WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIII, Issue 49, 10 April 1896, Page 27

WELLINGTON.

(From our cwn Correspondent,)

March 28 1896 THE tfev Mr Evacs, win had been appointed some time la-t ye»r by the Wellington District Charitable Aid Board to report on the method of distributing charitable aid in the district, has just pre•ented a report on the subject. He was dircc ed to fiad out if economy conld be exercised in aoy direction, so as to lelieve, if possible, the strain on the taxpayer, without impairing the efficiency of of the system. It was suggested at mietiogs of the Board that the cost of maintaining children in orphanages was ( xcrssive, and that it might be curtailed. Mr Ktans, however, Bnds that the charge of 7i 6d per head per week allowed to Catholic and such like institutions is the minimum at w ich a child could b^ maintumd, and thinks that it ought to be raised to 8) at leaat. This should set the minds of tbt members tf the Boatd at rest as to the conten ion that the rate allowed is in some way excessive. The unemployed difficulty is again becoming very acute, and however people may be inclined to minimise its severi y, still there can be lit le doubt that many very hard-working, industrious men are out of employment ani that work ia v_ry scarce. Ii ciunot be denied that many of thjSd who attend unemployed meetings are not anxious to get work, ani are altogether unsuited for heavy manual labour, but still there remains, after weeding out the doubtful cases, a large number of men, who want employment and cmnot find it The citizens of Wellington have always been generous in assisting tbe unemployed, and last year and the previous year large suma were collected and handed over tc the Benevolent Trusteep, which, wi h the Government subsidy, were expended in improving the city surroundings during the winter. The wages paid were small— from 3d to 5i per day, according to the necatsity of the individual, but the trustees and the subscribers did not feel called upon to do any more than keep the men, engaged on the work, from actual want. Some of the profes--sionel agitators among the men tried to get them to strike against anything leas than the regulation pay, ignoring the fact that the trustees were not to derive any direct advantage from the work, but had undertaken it for tba bttefit of those who were really destitute. This year the unemployed d ffijulty has cropped up much earlier than usual, and consequently bids fair to be serious during the winter months. Tbe Trmte.s have a sum ia hani, with which to relieve immediate distress, and will apply for a Government subsidy. A few leading cbampioas of the men h.ve had a private inteiview with the Minister of Public Works requesting him n it to grant the subsidy until he gets a guarantee from t ,c Benevolent Trustees that men employed in relief works shall be paid amimnum wage of 6< per d u y. The Mi ,ister very rightly declined to co ertain a°ny euca proposal, and it is needless to aid. the public approve of his action. It is a great pity i hat those re illy in want do not cut , if all conn.ction wito tbe prafets.onil epjuters, who are likely to do more Darin than good to tbe ciu=e, for it is f, ared that their bumptious manner of dealing with public bodie- ami tffi -lals will have tbe tff a <>f dryi' g up tie well of publ c c\ ar ty. They will not be the a^ff rers. for many ot them do no want wo-k but notoriety, bjt tha wive^ aud families of their followers an 1 dupes. The advoctes of the introduciou of tbe Irish Text Bj>k into the State tc ools for the pu poße of caching morality to the cuildren are not hkJy to have ih^ir desires fulfi led very soon. At a recent meeting of the school committees association tbe matter came np for discussion, when the opinion of the majority of those present was opposed to (he scheme. A member who aivocated the bcherae { ■nd he did not cjnsiler iho secular s>Bte:n responsible for the vice that was growing up in ihe Colony, but » ill it was there, and how it came there he could not guy, and he it ought it was necessary to inject something iuto the educational ey tern in oHer to kill that growth. That gentleman mu B t be a bit of a sciennst, and have studied the hte M. Pasteur's methods to some purple. Another member, a clergyman to boot, wan determioedly bus ile to tLe text book. He did not oeheve in the ilj etion meihods of tre previous speaker-such a departure from his method, which was an outward application of religion by the parents, would be the death of the educational eysUm. Coming down to plain, everyd-y language he said that if religion were taught m the national schoo c, it w ,uld be totally illogical to deny to the R >m%a Catholics a vote of money for thtir own schools, He was perfectly convinced that the mass of the people in tht Colony were dead egdicst the introduction of the ttxi book, which few of them had ever read. A lady member opposed it, although she had never 6een it. A womau'd style of reasoning some cyuical male animal will say. Another member broke oat into phil.sapby and said religion was a transitory science ! What he meant by it, for tbe life of me, I do not k ow, and perhaps he was not very clear h mself. However, like tLe old woman whote admiration increased for her minister in a great measure btcauge he used the word Mesopotaa ia in hie sermon, the ep >aker must have risen in the estimation of his fellow members afier the delivery of eucn an occult dictum. He " remembered tbe time when his little

loul was nearly frightened out of him at ihe picture presented to him of the hereafter. Now it was beiDg recognised by the religious that religion must aim at improving our life upon this planet. It was quite right that tht children of this colony were allowed to grow up wihout any of tbe denominational ideas of tbe older countries." T c indiscreet individual who had introduced the subject had not tbe t*meii yto call for a division, so the mitter dropped. It is safe to assume that the q >estion is now d_ar*, and we shall hear no more of the Irish Tex' Book