THE PROPOSED NEW ZEALAND HUMANE SOCIETY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6696, 4 May 1883, Page 6

THE PROPOSED NEW ZEALAND HUMANE SOCIETY

TO THE EDITOR. ' Sir,-—ln October, XSSI, ■ I advocated, in your columns the establishment in Auckland of a branch of the Victorian Humane Society, for reason that so many well-deserved cases of heroic conduct in saving life have constantly occurred in our midst, and beyond a meed of praise accordcd in the daily press have passed unrequited. About the same time I represented to the directors of the Victorian Humane Society a case of gallant rescue from drowning by Mr. Harry Hull at Helepsville, and that society at the annual meeting awarded him their certificate for the , deed. The same mouth (October S) Mr. W. J. McDounell, in the Harbour Board employ, performed a very gallant act in rescuing a drowning man in the Auckland harbour, and the Board (according to the newspaper reports) promised to represent the matter to the Royal Humane Society in London. Finding twelve months after that no notice appeared to have been taken in the matter, and fully believing that McDonnell's heroic conduct should receive suitable acknowledgment, I laid the factß before the Royal Humane Society of Australasia (the name of tlie Victorian Society being thus altered, as I presently shall show) and the Court of Directors promptly advised me

that they hod decided- to McDonnell, the society's bronZ^, M^ th 6 ? fS g me 10 inform him of the fSi re * that the presentation will take in bourne Town Hall, in July neit .V Me >" al ut 0 re 3 u - st of a few gentlemen Sir > with me that it waa unfair to aadrtf tonan Society with the task of bravery amongst us, I made a of tie principal merchants in Auckland a request for the Victorian Society to branch in our midst. Having Ir^J CTm * signatures 112 only being purpose), headed by His WorsS?,'" X forwarded the same to the society 6 »t Jor ' upon a special meeting was held' ;„7' bourne on 22nd December, ISB] f Mfe '- purpose of considering the matter f ° e according to the Algus of n?l' M Mr. John Wilks, the President whl pied the chair, explained that the™ o<:c,, - desire m Auckland, N«w Zealand, £ f* 3 * » branch, but before that could be ,1 * rule relating to branches must be IT t!le . The operations of the society were^ 6 ?- so extended and numerous that residet :r the adjoining colonies and New Zealand? f £ medals and certificates granted by th» xr 4 tonan Humane Society. Besides thi, i numbers of pamphlets and handbk scribing the best methods to adopt in of drowning, sunstroke, snakebite and other emergencies, had been wideW ■ ! tnbufctd, at great expense to > throuahout alt the colonies. It wa= opinion, much more desirable, ami' , lated to be of greater general ben fit" I to have a central society for all the Ad,73 asian colonies, including New Zealand S' branches wherever they could be fo'rrnlj than for a separate society with t ' limited means to be formed in each of colonies. It was then agreed "Th I branch of the Victori.n Humane Social? established at Auckland, New . 7p,i 7 subject to the by-laws for the for tion of branches ; and that Mr W•' gall be empowered on behalf of this - - ciety to make the necessary for carrying this resolution into Previous to Mr. Weyall's arrival in Auckkr* Mr. Compton, the then Chairman of I?! Auckland Harbour Board, conceived the id that, instead of " playing second fiddle "it Victoria, it would be desirable to form Royal Humane Society in New Zealand an j tabled a motion to tbe effect that other Ha? bour Boards in the colony be invito operate. The delegate from the Humane Society (which in consequence off communication from me had new altered title to the Royal Humane Society of An? tralasia), arrived, and meeting with a damner m the action of our Harbour Board Chii/ man returned and I received a letter, dat«! Melbourne, February 28, 1882, to the eff«+ that tho Court of Directors having fully sidtred the matter upon the return of Air" Weigall (director) from New Zealand h-1 decided not to issue their authority for the formation of the branch, on the ground that there was no clearly expressed wish on the part of tbe community for the establishment of such a branch. Since this date I have occasionally read, in the reports of tha Auckland Harbour meetings, of- the progress being made in the formation of Air. Compton's Royal Humane : Society of New Ztaland, which I see yesterday re ceived its quietus in the approved recemmen. dation of the committee of the' Harbour Board, " that the consideration of nutters in connection with the formation of - a New Zealand Humane Society be, deferred." Whilst this was on the tapis I remained silent, but now I would again urge that an effort be made to obtain a branch of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia here. It has its medals struck having for the motto" Virhite Paratum, and its parchment certificate iucased in morrocco ; it has also its Clarke gold medal, similar to the Stanhope gold medal of the Home Society, awarded to the best case brought before the society m each year. Its pamphlets and handbills are already in i?sue, describing the best methods to be adopted in cases of drowning, ic., and circulated throughout New Zealand/ According to the society's rules for the formation of branches, each branch elects its managing committee, who recommend all cases of bravery occurring in their district to the society's honorary awards, A subscription of 103 per annum constitutes a member of the branch, and half the funds are retained by the branch for incidental expenses. Let ni now have some clearly expressed wish made on the part of the community for the establishment of such branch, say by request'm? His Worship the Mayor to call a pib'd meeting for that purpose. Perhaps a better time could not be chosen than the occasion of the receipt of Mr. McDonnell's medal by the Mayor for his presentation. 1 submit itia much more a matter for. the community to consider than . the Harbour Board alone. However gallant the act may be of an expert swimmer rescuing a life from drowning, it is, I opine, far more heroic for a fireman, or a policeman, or any other man to enter a burning building to rescue women and children from a second floor, with theblaa'n* rafters falling about, and perhaps the stair" case in flames. There are many courageou acts of rescue from the jaws of death, with destruction almost inevitable to the rescuer, as well as from drowning, and were the society solely a " Harbourboardic " one, these gallant deeds would undoubtedly be passed over. Amongst the list of awards by the Colonial Society, I notice, saving from wells, from dams, from baths, waterhoies, rivers, floods, saving from being run over by trains, extinguishing fire in i railway carriage travelling thirty-five miles an hour, from rooms on fire, and also for " great Dravery and imminent risk to hi 3 life incurred in generously signalling an approaching train with police at Glenrowan a few hours prior to the Kelly capture the rails having been broken up." This was to Mr. Thomas Curnow. Although the majority of the awards are for rescue from drowning, the above will show that tie operations of snch a society is not a matfer for the consideration of Harbour Boards alone, but for the general public. I feel suit that the seventeen gentlemen who generously subscribed their names to this object eightea months ago ' will give it their support now if a further effort is made to show the Royal Humane Society of Australasia that the community desire a branch in Auckland, and I am confident that the matter, which has been talked about for three years or more, will soon be an accomplished fact, ia honour to Auckland, and an encouragement to acta of bravery, courage, and humanity.— I am, &c., E. Hadbill ,