CHARITABLE AID IN WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 889, 15 March 1889, Page 33

CHARITABLE AID IN WELLINGTON.

CHARGE OF EXTRAVAGANCE. At the meeting of the City Council last •week a letter was read from the Secretary •of the United District Board, asking for payment of the Couhcil’s contribution to •charitable aid for the quarter ending 7 th February, amounting to L 1238 13s sd. The Mayor, in moving that the -amount be paid, said it seemed to him that the whole question of charitable aid was worthy the consideration of the Council. The rate, it would be remembered, had been raised last year, and a return recently laid before Parliament rather pointed to wasteful expenditure in 'Wellington as compared with other places. (Hear, hear.) The Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act was, a very peculiar one. (Hear, hear.) "The -Council had to find the funds, and had no •control over their expenditure. Conse•quently tlie gentlemen spending the money had not the same sense of respon-' sibility as they would have if they had to confront the ratepayers. The return to which he had alluded was one showing the amounts expended both "in charitable aid and hospital accounts since the Act came into -operation ; the return to show also the moneys received from Government grants, • contributions by local bodies, rents, and ■from all other sources. It appeared that in 11887 the Wellington United District Board spent under the Act at the rate of i 6s lfd per head of the population ; but in the following year it was raised to 8> -4-id per head. If this was compared with the expenditure in other districts they found that in 1887 the amounts spent w-ere: 'Wanganui, Is lljd per head ; Auckland, 3s 6|-d ; Nelson, 4s 3d ; North Canterbury United District (including Christchurch), -5s bid Otago United District, 4s 2fd. Thus,Wellington was at the top of the figures. In 188 S the figures were—Wellington United District, 8s 4-id per head ; Wanganui, 2s Gjcl ; Auckland, 4s '9d ; Nelson, 4s 3d ; North Canterbury United, os 4id ; Otago United, 5s s|d. It must be borne in mind that Wellington had been credited with having •enjoyed exceptionally good times lately, and these figures clearly proved that we had been expending money more freely than other places ; in the Wairarapa, for instance, the expenditure last year was •only Is 2|d per head. We were, in fact, in our kindheartedness drawing people in from other parts of the district; a man who did not feel well would come to Wellington with his. -family, knowing there was a well-

organised charitable aid system here. The excess of population thus caused was becoming a serious burden on the ratepayers. He pointed to the frequency of applications to the Benevolent trustees from deserted wives, whose husbands apparently went where they pleased, knowing their families would be cared for. Charitable aid seemed to be so freely administered as to induce people to such a course, aud was creating a demoralising feeling in the community. Speaking with reference to hospitals, his Worship said the amount spent on maintenance in Wellington up to the 31st March last was L 7690 18s Id ; in Auckland, L 6641 9s 6d; Christchurch, L 5354 14s Id; Dunedin, L 6842 7s 7d. As against that there were 797 in-patients at Dunedin last year, 901 at Auckland, and 686 at Wellington ; 2113 out patients at Dunedin and 911 at Wellington. On building account the expenditure in Wellington was L 2563, which was only exceeded in Christchurch (L 2952 5s 4d). He went on to quote figures showing that the expenditure in Wellington was larger in provisions, fuel, and even funerals, than in Dunedin. The salaries came to L 2068, and he thought the staff of forty employes kept at the Wellington Hospital was rather large. The population of the Wellington district, he remarked, was 53,246, as against 108,728 in Auckland, 101,765 in Canterbury, and 83,696 in The amount expended in charitable aid was becoming alarmingly large, and the figures for Wellington showed thatwewere very free indeed with our expenditure. The ratepayers had no protection in the matter, and had no power to displace people who were extravagant ; and he thought that when the Council was called upon to pass these sums, and especially at the present time, when they would shortly be making up their estimates, he considered it his duty to bring the matter before them. (Hear, hear.) The motion was then put and carried.

Councillor Eraser remarked that one of the privileges of the Empire City was that people gravitated to it from all parts of the country. The expenditure in the hospital, however, had been gradually decreasing. He pointed out that L2OOO for a new wing was included in maintenance. " - /

The Mayor said that item was included in buildings. Councillor Chapman thought it was evident that so long as this Act remained in force it would create instead of suppress mendicancy.