The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-12-19 00:00:00

KOZITOIII.
THE WRONGS OF THE POOR.
To the &Nor.

Sir,—As a ratepayer, I feel it my duty to camplain
if the poor do not get proper treatment at t e hands
of otir paid officials. With the amount the poor
I receive have nothing to do ; It is for the guirdians
of the parishes to determine who is in need and their
allowance. One thing I know—that the best allow-
ance they receive is but a miserable pittance compared
with their wants, especially at title time of the year,
when more iif everything is needed in the shape of fire,
food, and clothing ; and if it were not for private
Charity many of our old poor wool I die for want of
one or mg. of these necessities. The p 'or we shall
always have with up and may bles.in.is or moil them
be fieder—be they okl or he they Voung—Wh unite
the willing hand and the loving heart to relieve them.
surely they shall have their reward. But what
reward soil th t man expect Who hail funds placed at
his ilisteisal, and is paid a good salary by the Rom
Law Board, if he nerlects hi. dint', and thereby cause
hardships ant auff-ring ti the poor recipient. t.f the
Parish dole, a* in the following cases? I happened
to he in Vv• above village a few days awn, and was
ti 1 that on the previous Thursday the Relieving
°mem heal not brought the broad A. laatral to two
p or widow., as he had ia,slkeni Vlore instead of
driving hie hone end cart; hut that their bawl, a
1.. ,f each, was at Brianteourtile, a distance id about
two en I adtalf Wire. ire said that they would have
to fetch it how they c odd, and suggested that the
youngest of the poor woo-n might like to go
there for it, as she had f irriterly lived there. New,
sir, the ages of these twe peer widows are 82 sad
76 respectively, .l at that time it was anowint hard.
I anil about three Inch-,, of an vi ay on the ground, and
! • biting wind enough to cause • younzer frame than
!76 to tvnible. Fancy, sir, an old woman of 76 walk-
leg seven miles in such weather. Doty, if n.it sympathy,
I would have auzinated that he should have brought the
loc.'s. ; knowing es he mist have don'',
that in sloe no,s O*e. of ten 'b. hut hit of bread was
gone. I, myaelf, haws mesa poor widow take a hood-
. fill ef feral she he. hid Served up and mix it into a
' cake. and I base hoard her ..7 thank God I shall bay.
I my loaf bye and bye; but the., poor women did
tot pit theirs, until Satarday afternoon They would
riOt starve for they had their little money paid
them; but to spend any portions of it on bread
&wired thus of Aber little neemomitie. Hut a harrier
awe Still was that of no o'd man, named Shiner, who
lives at IPallington. I did not r..,t hear his age, bat I
know that he is bent nearly to the go' rind. ant he has
'Bce Mavens allowed ben. Mit no money. On that lay
he sulked shout a mile to Vie u udp iint of meeting,
waited about two hour., then plodde I throngh the
Snow to Moreton, and wee taki he mutt go t
C ddlo aft't his braid and he woe hoard t.i say thlt
pit know how to do it. wid yea he moot get it
I, for he hod eaten the bat, and oal7 hed • hit of broad for
bin breakfast. Party, Or, a am. bowed t the ground
with infirmity travelling It or 12 mito I. such entaber
having hut ni thing huts mouthful or two of bread I r
; his breakfast—this in not the first time that the Same
p..r have been inconvenienced by similar neglect. Oh,
the wrongs of the poor —Apologizing for troubling
you, I remain, sir, yours.
Max Aaout The COMMIT,