A BENEVOLENT ASYLUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 522, 30 November 1861, Page 4

A BENEVOLENT ASYLUM.

In a short while there will necessarily be a large amount of distress seeking relief. No apprehension need be felt that medicancy will take root as a profession in a country which offers so nnny opportunities to honest indu3try; but illness and temporary reverses will constantly contribute to produce cases culling for eleemosynary assistance, and it wouM b: a reproach to the comm-iinty were such assHtuii'io to ho denied. In the old daya. when everybody knew c very bod w the '■ ho'.iueless wan-lerer" had but littb di.h'julty in obtaining shelter and sustenance till he was abb to procur». work. It was i:i the nature of things at that time tiiat there was licth: distress of the kind requiring assistance ; men had their allotted homes and occupations, and sudden reverses were quite opposed to the steady going order of events that flourished in

the good old times. But now, with the Province crowded with strangers, and wkh | the major portion of the population en- I paged in a pursuit, which while it j'ields golden prizes to some, has only blanks for others — with this state of things it is only j reasonable to expect that there will be many j individual cases of want and suffering; and surely Otago should not be without some place of refuge for helpless di-Nease or homeless destitution ! It must be confessed the Province is very poorty supplied with charitable insti- I tutions. We believe there is only one — the Hospital — and with that is combined the Lunatic Asylum. It is in sickness that the mind feels most depressed; even bodily ailments are sometimes forgotten in the deadening anguish of mental distress. Stretched on the bed of sickness the patient thinks over his past life, and laments the hopes unrealised, the opportunities misused, of the career he has wasted. " The heart lone mourner of its baffle! zeal, " Though friendless now, will dream it had a friend." To home the thoughts fly back, to the associations of youth, to the hopes of early days. Think how sad the contrast, on the one hand the cherished recollections of hours of sickness fondly nursed and tended ; on the other the harsh realities of a hnrd pallet in a public hospital, surromuTecTby strangers, waited on by hired assistants. Should the sufferings of the patient be increased by the suggestion being forced on him, of the cold loveless nature of the institution of which he is an inmate. Should his cars ba greeted with the discordant cries of the lunatic, should' he' be allowed to think himself in a madhouse as well as an hospital. Some times when disease is at its highest, bodily sufferings are so acute as to deaden the mental faculties ; but during the period of convalescence the mind is set j free, and recollection does its worse. Under | the most favorable circumstances the patient f lowly recovering from a long illness, is subject to fits of melancholy and dejection ; with the most anxious care and nursing the long hours roll slowly past. But the patient in a public hospital, when he is able to crawl from his bed, must make way for other patients ; he is discharged as cured as soon as active disease has left him, before bodily strength has returned. Leaving on one side the hideous combination of an hospital converted into a Madhouse, it is with the establishment of an institution for receiving convalescent patisnts that we propose to deal. A Benevolent Asylum is whit is required, in which the patient recovering from illness may be received and allowed to lvst till he regains strength and activity. The | destitute requiring immediate assistance should here find temporary food and shelter, until occupation could be provided them. Sufferers from chronic hopeless deceases, such as consumption, commonly refused admission into an hospital, should be allowed to live out their few remaining days unburdened with the dread pressure of physical want. Who will deny that such an asylum is wanted. In Victoria there are at least half a score of the kind. To the ladies of Otago we appeal to take the initiative in the c>tabli?hinent of a Benevolent Asylum. The sterner sex are so much occupied witu other mutters that, though their money would be readily forthcoming they would not spare a moment's time to the purpose. Besides there is point hing in Woman that naturally allies itself with the alleviation of distress. Whan does she appear to more advantage than engaged in this the holiest of her missions, the luLnisL'ring to suffering humanity. O worn in in thy hours of ease Unceit.iin, coy and haid to plense, And variable as the shade Jtiv the li^ht quivering aspen ni;ide. When p.un ;i;id :ingui*h wrinjj the brow, A uiiiii:>teriijg augel tliou. - - „-—, „ „ U r e have never known a eh.u itable institution fail that owed its origin to, or that was presided over by the softer sex. //"the ladies of Otago will take the establishment of a benevolent asylum in hand, their first step should be the holding a Fancy Bazaar, the funds obtained from which would be supplemented by private contributions and by a public grant. The Bazaar would iv itself bo an immense success ; the male portion of the community would only be too ready to aid in so pleasant a shape the charitable efforts of their fair friends.' The miners who arc making their pounds weight weekly at the gold lields, would not be unmindful of the chums of an institution whose charitable object would be to succour their less fortunate brethren. Persons engaged in business, who are drinking at the Pactolian stream that is flowing through the Province, will turn aside from the hard realities of monej r making to spare a little sympathy to the cau«o of charity. On every side active assistance, and cordial sympathy would be rendered to the band of the fair sisterhood who devoted their attention to the sacred cause of alleviating the woes of their kind. Other and less nobler objects would sink into insignificance. " Place, place ye monner royalties below, " For Nature's holiest, Womanhood and Woe."