THE CABBAGE GARDEN PROBLEM.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4303, 12 March 1901, Page 3

THE CABBAGE GARDEN PROBLEM.

UENEVOLENT TRUST IN REPLY. SEL E- SIJ P POIVtTnG THEORIES REFUTED. " THE 11EV. .), K. ELLIOTT SPEAKS OUT. “1 read (lie report of that interview in the ‘Times’ this morning with amav.e>ricnt. It is ridiculous that a man should talk so glibly ahout things which he knows ahsolutoly nothin" about!” _ Such was the reply which the Rev J. Kennedy Elliott, chairman of the licnovolcnt Trustees, made to a ‘‘Times’’ reporter who called upon him yesterday morning, and ashed iiiru if he had any reply to make to the assertions of Mr Allan Orr and othors who waited on the Premier on Saturday, suggesting that (in' Oldie Lionic should ho removed to tlm ll nil, with a view to providing its inmates with eongi eial occupation and making the institution sen-supporting hy ultra us of vegetable growing.

“With, regard to tho allegation that the Ueuevolenb Homo could be made self-supporting/’ continued Mr Elliott, “tho state of the case is this; Wo have about fifty old men with us at present, and if they were paraded for work to.morrow morning only ahout six of them —-certainly nob more—would he found ■capable ef physical effort, and the whole six so weak and decrepit that ■probably tho lot of them would bn found ineapahlo of doing as much work as cue vigorous, able-bodied labourer. “With regard to tiio statement that tho reduction in the cost of dispensing! eharity is due first to the institution of old ago pensions, and secondly to tho j prosperity of tho colony, rny answer is tills: In'lBDS-DU tho cost of tho Horae was Clog per month, hub when tho prosont trustees took charge and instituted a new system tho cost was reduced to T<Sg per month, at which figure, approximately, it still remains. So the change j is duo not to ulterior influences, but to. improved aclrninisbrativo methods.

"Of course the .sura received by us from old p.gc pensions has reduced the total cost by about £3OO a year, I think, hut it bus not reduced the average cost per iumate. The' average cost per iurra.ro has been reduced from 13s 5d »n l'doß-00 to 5s 3d at tiro present time.” notice that the Premier compared the Cost ley Memo with the Ohiro Homo to our detriment,’’ interjected Mr Purvis, secretary of the trustees, ‘'hut as a matter of fact the Cost ley Horne is run more on tho litres of an English infirmary than ours. Tho inmates have not tho name food or tho same homo comforts, neither aro they so well treated. True there are better gardens there, but a Load gardener is employed, and tnoro aro a greater number of physically capable inmates. Even with these advantages it costs them 6s 3d nor week per inmate compared with 5s 7cl, which is the cost to us. I hardly under,stand how Mr Sudden is in a position to make comparisons ou the subject, seeing that he lias nob visited the Ohiro Homo during the now regime, that is to say. for eighteen months at anyrate.”

“The people who go to our Horn*,’’ continued Mr Elliott, “are most of them incurables, and there aro sometimes as many as twenty of them in bed at a time. It is ridiculous to think that those old people would he able to grow marketable vegetables. Even if we combined the inmates of the Ohiro Homo and the Homo for the Aged Needy—about 120 in all—we should not get enough efficient labour to make the place self-sup-porting. Probably out of the wholonuistcr wo might find ten capable of inter-, mittont physical labour. i "Of course wo make use of some of tho casual labour that comes to us fori tho purpose of growing vegetables l or Ohiro Homo, so that as a matter of fact, wo aro able to grow sufficient to- keep : us going for nine months of tho year; but it is principally on this casual labour working out rations that wo depend for vegetables. If wo had to pay for men ■ to do the work it would come very ex-i pensive. , _ I "Tho Trustees are doing more work ; than the general public arc giving fnorn credit for,” concluded Mr Elliott. They f have been at great pains to make the Ohiro Home comfortable to its inmates nfc tho same time that they have lifted j a .substantial burden off the ratepayers, j They cannot see their w’ay to at- j tempt to, make vegetable growing j a reproductive, feature of their operations. If Mr Orr can see his way to doing so, the Trustees will be glad to resign in his favour. I hope ho will take it lip; and that I may be guaranteed as long’a term of life as it will take him to succeed.”