Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1903. THE CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 17 March 1908, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 1903. THE CHARITABLE AID BOARD.

which such a cost would entails It is quito likely, t/h*refore> that H tho Cltei.ijble Aid Board is obstinate and assesses the City Council on the basis of a £6000 building, an appeal aßainsl the assessment will follow, and probably be upheld. The Waimea County Council and the other local rating bodies, the latter more or less only nominally represented on the Board, will also decidedly object to pay an unnecessary increased contribution for Charitable Aid. Hence, the solid Majority on the Board who seam aWxious to saddle the rating bodies- with tho cost of a fancy Home that may become a white elephant may reriM oh having a lively tune in thefr own local bodies and with Ih'e ratepayers subsequently should the m y succeed in then de- « » • • • As carefully ascertained data have shown, tho present population basis of the Old People's Homo is not liKe'y to be increased by natural means— and it is not to be supposed that Nelson is i;oing to build and maintain a Home to which inmates from other districts are to bo invited. As time advances the number of old people likely to seek charitable aid will decreaso in proportion ns they become entitled to the old ago pension. Some of these will ask admission to the Homo and pay their commutation ; but on the other hand a fair number will maintain themselves among, and with the help of relatives and friends. The position! therefore, is that as the present inmates pass away their places may bo filled by others, but there is not likely to be any demand for more wcfra»» d*tU,n, than a roomy, .übsta nt.al, P a m» one-storied, building would furnish. people; a most undesirablo and objectionable contingency, # , , Under these conditions it is obvious that the expenditure of six "i" »«;<» thousand pounds on an elaborate building for an Old People's HbMe ytoM «* sheer extravagant. The people, of both city and county are Wily rated already, and there are liabilities to be faced in the immediate future. In the Waimea County the renewal o bridges, the extension of roads, and the restoration of existing roads are alreadv urgent needs, and erelong an mcr««a loan rate must be contemplated In the city municipal taxation, is a j read ? ashich as circumstances can stand and ?he ratepayer* are confronted wiMi an almost immediate expenditure of at east £25 a head !or drainage ~« n « ctw ™: Street maintenance will a so , demand attention very shortly, while the commitments in other directions we also heavy In these cucumstaces, *hile both city and county may be prepared to bear a moderate increase of the charStable aid rate in order to do their duty bv the aged poor, the Charitable Aid BWd wluld be straining its function, and assuming a power it does not moially possess if it attempted to impose a heavyTdditional rate by means ot extravagant expenditure on an Old People _s Home costing about £6000, When a building costing only about £2000 will do as well. There , is on the Board a solid, and a somewhat firm, majority that seoms determined on the one hand to spend little or nothing on improving the condition of the old people in a place they will have to occupy for , se \»™ months to come, while on the other it is equally bent on wasting money by constructing an unnecessarily costly new ouUding f<* * S° me - Bu { thc m^ mh^ s of the Board should be made to recogmse that after all they are only delegates from the rating bodies whose interests they are bound to consider, and that thev are the trustees of the Bv means of an imperfect and Dut-ot-dite Act of constitution the Board is fbt to arrogate to itself certain powers the Legislature newer meant, to confer. If advantage be taken of those powers tho members of the Board, sooner or later, will have to confront the verdict of public, opinion, and even public election or rejection, based on approval or disapproval of their actions. Hence, it is hoped that tho Board will neither flout the City Council by rejecting its nomination of a membor to fill the vacancy, I nor olunge loral bodies into useless exi penditure or litigation by extravagance in connection with the building of a new Old People's Hom«.

A TIMELY WARNING. THE Chajito-blo Aid Eonj mootj, to morrow evening, when two important matters will como before it — one of representation and the other of taxation, with regard to the former, it will be remembered that owing to the approaching departure of a delegate duly elected by the Nelson City Council, his seat on tno Board has become vacant by resigna. tiou. At the last meeting of the Board it v.-as decided to extend to the Council the courtesy of asking it to nominate a successor, but the appointment of a certain member of the Council and ex-mem-ber of the Board who is persona grata with the solid country majority that now ruk -5 tho Board, was recommended. One sap -i nt country member of the Board went so far as to declare that he would agree to tho communication only on condition that the Council appointed the Board s nominee and no other. The City Council, however, considered that it had reasons to appoint one of the councillors other than the one recommended by the Board, and it remains to be seen whether the Board will accept the appointment, or exercise its right to elect whom it chooses. By one of *he many anachronisms in the system o ( constituting a Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, it is competent for the body to fill an extraordinary vacancy by selecting anyone it likes, even though that person may not be on a local rating body. Thg anomaly is in line with the circumstance that, following general elections of the rating bodies sending doleptes to the Board, it is quits possible for the Board to consist for months thereafter of members who are on no local body, and therefore responsible to neither a local body jior to the ratepayers. Under theso conditions it is no wonder that modern legislation is demanded to .-.mend the constitution of tho Boards very thoroughly, on a populaT and logical elective bisi:,. * >i * » « Fortunately, public opinion has some force as a rule, and in time the Boards get cleansed of their non-representativa element. Hence tho anomaly and evil of irresponsible membership are held in some check. But there remain the other anomaly and evil of a Board having the power to fill a vacancy instead of that power being vested solely in the local rating body that has lost a delegato or in the voting public To-mor-row evening the Nelson Board, if it has the temerity to do so, may reject the nomination of Cr. Bisley made by tie City Council to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Cr. Franklyn and appoint Cr. Pettit instead. Such a increased by natural means — and it is sincerely hoped that it will' not now arise. The necessity for an amendment of the constitution of the Boards is imperative enough; but the over-riding of a local rating body's nomination would precipitate that amendment, for the Dominion would be amazed and indignant at the extreme possibilities of the thoroughly out-of-date Wfftem by which its Charitable Aid Boards are formed. • • • • The other matter of importance before the Charita.ble Aid Board to-morrow will be a decision wih regard to the cost of the new building it is intended to erect in place of the utterly unsuitable and worn-out structure that now does duty for an Old People's Home in Nelson. Apart altogether from the question of site it is obvious to all who are not carried away by a fad that a buildinß costing about £2000, or even £2600, will meet all requirements in view of the fact that the population of the Home- is stationary, if, indeed, not on the decrease. The Board, however, has been nursing an elaborate scheme to erect a buildinc; to cost over £6000, and not long ago the Government simply declined to consider the grant of any subsidy on such an extravagant basis. It must be remembered that the major part of the unnecessary £6000 will have to be a permanent charge on the rates, and the city at least cannot stand an increase