reported ,is haring defective vision or- eyes which needed attention. The pa.l- - ol the whole oi tnese chiklien were comimiiin ated wit h, and advised to get, suitable treatment, but m spite of several warnings only 1511, or less than half, received any uearment whateier. ’Poor people, ,ve shall b" told, how sad that they ..-(Hili! not afford to obtain the necessary treatment when they knew ilie'ir children were likely to be han.liuappcd bv defective vision. “Notking of the sort. Of the 1541 chilihen who vein attended to 856 received 'recommends,’ and we had it on the authority of the Lord Mayor of Sheffiel<.Lt.hgt in evert ”'.sc whFre .J.._ parents satisfied the Committee that they were unable to pay medical attention was freely and gratuitouslv given to the children, and where spectacles were required these were also provided at the public lost. The Chairman of the School •lanageumnt Committee who was Radical candidate for one of the Sheffield divisions at the last election) frank!v confessed that the real diffiettltv was that ‘so large a proportion of \he parents were indifferent o the apncals made to them, and neglected all the facilities offered, even when at no expense to thein-

" ■■Tiiat is the worst tendency of modern legislation. Nobody would wish that a child should either be hungry or sick and be denied help oceans:* its parents had not the vhercwithal to furnish the needful. Dur hospitals, our free dinner funds, the manv voluntary institutions so -nmerousiy supported by the public, esiifv to the readiness of English LLrle to help the needy, and especiallv children. What is eminently dis.marteniug is to find that the more Ihe St at/does in this direction the more we seem to undermine parental responsibility in certain quarters. It ’r»- quite Inie. and we gladly aeknow-

ujfelge the fai t, that many working I men still take pride in tlieir families, had would scorn Io ask for public ' .jelp in auv direGieii where they can Help t'.iemsMvcs. But everyone who is emriiged in public life, or in social ,vork. will tell you that it is equally . rue that tlie number of parents who are prepared to ‘shirk their obvious duty’ is growing greater every year, and that, modern legislation seems to sap the independence to which we iiseti to ]>oint so proudly as a trait >f (he character of the English workng man. That Which Men Sow. “For the moment politicians may tickle the ears of the mob by decryI mg that ‘si'lf'-lielp’ which used to be a cardinal plank in Radical platform. Tliev may substitute for tlie old moi io of helping people to help ihcmsolves the new motto. ‘Leave-(•■,-cr.v•:king t<> the State,’ and for the moment they will have their reward, j’et even in the twentieth century men (!<> mil. gather ‘grapes ot thorns or tig:: of t hist les,’ and amid much whicii changes in this changeable world one law is immutable. That whicii men sow whclher as individuals nr as parlies (hat shall they also reap.'’