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New Zealand Mail, Issue 421, 6 March 1880, Page 23

The problem what to do with the poor in our midst, becomes, day by dayi more difficult of solution. Government grants in aid of benevolent associations fail in sufficiency ; private charity is taxed severely, and the casual appeals made to the public have become so frequent, and press so unduly on those who are the most easily accessible to collectors, that a growing conviction prevails that the whole question of benevolent relief requires legislative dealing. The existence of pauperism as an established evil and incubus on the State is hardly yet admitted, but none can gainsay the existence of penury and straitened circumstances among the masses which finds no amelioration, except in the charity of those who even out of their own small means find something to relieve the necessities of their poorer brethren, such gifts being supplemented, after a fashion, by moneys disbursed from the public purse, but which in distribution does not always flow in the most necessary channels. The entire question of State relief to the poor, and the distribution of charitable aid, forces itself upon public attention, and passing events, indicating a greater degree of poverty in our midst than had previously been credited, should impel legislators to action. A lesson might be learned from the system in vogue of dealing with pauperism in the Swiss cantons. The Spectator recently devoted an article to The fortune of the Swiss poor,” showing how relief to the distressed is not left, to private charity, or supplication to the State for monetary aid, but is a matter of convention, not of right, that it is a loan, not a gift, that misfortune alone constitutes a claim for relief, and that a man may be justly restrained from making Irmself, by wilful extravagance, a charge on the funds for the relief of the poor or a burden on his neighbors. How this is accomplished in the Swiss cantons may be thus briefly stated : The right of the indigent, as such, to pubibsupport is not recognised, the communes as a rule relieving only their own needy members, even if they are settled in other parts of the country, and in some cases even when they are living abroad. The obligation of providing for the poor falls primarily on the family, that is, family connection:are responsible for the succour of in dividual members. Parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, are held respectively responsible for each other’s maintenance when any of them fall into dis-

tress, and rich burghers are con- * rained by law to help their needy kinsfolk. But in addit on to this, or rather as a substitute wh'-re no family aid can be given, public relief is afforded, not as a free gift, but as a temporalv loan, repayment of which may be enforced, should the recipient come thereafter into possession of property, either by inheritance or otherwise. In one canton, St. Gell, even the relatives of a person who gets on in the world can require the return of whatever they may have spent in the relief of his necessities; and before 1874. when all local restrictions on marriage were abolished throughout the confederation, it was th< j custom in several of the older cantons to make the repayment of public alms a condition precedent on matrimony. A most wholesome precaution this against perpetuating 'lie breed of hereditary paupers. The sources from which the means of public relief are provided in Switzerland are many ; poor rates, special levy on the value of property, fines on the fathers of illegitimate children, liquor licenses, half the fortunes of kinle-s intestates, dog tax,, theatre licenses, &e. There is also an accumulated fund arising from re::! estate, which is termed the Fortune of the

oor, and, as shown by the authority we now quoting, the income melded by this fund provides 44L francs out of every thousand dispensed in the relief of the Swiss poor. Each, canton has its own special and separate fund, arising from local revenues, and there is in addition the general fund to meet emergencies and to afford regular assistance to the poorer communes, whose local revenues are insufficient to meet local claims. One development of the system is shown in the circumstance that some communes are so wealthy, and have so few poor in their midst, that the burghers divide the interest arising from their poor relief funds, share and share alike, among themselves, thus literally verifying that “ Mercy is twice blest, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” It will be un ler-tood that the equitable distribution of aid to the poor and needy is made contingent upon the observance of strict regulations. and, as before shown, a refund of the money received whenever opportunity offers. “ Laws for the suppression of m endicity are general, and strictly enfoi ced, relief is refused to the i Be and dissipated, the property of spendthrifts may be seized and administered for their benefit, and themselves placed under official guardianship should there seem any likelihood that their extravagance will bring them to want. Burghers in receipt of relief are forbidden to frequent public houses, and innkeepers who supply them with drink are liable to be fined. On the other hand, the claim of orphans to help is universally acknowledged, no matter how dissipated or vicious their parents may have been ; and in most of the cantons they are not only maintained but sent to school* apprenticed to trades, and finally started in life.” We would ask

is it not possible that some modification of the Swiss system might be introduced in this colony? Providing the means were forthcoming, the machinery for the control of relief funds already exists in our Municipal and County system, and scattered through the Statute Book are laws which would enable authorities to exercise almost the same powers as are in operation in Switzerland in the sujjpression of mendicity and drunken or dissolute habits. It is useless to attempt to disguise the fact that pauperism is assuming a chronic form iu this colony, as elsewhere, and will not be stamped out. The most that can be done with this social fester is to palliate the evil, and prevent its wider spreading. There is a commendable dislike by the people of the colony to any mention of a poor’s rate being levied, bringing with it the necessary accompaniment of poor houses for the reception of paupers, but the day lias come when lotne better provision must be made or the relief of those who cannot help themselves, and an adaptation of the Swiss system is at least a feasible method of meeting the difficulty. Practically, it means an amalgamation

of all present sources of general charitable aid, the establishment of local bodies for the administration and disbursement ot such aid, supplemented by revenues locally raised, the consent of the people of the colony to a law which shall make it compulsory on all who have the means to give a yearly sum in aid of the poor, proportionate to their in comes, the disbursement of such moneys to those in present need, not as alms, but as a loan, to be repaid either wholly or in part when occasion offers, the setting apart of landed estate as a means to supplement the revenues forming the Fortune of the Poor. The advantages to accrue are these: There would be no paupers in the land, for the independence of the poorest would be conserved, because they would claim assistance as a right, and not as a charity; furthermore, benevolence would be systematised, and indiscriminate charity would flow in proper channels.