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Otago Witness, Issue 1583, 25 March 1882, Page 17

The Otago Witness.

WITH WHICH 18 IKOOHPOBATKD TBB 'fIoWHJtBB . MBBOUBT.' .- / mJ

- SATURDAY, 25th MARCH, 1832j !

We are sorry to see that the annual report of the Committee. ofthe.Benevoi lent Institution testifies to the/ existence of a very considerable amount of extreme poverty^ or what < might more properly call destitution, i» Dunedin and suburbs.,, With.-the.iturnof the tide in commercial affairs uwe had hoped to hear that the demands 6n this excellent institution had materially decreased. But ' such is not the case. The Committee regret that they have still to report "a large amount- of distress from pure misfortune-r-.through illness, want of employment; and other causes." A ; certain . amount <of distress, it is to be feared, will always exist even in the most virtuous and fortunate of communities— rat least till the return of the golden age ;- but it is really a heartbreaking .reflection—enough almost to make one .despair of the race — that a people so {highly civilised, so orderly, and. with: such a genuine love, of freedom and independence as the British should yet be so heavily burdened through' their own misconduct ; . for . of the .. poverty" and wretchedness which every branch of this widespreading . community is called upon to relieve-r-and how much goes to the grave unrelieved- l-rjby far the largest proportion 1 could. Seasily be prevented. We have just fsaid that the English are . a • highly-oivilised people, but the statement is only com; paratively true. The fact is that the world has never yet seen a .thoroughlycivilised < nation, and as long' fas the British people continue to swallow all kinds of fiery liquors in unlimited quantities they can scarcely be said to have reached perfection. Drink is, of course, not the sole cause of all the misery in the world. The, thirst for ardent spirits is, properly speaking, rather the symptom of a disease than the disease itself-^-a fact the, ignorance of which leads to the waßte of .a great deal of energy and virtuous indignation on the part of our teetotal fellow creatures. But self-indulgence in this particular direction no doubt increases the malady ; and the effects are annually enlarged upon and deplored in > the report of every charitable institution in the Empire. It might have been supposed, however, that the favourable conditions of a new country like New Zealand would have helped in some measure to counteract these baneful effects of our national drunkenness j and this, indeed, is probably the case, although the fact that we are on the eve of establishing something very like a poor Jaw does not speak very highly for our social virtues* But It would

hardly be fair to take such a fact as indicating what a corresponding necessity in an old country would undoubtedly indicate ; and for this reason, that we have, rather foolishly it must be confessed, imported most of the incapacity, poverty, and vice for which we are beginning to legislate. If our Immigration Department had been mor6 carefully managed, there would have. been no need for a poor law, and many people hold that even as things are there is no absolute need of such a provision ; that as the cause is merely accidental and transitory, so alsojwill be the effects. There is no doubt, however, that wife desertion, bodily infirmity, general un■fitness for Colonial life, and other, more pr;iess direct results of an ill-managed immigration policy have thrown a heavy burden on all the benevolent institutions in the Colony ; though we are glad to find from the report which we published on Tuesday that our own Committee have been " in a position to relieve all deserving cases brought before them, not only in Dunedin, but extending to various parts of the Provincial District, and this in the face of malicious and unfounded charges made against the management and Committee of the Institution." We suppose the Committee could scarcely avoid saying something about these charges, which, to all appearance, were most certainly malicioup, and which, from the extremely unsatisfactory nature of the evidence, it is only fair to assume were quite unfounded. But as there had been a certain amount of doubt in the minds of some of the public as to the management of the Institution, we think the Committee erred in not affording, in the first instance, every facility for a thorough investigation •of the charges. The first inquiry was not altogether satisfactory, and as the second came to a premature conclusion through the violence and monstrous indiscretion of the person who brought .the charges, it can hardly be said that the confidence of the public has been completely restored, even by the devliverance of Messrs Bathgate and Logan. The charges, it is true >( were not; proved,, and the animus of the - principal accuser was ludicrously cvi- ' dent ; still, the uneasy feeling to which ."iflre referred, and to which, indeeid, we gave expression when the matter was i first made public, was not entirely removed/ Some further and jmore ■recent charges are, it is stated, about to i be investigated through the medium of "an action for libel, and until that case is decided we feel precluded from saying more about this unpleasant ■ business.l The public have, we believe, every confidence in the honesty, dilii gence,'and philanthropy of the ,Com- • mittee j' but we venture to hint that it Wuldnot beiproper for them to reply to the vague accusations, or let us ; rather say wakeful suspicions, of a small section of the public, that they, - as the Committee, must know better than suspicious outsiders how the In- ; stitution is managed. Such a proposition would be far from self-evident. i''-It'is the easiest thing in the world, as ■>-. Sir William Harcourt recently remarked, for an oflicial to deceive the ■quickest-eyed visitor or inspector, and the truth after all is that the public sometimes know better what goes on in such institutions than the most watchful of committees. In making these : remarks we simply resume our original position in regard to the rumours ■ i which led to the two inquiries. We could not but reprobate the manner in ' which the charges were brought against the management of the Institution ' before MessrsBATHGATE and Logan, but neither can we help regretting that the Investigation ended so abruptly, before - All the charges were fully investigated. - The Committee, however, are entitled to the thanks of the public for their disinterested labours, and for the zeal and diligence with which they are performed ; and though we have not left - ourselves space to refer to the details of their interesting report, we have no ' hesitation in commending the Otago Benevolent Institution to the interest] and support of all the settlers in this part of New Zealand. At the same time it is to be hoped that a revival of trade may greatly lessen the necessity for charitable aid during the next year of the Committee's operations.

Thursday wasthe 34th anniversary of thefoun dation of the Province of Otago, the ship John Wickliffe, with the first settlers, having arrived at Port Chalmers on March 23rd, 1848. Formerly the day was kept as a close holiday, but with the abolition of the provinces the custom fell into disuse. The Dunedin Jockey Club al so used to hold their autumn meeting at this time, which helped towards the keeping of tho day as a holiday ; but three or four years ago they changed the date to February. However, it seems that many citizens are averse to the day being lost sight of, as one of note in the history of Otago, and a successful effort was made this year to revive it as a general holiday,