ANOTHER SELF-HELP MOVEMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5873, 11 March 1887, Page 3

ANOTHER SELF-HELP MOVEMENT.

Mb Thomas Hebbick, who, aa a labour of love, fills the poet of Secretary to the Prison Gate Mission, recently wrote to oar morning contemporary, suggesting the formation of a Coal and Blanket Club. There is« in the Old Country, a famouß dodge with the proprietors of certain corner establishments, who institute " Christinas Clubs." Their regular customers pay in a weekly sum, and at Christmas they are entitled to sundry bottles of liquor, with perhaps a gooee or a packet of tea added, the last-mentioned items being obviously intended as a sop to that Cerberus, "the missus/ Such Clubs, it

need hardly be said, axe scarcely conducive to the comfort of very many of the homes affected thereby. Mr Herrick's proposal, however, has a directly opposite basis. Hi experience, he informs us, haa demonstrated that with the recurrence of the winter there will inevitably come the necessity for warmth • giving facilities amongst the poor or people; and he proposes thaf, these, instead of being dependent Altogether upon the help of the benevolently disposed, should be induced and encouraged to help themselves. The plan ia simple enough. Those who join, pay in a email weekly sum, and ultimately they receive the value in fuel, or covering, or both, according to the extent of their voluntary provision. " Several," Mr Herrick writes to us, " have already joined, and they all seem pleased to have the j opportunity for preparing for the winter." We fully concur in the writer's expression or opinion that it is a commendable thing for people to endeavour in such a way as this to render themselves independent of Government aid, and it gives us much pleasure to assist Mr Herrick in making the Bcheme more widely known. It will b« a good thing, too, if the benevolently disposed will direct their assistance into this practical channel. A practical way of encouraging the thriftiness required from the members would be to bo arrange that the Buppliea eventually issued should be given at a materially reduced price. This would be equivalent to a liberal interest on the small sums invested, and would be a far wiser course than the haphazard giving which is so liable to be snapped at by the less-deserving and bolder applicants.