A DEFUNCT REFUSE

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1798, 22 August 1906, Page 1

A DEFUNCT REFUSE

i*iii: aia.ioribanks street trust. A RESUSCITATION PROPOSAL. IS IT NEEDED? The proposed rouisoita! ion of (he defun el. home Cor maternity cases, founded on trust money, in Majoribanks street, occupied the attention of the Wellington Benevolent trustees on August 14. I’he re were present the Rev. J. Kennedy Elliott (chairman). Messrs A. W. ito>rjf, M.H.R., 11. Cook, and Mrs Dar- '* Mesons J. G. \V. Aitken. M.11.1L, J. R. Blair, and .1. McAlpine. trustees of the Maj-oribanks street property, attended to discuss tiie question of the Benevolent Institution taking over and administering the 1 111st. Mr Aitken said he and his co-tyivsteee he id i!: is property in trust. Cora particular object. Before asking the Court for permission to transfer the trust they warned to lie satisfied as to the parties who were going to administer it in future. The trust could only be need in one way. If the Benevolent Trustees took it; over how would they use tlie money? The present trustees must see that there was a reasonable prospect of tiie work being carried on Cor which the money vv.'s originally provided. Mr Bhiir said he was prepared to hand over hi.s trusteeship to anyone who would undertake to do the work. There was a mongage of JHOt) on the property. It had been stated that the building was done, and that it was infested with vermin. A oiuvey had been made and neither of these statements were facts. A sum of Jc i2o would put the house in proper repair, and there was nearly that amount to hand over. Mr London asked whether, if that sum were spent on impi ovements, the building would then answer the purposes ol the trust? All- Blair said it would provide adequate shelter under the root that covered Bio house. Mr McAlpine said there were twelve bedrooms in the place, all separate, and if the house was put in repair and reconstructed a little ne was quite sure it could be made suitable for its purpose for many a day. Mr Hogg said lie was quite in the dark concerning tire property. The chairman explained that it was a property in Majoribanks street, originally employed for the care of women about to be confined irrespective of their characters. Mr Aitken said that first of all the house was administered by a committee for two or three years, then by the Salvation Army. The chairman: And then it was vested in trustees who are now willing to hand it over under certain restrictions. Mr Blair said that other homes in the city did not provide for the class the Majoribanks trust was intended for. Mr Hogg: If the Salvation Army undertook tiie work and merely removed from one building to another

Mr McAlpine: They only rented the building. Mr Dogg: But they continued the work. Mr Aitken: That is a question. Mr Hogg: Is anyone in charge of the Majoribanks street home now? Mr Aitken: No, the place is let. Mr Hogg: It is no use reopening the place unless it is absolutely necessary. Mr Aitken: There is an absolute necessity. Mr Hogg: It would be a pity to maintain a home for special cases when there are otuers that provide for them. Air Aitken remarked that the Benevolent Trustees had. according to a statement, compiled by their secretary, spent £76 during the last six and a half years on these cases. The chairman said it was creditable to Wellington that there were not many of these cases. Several of those that did occur were not cases of residents of the city. Air Hogg: If you maintained this building for this special purpose it would cost you a great deal more than the figures mentioned. Air Loudon: The interest on the £4OO mortgage would be <£2o a year. The chairman said that Air C. H. Izard, M.H.R., who was a strong supporter of the proposal that the Benevolent Institution should take over the trust, thought they should get a special act passed empowering the trustees to sell and hand over the trust to the Benevolent Trustees to devote the principal or interest of the funds to attending to these maternity cases. Mr Aitken said that would not carry out the intentions of the trust which were that the institution should be there. Air London did not think these cases would be increased simi>ly because they might have accommodation for them. The late Premier recognised to some extent the necessity of some such institution. Suppose the Benevolent Trustees undertook to relieve the trustees of the Majoribanks property of their responsibility. and gave an undertaking that the property would be devoted to its original purpose, there would not be an immediate obligation to so devote it. When

the occasion aroso, surely they could apply the trust to its purpose. It could be held until necessary in its present condition. There would, lie thought, be no particular objection to letting the house again if it was not wanted. The rent would then be helping to liquidate the mortgage. Mr ilogg did not see the expediency of taking over a building that was not required. Mr Blair: How then do you account, Air Hogg, for your chairman, yourself, and others going to interview the late Premier, and urging the necessity of such an institution? Mr Hogg: We asked that single women should be admitted to the Wellington Maternity Home; that a separate ward should be prepared for them. We tried to secure some asylum for unfortunate single women. And I say now that it is a pity that this maternity home is not open to women who fall from the path of virtue. Our request was not agreed to, but it never entered my mind that wo (the Benevolent Trustees) should have to establish a home for one or two cases of the sort. Mr London said the Majoribanks street trustees might be disposed to hand the trust over, with the ultimate object of it being applied when necessary. There would be the necessity in the future. There would be 150,000 people in Wellington in the not far distant future, and to say that the necessity would not then exist would be to show very little experience of human nature. There was a small debt on a valuable property, a sum in hand to liquidate the cost of improvements, the rent of the building to pay off the burden, and it must be of use in the future. Mr McAlpine pointed out that the Majoribanks street property was not a maternity home. It was a refuge for young women to go to who, having found out their mistake, could at once turn back to the paths of virtue. Anyone who read the Police Court reports could see that the Magistrate was frequently in a fix as to what to do with such cases. Mr Ilogg: There are several refuges for them in the city. Mr McAlpine: Not one. Mr Hogg: Don't the Salvation Army take them in? Mr Aitken: They don't take in second, third, and fourth cases. I think it is time they did. Mr Hogg: Yes. I think they should be prevailed upon to "do so. The chairman thought that further consideration of the matter had better/ be deferred, especially until members of the Benevolent Trustees, who were absent from the meeting, and who took a deep interest in the question, were present. He thanked the deputation, and assured them the Benevolent Trustees were anxious to co-operate with them. Personally, he was disposed to take the trust over. They had been hampered by interested ladies working in the direction of taking over the property. If the Benevolent Trustees did take it over they would work it themselves, and not relegate it to a committee. They must have it under their own management. Further discussion of the subject waa adjourned.