BENEVOLENT TRUSTEES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 34

BENEVOLENT TRUSTEES.

The usual weekly meeting of the Benevolent Trustees was attended by Messrs -W. T. Talboys (chairman), H. A. LeCren, H. E. Moller, J. M. Gallaway, W. E. S. • ' Knight, and A. Tapper. Twenty cases of relief were dealt with, and accounts amounting, to £65 Is lOd were passed for payment. M-r Gallaway said that he was not satisfied with a. caso in which a woman who • had been taken back to the institution bj a sympathiser had been refused admission. If she was drunk? that was all the more reason why she 'should have been taken in and cared for, and punished afterwards. It appeared that the police had claimed 7s 6d for cab, hire for the conveyance of an old- woman^f who. iiad been- permitted tocome'into tcfyrn from the Benevolent Institution, and who, had faHen in Walker street and cut her face. A gentleman in the employ of the Otago Daily Times had taken pity on her and had put her- into a . cab -and talcen her to the -institution, where she- was refused admission on the grounds that she had returned at .5 p.m.— after hours. ' '. Mr Gallaway commented severely on tins,- and said it required looking into. Mr Mcc said that the woman had returned ' after hours in company • with a, drunken sailor. £he had, however, apparently been brought out of town by a> gentlemfji whom he afterwards saw. He had the rules of the institution for his guidance, and was not able to break them. Mr Gallaway went on to say that the secretary of the trustees at the instance of the police had, very properly he thought, issued an order for the woman's admission. Be thought that the gentleman whose name had been mentioned in the matter should be asked to appear before the trustees. Mr Gallaway moved that the matter be inquired into, but the motion lapsed for want of a seconder. Information was received to the effect that an aged swagman had been wandering destitute in tihe Crooksfon district, so fc?blc that he could only tramp two miles a <!«y. Tho Chairman stated that steps had been taken for the old man's admission to the . home.