The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1895. CHARITABLE AID.

Opunake Times, Volume III, Issue 150, 10 December 1895, Page 2

The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1895. CHARITABLE AID.

It would bo very interesting to see a return published showing the amount of revenue derived by the Charitable Aid Board from the country districts and also the amount expended on behalf of people resident in such country districts. "We think such a return would sbow that their contributions were very largely in excess of the calls made on the Board's exchequer. The question of charitable aid is a very knotty one, and year by year successive Governments shirk it as much as possible. We think it should be a charge on the consolidated revenue in like manner as education is at present, and be administered similarly. Under the present system the class who make most calls on it are those who get off freest from any contribution towards it. A workman may be earning good wages and spending as he earns, and during this period he contributes very little to the charitable fund, unless he may do so voluntarily. Then should sickness or accident befall him he comes on the local Charitable Aid Board for maintenance, which means, under the present law, coining on the hardworking and thrifty settler. Should one of these settlers need the services of the hospital he is duly debited with his maintenance, and in one case that we know of in the Waimate district a hard-working settler who had been in the hospital for a lengthened period was threatened with the sale of his cows to recover the amount due, although he had been doing his best to pay off his debt by instalments. He felt that such treatment was very hard, as on his property he had to pay a charitable rate for the support of others who wilfully depleted the means of supporting themselves daring their temporary disablement. As a general rule people of the "ne'er do well" class gravitate towards the town, and therefore it would not be fair that the towns should be solely charged with their maintenance, but if the charge were made against the consolidated re-venue then it would fall on the backs of every one in the community. While the country districts have to contribute towards the cost, we think the representation should be distributed, so that the most efficiency would be secured in the administration, and therefore Messrs McCullum and McGloin were quite within their rights in demanding that the Parihaka Biding should have a representative on the Board who would be avai'ab'e for advice on local matters, and to net in cases where admission to the hospital or charitable aid were needed.