A FRIEND IN NEED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3808, 8 March 1927, Page 77

A FRIEND IN NEED.

PATIENTS AND PRISONERS’ AID. The annual meeting of the Patients and Prisoner’s Aid Society took place in the City Council Chambers on Wednesday afternoon, when the president, Sir William Sim, presided over a large and representative gathering. The proceedings opened with prayer, offered by the Rev. V. G. B. King. THE ANNUAL REPORT.

The adoption of the 48th annual report and balance sheet was moved by the president, who said they would see from the report that the society had had a most successful year of work. The credit balance of £479, with which they began the year, had been reduced by only £34. but the linancial position was not quite so satisfactory as it appeared. Sir George Fenwick would have something to say on that later. A good deal of income which could not be relied on for the future had been used for the purpose of carrying on the work. The linancial position of the society had been causing the committee anxiety for a number of years, and that anxiety had been increased since the James Powell Rest Home was opened. He hoped that friends would support the work even more generously, so that it would not require" to be curtailed in any way. Their agent, Mr F. G. Cumming, would cease to be probation officer at the end of this month, and would thereafter devote all his time and energies to the work of the society. He had already testified publicly to the worth of Mr Cumming’s work, and need only say that he had set a very high standard for his successor.—(Applause.) The society would complete 50 years of existence on July 1 next, and* that would no doubt be fittingly celebrated. —(Applause.) The motion was seconded by the Mayor (Mr H. L. Tapley ( M.P.). who said they would see from the report that 1 a very useful and humanitarian work had been carried on during the past year by the society. Such work was absolutely essential in all cities, and it was right that the society should be supported in a practical way by the public. A good deal more remained to be done in contion with the finances of the society. It seemed to him essential that the endowment fund, which at present was only a little over £2OOO, should be increased to at least £lO,OOO. He had no" doubt that tlie . strong committee that had been gathered round the society would find some way of organising an appeal. The agent had to spend much time in gathering subscriptions, time that would be better devoted directly to the objects of the society. They would all agree that the society deserved the fullest sympathy and support. They could not carry on a nobler .work than that or helping men and. women who were in trouble and giving them a chance to become good members; of :society again. It was rather disappointing to see that the credit, balance had been eaten into even to a small extent, for the finances should be increasing year by year.— (Applause.) Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., congratulated the society on its report. The year had been a full one of work, and very valuable assistance and comfort had been rendered to those in need. He did not think that the subscribers to the society were spread over a wide enough field. — (“Hear, hear”), —and in the future Mr -Cumming, with more time at his disposal, would no doubt “ ginger up ” matters in this respect. He had often expressed the opinion that Mr Cumming’s position as probation officer was the more important part of his duties, but he did not wish to be thought lacking in appreciation of the very valuable services he rendered in other directions. The office of probation officer called for special qualifications and ripe . experience, and it was very difficult to get a suitable individual. It was an open secret that ..the Department wished Mr Cumming, fd/continue as probation officer undei - the ••.-’new. arrangement, and that would have meant his severance from this society. He was afraid that if he., had attempted to seduce Mr Cumming away from his allegiance to this society it would have been well for him to remain away from that meeting.—(Laughter.) On behalf of his colleague. Mr Bundle, and himself he expressed deep appreciation of the services Kir Cumming had rendered as probation officer. —(Applause.) They had the satisfaction of knowing that his ripe experience and judgment would be freely at the disposal of his successor.—(Applause.) The motion was carried. FACTS AND FIGURES.

Mr David Todd moved that a hearty vote of thanks be accorded those who had assisted the society in connection with its services, to the churches who had given retiring collections, to friends for liberal donations, and further, that the Patients’ and Prisoners’ Aid Society and the Victoria Jubilee Convalescent Fund are worthy of support. Referring to the finances of the society he said that a Finance Committee _ had recently been set up and he would give them a few figures. The James Powell . Rest Home cost £731, and every year they had to .write off about £l3O for depreciation, making a total of, say, £B5O. The general working expenses for the office were £475, to which must be added about £3CO which Mr Cumming gave to assist prisoners and patients. In addition to that, during the past year he gave out as Christmas gifts £9B, and the Rotary Club handed him £2O, which he dispensed among young people in need. Then they had in ordinary working expenses about £l6OO a year. How was-Jhe money received ? If they could keep the rest home-full all the year that would bring in about £BOO, but their average was seven, or a little over half full, so that they had to rely upon subscriptions. Subscriptions to £475, of which £3OO were annual and £175 special. That was quite inadequate 'to run the society. A sum of £384 was received also from the Dempsey Trust Fund. It was really strange that the society doing the work it did. should have only about 160 subscribers. Another society that had just , had its annua) meeting had 1800 subscribers. They thanked the . subscribers most., heartily for their support, for they had beep most liberal, but it would Be far better, to have, a larger number. He suggested that this year they

try to get £lOOO annually. If they all worked hard they could' do it. This was their jubilee year, and if they could get the Endowment Fund up to £lO,OOO then they could go ahead. He thought it was a fitting time to go before the public, and he was sure they would get a generous response.—(Applause.) Mr John Loudon seconded the motion, which was carried. THE PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED. Sir George Fenwick said he had very great pleasure in moving the re-election of their president, Sir William Sim. Like Sir Joshua Williams, Sir William Sim had been an admirable president of this society, and they were fortunate in. securing his services.— (Applause.) He remembered the very active interest that the late Sir Joshua Williams took in the society during the whole time he was president, and that interest had been well sustained by his successor, who had shown his interest in many ways.— (Applause.) The motion was carried by acclamation. OTHER OFFICE-BEARERS.

The Rev. V. G. B. King, on behalf of the social workers of the city, expressed their sincere appreciation of Mr Cumming’s hearty co-operation with them during the past year. He moved the election of the following:—Vice-presidents— Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., Messrs D. E. Theomin and P. M’Skimming; chairman of committee, Sir George Fenwick; deputy chairman, Mr E. A. Rosevear; lion. treasurer, Mr E. R. Grace; committee —Mesdames E. C. Reynolds, J. B. Callan, G. Roberts, and Miss Williams (representing the Victoria Jubilee Convalescent Fund), Mrs James Dey, Mrs J. Al. Gallaway, his Worship the Mayor, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, Messrs G. L. Denniston, Peter Barr, F. Z. Moore, W. L. Logie, Walter R. Gilkison, H. H. Driver, T. Somerville, E. R. Smith, J. B. Shacklock, D Todd. A. Kilgour, Walter Blackie, C. B. Smith. John Loudon, F. W. Mitchell, G. H. Elliffe, A. 11. Crawley, R. Hanning, James Armstrong, Dr Falconer, W. Easton, James Taylor, and Walter Speight. The motion was seconded by Dr Gribben, who said he already knew enough of this city to know that the splendid work pf the society was in safe hands "with these gentlemen. He eulogised brief!}’ the work of Air Cumming, and said that a..- Cumming had never made any difficulty about anything he had asked him to do, though he himself was always in difficulty wlten he went to Air Cumming. The work of this society was most urgently needed in connection with prisons. He referred to the great difficulty of getting a prisoner a good start again when he Scame out of gaol, and said it was very gratifying to see so many members of the community interested in this problem. SPEECH BY SIR GF.ORGF. RKVWiPk’

In calling upon Sir George Fenwick to address the meeting, Sir William Sim said that Sir George came into the society very early in its career, and he did not know anyone who had done more for it than he. — (Applause.) Sir George began by disclaiming any intention of giving a set address, but he wished to base a few words on a clause in Air Cumming’s report. The clause is as follows:—“I feel that in trying to benefit .what may be called the castaways of society, one is surely benefiting the community, and further those who are helping forward this good work are not ordy blessing the needy, but are benefiting them selves. This is the honest ground of the society’s appeal to the people for help. There is another ground, and that is the ground of common humanity which claims that all should help this organisation in its great undertaking to meet the needs of the unfortunate patient, the prisoner, and the poor. In this connection 1 beg to state that I have often felt it was like mockery to visit a poor sick home and say, ‘God bless you —things will be better to-mor-row,’ or perhaps offer g brief prayer. This is all right, in its place, but the real need is often something special.” That "something special” was in the nature of money or a contribution of some kind. Mr Cumming had hit the nail on the head in that paragraph. Their society, like other philanthropic societies, radiated a spirit of hope and cheerfulness very often when cheerfulness was difficult for their agent to maintain. They must have Binds otherwise the work of giving the practical help that was urgently needed could not go on. He was not going to complain about the support that had been given to the soceity by the people of Dunedin and Otago, because it had been very generous in the nnst".. Innv nnrl nnorlorl n rmzvrl rlr»nl nt

money beyond the generous bequest of £3OOO when they embarked on building that home at Warrington. He had had to set to work as chairman of committee, and the community responded most generously. The response enabled them not only to build the home but to acquire a necessary area of land immediately surrounding the home. They started the home free of debt. Ho had on other occasions had opportunities of realising that the public of Dunedin had a generous appreciation of the society’s work, and they had never failed, though, of course, a strenuous effort had to be made. They had never had enough money to enable them to do all that, they ought to do and wanted to do. This year they would attain their fiftieth anniversary, and he hoped and believed that the community was going to give the society a real good lift and a helping hand that would enable them to do more work in the future than had been possible in the past. One of the hopeful signs in the present position of the society was that there had come in to help them quite recently a number of the prominent younger Then of the community who when he approached them said they wanted to help and wanted to work.—(Applause.) That was the spirit that gave one considerable hope. Many of, them were getting into the sere and yellow leaf, and they were inclined to get a little weary in their efforts to keep things straight. The spirt of hopefulness was more manifest in the committee to-day than it had been for some time past, because they realised that they had this younger blood with them to help. They were going to raise enough funds to make their work better and more adequately done than it had been in recent, years. He was not cbm- : plaining, because the work had been ■ well done and Mr Cumming had been a host in himself, and, after all,, it must rest with, him to see that the work was carried' on successfully. In him they had a man who had done his work .extremely vyell indeed' and who would be spurred on by the know-’ ledge that he had '. a (larger committee, be-; hind him. He would . like-to endorse' Mr Bartholohiew, Had iaijd about Air .Cu’m-

ming’s work, for he knew how, very warmly it was appreciated by the Ministe< of Justice.- Mr Cumming now, with his full time at the disposal of the society, would be able not only to bring in many new subscribers but in other ways to extend the usefulness of the work. He was sure that next year they would have an even brighter tale to tell of the success of the society’s work.—(Applause.) Air Cumming expressed his great gratitude for the comments that had been made on his work. He had honestly tried to do his best and had met with some little success. He was full of hope that at the. end of the year, he would be able to show things financially in a very different light. Going back to the society as its full-time agent, he was going.with fresh determination. and a better vision, that their work during the coming year would be greatly better than that of the past. It was fitting that they should pass a hearty vote of thanks to his Honor for presiding and for his generou s words of encouragement in their work. The motion was parried by acclamation, and this brought the meeting to a close.