HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE AID.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9160, 15 September 1888, Page 3

HOSPITALS AND CHARITABLE AID.

TO THE EDITOR.

SiK ; —Of the many subjects which at iresent engage the public mind there is probably no one of greater importance than ; hat of hospitals and charitable aid. The subject has been so ably treated by Dr. McGregor in his report, presented a short time ago to Parliament, and more lately in your leading columns, that it may seem superfluous for mo to add anything to what has already been said —and so well said ; but as the subject is one which has engaged my thoughts and attention for some time past, and as I have one or two ideas which may possibly piove of some practical use—or perhaps of no use—l venture to place them before the public as the only contribution I feel able to give towards the solution of this very important and intricate question. The following is a quotation from Dr. McGregor's report: —"I have found that nothing in the world so rapidly freezes the genial current of the human soul as .1 house-to-house visitation of the recipients of our out-door relief. Such an experience soon convinces the most sympathetic philanthropist, if ho have any sufficient intelligence to grasp the causes of things, that justice and not mere good nature must be the principle of the State's conduct in dealing with the poor." It was the spectacle of the direful effects produced in England by the system of outdoor relief, presented in such a manner that it was impossible to shut the eyes of the nation to the evil, that once and for ever sealed the doom of the system of out-door relief in the old country. With the record of such an experience, accessible and readily available for reference in the report of the English Poor Law Commission of 1832, it has always seemed to me a matter of astonishment that this vicious system should have been introduced and nourished in our beautiful colony until it has grown to be an evil of so great a magnitude that it is impossibe for the most unthoughtful person in the community to shut his eyes to it. The iirst impulse of every kindly person when cases of hardship and destitution come under his notice is immediately, if in his power, to endeavour to relieve the distress, and whore the suffering passes in intensity a certain limit, it is impossible, and it may also be said inadvisable and wrong, to resist this impulse, but a regard for the highest welfare of the sufferer himself must give us pause before we allow ourselves to yield thoughtlessly and unreservedly to this impulse without taking into consideration the effect which our yielding to it will have not only upon the sufferers, but even upon ourselves. To treat the subject in anything like an exhaustive, or even a partially inadequate manner, would entail the necessity of writing not a letter to the newspaper, but a treatise, and there are philosophical and moral questions raised in the sentences which immediately precede the quotation I have already given, and also more particularly in the last paragraph of page seven and first paragraph of page eight of Dr. McGregor's report, upon which whole libraries have been already written.

Shunning the temptation to even touch upon these recondite if alluring , questions, I lay down the following as the practical result of what little thought I have given to the subject:— 1. Any system of charitable aid, devised and sanctioned by law for the colony of New Zealand, to be effective must take into account and conform in its provisions to the circumstances in which our population find themselves placed, and particularly wher* ♦" «se circumstances differ

from the circumstances surrounding the i populations in older countries. I have therefore no hesitation, whilst cordiallyagreeing with all Dr. McGregor's conclusions as to the crying evils of the existing system, and in the general principles of his scheme for a practical remedy, in differing somewhat from him in his proposal to provide in each centre, or near it, workhouses minaged under the most stringent provisions. The workhouse system is, if suitable for any country, of which I have some doubt, certainly only suitable for old countries. I would propose in place of it, but subject to pretty nearly, if not identically, the same regulations with regard to the reception of the inmates, the establishment of model or experimental farms in the vicinity of each of the chief centres. Each of these farms should have two distinct objects, and if necessary two classes of officials to see that these respective objects were each carefulty attended to — first, the organisation and direction of the labour of those received into the institution ; secondly, the conduct of the agricultural and other operations. Anyone making application to be received into such an institution would, necessarily, by the mere fact of such application, confess that he had failed, from some cause or other, in the independent struggle for existence—that is, to maintain himself by his own exertions independently exercised; and would, necessarily, be received into such institution under its regulations as to the amount of labour to be performed by him in exchange for food, clothing, and lodging. No question of remuneration in the shape of wages could, of course, arise or be entertained.

Vicious, demoralised, and helplessly lazy, persons received into such institution, and it being found impossible to get them to conform to its labour test, should be drafted out to an institution of an inferior grade in the nature of a penitentiary and reformatory, where the conditions of life would be much harder, the discipline severe, and effective provision made for meeting the worst, class of cases.

The necessary aid towards the maintenance of the wives and children of any persons received into either of these institutions would be thrown necessarily upon the Charity Organisation Society proposed by Dr. McGregor, which would probably require, as Dr. McGregor has pointed out, some supplement from the Government to its funds.

Such an institution as I have first suggested might easily be made self-support-ing, and experiments of the greatest value to the colony at large—such, for instance, as olive-tree planting, silk culture, cottongrowing, tobacco growing, etc., might be conducted inexpensively upon such model farms.

It being recognised and generally known that the relief of genuine cases of suffering brought on by the pressure of circuruotances was absolutely left to charity organisation societies, the implicit appeal would unquestionably, I feel satistied, find the needful response in the breasts of kindly and benevolent persons who at present escape from the pressure of the sense of responsibility to undertake this work, rulying upon the fact that any person in such circumstances can obtain relief at the Government expense. That which most pleases me in Dr. McGregor's report is his clearly recognising that our present system is contrary to the true order of nature for the reliet of the indigent poor. In so far as" we can bring oui legislation into conformity with such order, it will unquestionably be successful. Where we miss this we will inevitably get into a mess, as we have done in this very matter.

I should like to have touched upon the subject of Hospital administration, but I feel that my communication has, as usual, reached undue limits.—l am, &c,

J. AITKEN COXXELL.

P.S.—My letter does not, oi course, touch upon the subject of how to meet exceptional and temporary occasions, when a number of persons may, through no fault of their own, be thrown for a time out of employment.