A MATTER OF SENTIMENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8524, 17 January 1906, Page 3

A MATTER OF SENTIMENT.

♦— PENSIONERS IN CHARITABLE AID HOMES. BOARD REFUSES POCKETMONEY. At this morning's meeting of the North Canterbury Charitable Aid Board, Mr W. Radclifi'e moved that tlie old age pensioners in the Board's homes should receive an allowance of Is per week from their pensions. He said tbat he felt the old people were entitled to some small allowance. Mr W. H. Cooper seconded the motion. He said that the pensioners were receiving 10s per week, aud were entitled to le for themselves. They oould not live riotously on that small sum, and it would mean a few small comforts for them. Mr F. Horrell opposed the motion. He said that the pensioners had not asked for the money, and their maintenance cost more than 10s. The Board should not make any difference between the inmates of the homes. Mr Harper said that he did not think the members, as representing ratepayers, should take a sentimental view of the matter. To give the old people any money wae a great mistake. The pensioners received everything they required in the homes, including tobacco, and the Board should not create a moneyed class. If the pensioners reoeived an allowance, then the other inmates should. The home was for the destitute, and the Board did not want the pensioners. They were in the home because they could not live outeide on the 10s. He knew the working of the Ashburton Home intimately, and he know that, all the old people had money from one source or another. Many of them had well-to-do relatives, and friends and acquaintances gave them money, The proposal would upset the discipline of the Home. Mr M'Millan also opposed the motion He said that the old people asked to be looked' after, and were satisfied. A few agitators were creating all the trouble. Mr J. Wolfe said that a small atLLowanco would be a great help to the old people. They required various smadl things, and as they oost the Board very little they might well be allowed a shilling per week from their pension. Mr G. Dobson said that very few of the old people were penniless. There was a tendency on the part of children to neglect their obligations to their parents, aud the Board would be encouraging that by* making the allowance. He himself could live on 10s per Mr* Davleson opposed the motion. He eaid that the able-bodied penswnere had left the home, and those reimainino* cost more than 10s to maintain. .* Mra Wells said that ls per week was a small thing. In other parts of New Zealand the pensioners got an allowance, and no trouble resulted. bhe would be very glad to see the pensioners in homes provided by the Government. Personally she had been asked by a great number of penaoaieoTS to secure a small allowance, and the suggestion that discipline would be sn?oalJd had no foundation. The Jubilee Home wae a beautiful home and was oosting the Boaid very little. Bhe hoped that the Board would allow the pensioner a smaU sum to gratify theur petreonal' idiosyncrasies. The chairman (Mr H. Friedlander) also opposed the motion. He said that it was a mistaken idea that the old people were penniless. Few of them died without leaving a sum of money behind them. If the Board adopted the principle of giving pensioners an allowance, he would support a proposal to give the others a similar allowance. Then the principle of giving pocketmoney would have to be extended to the Hospital. Many of the people who contributed towards the upkeep of these homes through the rates and taxes oould ill afford it, and they should be considered. The old people were more comfortable in the homes than many people were outside. In answer to Mr Cooper, the secretary said that the old people who died in the Home generally left a few shillings, which wae placed to the Board's account. Mr Radcliffe said that as two members were absent he would like the matter to be held over. The chairman said that he would like the matter to be settled definitely. Mr Radcliffe, replying, said that the pensioners were in a different position from the other inmates. They had a small income as a mark of long residence and good conduct, and the Board would be very cruel in refusing them' ls per week for 'themselves. The motion was rejected, the voting being as follows: — Ayes — Mrs Wells and Messrs Radcliffe, Chick, Cooper and Wolfe; noes — the chairman and Messrs Dunlop, Davieson. M'Millan, Harris, Horrell, Dobson and Harper.