BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION TRUSTEES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 12

BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION TRUSTEES.

The ordinary meeting of the Benevolent Institution Trustees, held on the 25th ult., was attended by Messrs R. Chisholm (chairman), 0. Haynea, W. Swan, C. Allan, A. Solomon, and James Green, M.H.R. MISCELLANEOUS. Accounts amounting to £207 4s 3d were passed for payment. The Secretary reported that an inmate of the institution named Emanuol Hernstrom, aged 72, had died since last meeting. The thanks of the trustees were accorded to Messrs T. S. Graham and Joseph Braithwaite for donations of periodicals, <Sc. to the institution. It was decided to send a man suffering from eczema to the Rbtorua sanatorium. The matter had come up at previous meetings ; and the man possessing about £25, lodged this sum with the chairman towards defraying expanses. CASE OF ALLEGED IMPOSTURE. The Chairman stated, in regard to a woman who was in receiptof outdoor relief, and of whom it wassi ated that she had drawn money from the po3t office savings bank, that the chief postmaster had declined to give any information as to the transactions of the bank, the officers being bound to secrecy in the matter. Mr Gray, of Wellington, who was written to, likewise declined to state whether the person in question had withdrawn money. The Colonial Treasurer (the Hon. J. G. Ward) had been interviewed in the matter, and stated that, however desirous he might be to help the institution to protect itself from fraud, he could not instruct the officers of the bank to speak of ita business. The informa< tion could only be given in response to an order from the Supreme Court. '1 he solicitors to the trustees had written to the woman, who received it with bludgeons and other warlike instruments, and she threatened to kill everyone in general, but Mr Solomon in particular. Mr Solomon : . The inspector says she now admits all the statements she made about going to Melbourne were false. She now says she did go to Melbourne, and that the trustees may all go to Mesopotamia. The Secretary observed that the solicitors thought that an order from the Magistrate's Court would suffice. What they wanted to be

advised about was as to, whether the •woman should be proceeded against criminally or civilly. Mr Solomon was of opinion that it would bo a shame to lot such a case of fraud to pass without taking action. The woman had said that she \va« starving and panuiless, whereas she was really possessed of hundreds of pounds. He did not think they would make much out of a civil action, and the only question was whether criminal proceedings should be taken against the woman, she being a cripple. Mr Grben moved—" That the chairman confer with the solicitors, and if they were of opinion that the information could be got, instructions should be given to proceed. The Chairman : Civilly or criminally? Mr Green : I don't care how. I want to get to the bottom of the matter, The motion was carried. THE ESTIMATES FOR THE YEAR. The Chairman stated, in regard to the requisition of the Charitable Aid Board for a sum sufficient to meet the expenses of the year, that he proposed to lay before the trustees some figures as to upon what they had framed their estimates. Last year their estimate to the Charitable Aid Board was £10,500. They received in excess from that body £284 8s Bd. They commenced the year with a credit balance of £139 17s 3d, and they finished the year with an overdraft of £151 2s 4d. Then they received in addition from the Relief Association funds— money to which they were not entitled in the ordinary w»y, but whioU they made use of for ordinary expenses— £ll2 6s lid. That totalled up £11,187 1&3 2d. A comparison of the four months of 1895 with the same four months of 1896— they could only take the four months, because May was not yet finished— as to the number of applicants for relief Bhowed this year an increase of 110 men, 64 women, and 260 children. Assuming that the number of cases did not further increase it would (require an expenditure of £75-» in excesg of what they had last year in ord«r to meet the cases. Adding that to the money actually required last year, they got the total sum required as £11,937 15s 2d ; in other words, the estimate waß £11,500, and the overdraft £-218, making £11 718, or £219 153 2d less than will be required if things went on for the year as they had begun. That was the basis on which the committee had made their estimate. It might be interesting to stato further that, taking the amounts they had been allowing to applicants, they averaged Is Hid per soul per week. If they allowed 4s per week for every adult— and the lowest sum county councils recommeuded should be given to adults was ss— it left 9d per head per child per week. Another interesting fact was that in tbe cases recommended by county councils the amounts recommended to be paid averaged 2d per head per week more than the amounts recommended in other cases. A JUSTIFICATION. The Chairman said that in one of the Police Court reports of the 23rd May there was a remark reflecting upon Mrs Mcc regarding which that lady felt very sore. It was in connection with the hearing of a charge of theft against Minnie Farquharson. Mr Stamper, accused's solicitor, was reported to have said that the girl had found employment as a domestic servant, but that Airs Mcc, the matron of the institution, told the person who employed her to discharge her. Mrs Mcc was greatly annoyed at this statement, which was without any foundation whatever, and he was glad to see that exception had been taken to the statement of counsel by Chief Detective O'Connor. . . Mr Solomon also expres=ed the opinion that there was not a scrap of truth in the statement. The relief cases were then dealt with.

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